Crosslinks is an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary society, drawing its support mainly from parishes in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. It was known as the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS) until 1992. The BCMS was created as the result of a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

split from the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

Foundation

BCMS was founded on 27 October 1922 as a result of a split in the

(CMS). A number of CMS missionaries and supporters had become unhappy at its drift towards theological

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

. BCMS was intended as a continuation of CMS's original theological and missionary principles. The Society was quickly established under the forceful leadership of Daniel Bartlett, who dominated its first 25 years. Another significant early supporter was Dean Wace. While the parting was less than amicable, Bartlett ruled that all BCMS missionaries should transfer to areas where the CMS had not previously operated, in an attempt to restore

charitable Charity is the voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various philosophies about charity exist, with frequent associations with religion. Etymology The word ...

relations. Another priority was the establishment of a training college (1925) in line with BCMS's theology, which later became

Trinity College, Bristol Trinity College, Bristol is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by ...

. The ecclesiastical historian

Adrian Hastings Adrian Hastings (23 June 1929 – 30 May 2001) was a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic priest, historian and author. He wrote a book about the Wiriyamu Massacre during the Mozambican War of Independence and became an influential scholar of Christ ...

has argued that this is one of the few English parallels to the

Fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...

controversy in the US. He notes that BCMS differed from CMS by "only one word" – Bible. However, it is noteworthy that in contrast to US examples, BCMS remained committed to the

and the

, despite their theological diversity. 27 October anniversary has become part of Crosslinks' traditions, and is commemorated by enthusiasts as ''Crosslinks Day''.

History

The first BCMS missionary was 84-year-old Archdeacon A. W. Mackay of Saskatchewan, Canada. He worked among the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

of Canada. In 1923, work began in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, followed by China and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. In 1927, officials in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

invited BCMS to begin work there, but it was not until 1929 that BCMS's first missionaries to Africa arrived in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. The same year saw a specific request to begin work in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The worldwide turmoil around the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

led to the Society's withdrawal from a number of countries: Ethiopia ( 1937 war), Burma ( 1942 invasion), and China ( 1949–51 expulsion). The late 1940s also saw Bartlett finally relinquish leadership to A. T. Houghton. The following decades saw an increasing focus on East Africa, particularly the

Karamoja The Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises the Kotido District, Kaabong District, Karenga District, Nabilatuk District, Abim District, Moroto District, Napak D ...

area of

,Ben Knighton ''The Vitality of Karamojong Religion: Dying Tradition or Living Faith?''. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005, pp. 70–74 (via Google Book Search)
/ref> and the Diocese of Karamoja retains a strong Crosslinks connection. In the second half of the twentieth century, the tide of

decolonisation Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

led to the scaling down and rethinking of activities in Africa and India. BCMS/Crosslinks has participated in two trends common to most Western missionary societies: * Missionaries are as likely to come from the

Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...

as to go there. Given the distribution of Anglicans, this has tended to mean African mission partners joining Crosslinks. * The West is now seen as a mission field. Crosslinks brings African pastors to England and Ireland, it has an environmental protection programme in Western Europe (

A Rocha A Rocha is an international network of environmental organizations with Christian ethos. A Rocha means "the rock" in Portuguese. History A Rocha International was founded in Portugal in 1983. The A Rocha Worldwide Covenant defines the rights ...

) and starts new churches in urban England as it traditionally did in rural Africa. The Crosslinks name emphasises the society's principle that Mission is from everywhere to everywhere. The name also helps to make possible work in some of the 60 or so countries where Bible,

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and

Missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

are not acceptable.

Notes

References

* *. *{{Citation , last =Russell , first =Stanley Farrant , author-link = , date =1972 , title =Full Fifty Years: the BCMS story , edition = , volume = , publication-place =London , publisher =Patmos Press , id = , isbn = , doi = , oclc = , url = , accessdate = .

External links

Crosslinks – God's Word to God's World
This is the official Crosslinks web site, and is frequently updated with news from mission partners. Publications are also available on-line. An RSS feed for site additions is available.
List of BCMS/Crosslinks archives at Birmingham University, including list of missionaries
Church of England missions Church of England missionary societies Church of Ireland Evangelical Anglicanism Evangelicalism in the Church of England Christian organizations established in 1922

Foundation

History

See also

Notes

References

External links