Henry Venn's Instructions to Missionaries

Abstract

In the relatively brief history of Protestant missiology, no name is more respected than that of Henry Venn. As one of his successors in the leadership of the Church Missionary Society, Max Warren, observed, “On almost any reckoning, Venn was the outstanding European missionary leader, thinker and administrator of the nineteenth century.” Author Shenk goes to the primary record of Venn's missiological thought — the Letters of Instructions to missionary appointees — and provides us with a balanced summary of his reflections on some major themes. Viewed realistically in his Victorian context, Venn was clearly a man on the cutting edge. An Anglican of firm evangelical principles, his writings mirror an irenic mind and an ecumenical spirit as he sought to develop the praxis of the Church Missionary Society.