When Roland Allen wrote his two missions classics – Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s Or Ours (1912) and The Spontaneous Expansion Of the Church And The Causes That Hinder It (1927), missionary work was characterized by centralized foreign sending agencies, foreign missionary leadership, foreign funding, missions stations, and paid native workers. Allen would have said that such an approach to world evangelization was “foreign” to the teaching of the New Testament and that it,…

If you have been following my blog, you know that I have been writing articles on John L. Nevius, an American Presbyterian missionary who served the LORD in China for forty years in the 180o’s. His ministry and writings on indigenous church planting greatly influenced Presbyterian missionary work in Korea during his lifetime and after. The primary writing that influenced missionaries in Korea was The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches (1886). It is this booklet that my…

Many people who are involved in missions and church planting have heard the name of Roland Allen. Allen was an Anglican missionary to China in the late 1800's and early 19oo's. He is best known for the writing of two books that deal with missions principles as found in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. The books are Missionary Methods: St Paul's Or Ours? (1912) and Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and The Causes That Hinder It (1927). Both are considered to be…