Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:20:52.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Have Anglo-Catholics Lost their Vision for Mission Agencies? An Empirical Enquiry among Newly Ordained Clergy in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2011

Abstract

Attitude toward Christian mission agencies was investigated in a sample of 827 Anglican clergy ordained in the UK from 2002 to 2006. The Scale of Attitude Toward Mission Agencies (SATMA) consisted of six items related to the work that agencies do, and whether clergy wished to engage with this work. It had a high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.80). After controlling for theological liberalism or conservatism, attitudes were most positive among evangelicals and least positive among Anglo-Catholics. Both liberal and conservative Anglo-Catholic clergy showed less positive attitudes toward mission agencies than did other clergy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1.

Department of Theology and Religious Studies, York St John University, York, UK.

2.

Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

References

3. Cox, J., The British Missionary Enterprise since 1700 (Abingdon: Taylor & Francis Group, 2008)Google Scholar; Ward, K., A History of Global Anglicanism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Ward, , A History of Global Anglicanism, p. 33.Google Scholar

5. O'Connor, D., (ed.), Three Centuries of Mission: The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1701–2000 (London: Continuum, 2000).Google Scholar

6. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, p. 8.Google Scholar

7. Ward, , A History of Global Anglicanism, p. 35Google Scholar; Ward, K. and Stanley, B., The Church Mission Society and world Christianity, 1799–1999 (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000).Google Scholar

8. Ward, , A History of Global Anglicanism, pp. 34–35.Google Scholar

9. Hylson-Smith, K., High Churchmanship in the Church of England from the Sixteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993)Google Scholar; Nockles, P.B., The Oxford Movement in Context: Anglican High Churchmanship, 1760–1857 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10. Balleine, G.R., A History of the Evangelical Party in the Church of England (London: Church Bookroom Press, 1908)Google Scholar; Hylson-Smith, K., Evangelicals in the Church of England 1734–1984 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1989)Google Scholar.

11. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, p. 62.Google Scholar

12. Ward, , A History of Global Anglicanism, p. 38.Google Scholar

13. Henderson, L.F., The Cambridge Mission to Delhi: A Brief History (London: The Offices of the Mission, 1931)Google Scholar; Hilliard, D., God's Gentlemen: A History of the Melanesian Mission, 1849–1942 (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978)Google Scholar; Longridge, G., A History of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta (London: John Murray, 1900)Google Scholar; Ward, A History of Global Anglicanism; Willis, J., ‘The Nature of a Mission Community: The Universities’ Mission to Central Africa in Bonde’, Past & Present 140 (1993), pp. 127154CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wilson, G.H., The History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (London: UMCA, 1936)Google Scholar.

14. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, p. 159.Google Scholar

15. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, pp. 159–62.Google Scholar

16. Johnson, E. and Clark, J., (eds.), Anglicans in Mission: A Transforming Journey (London: SPCK, 2000)Google Scholar; O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, pp. 124–214Google Scholar; Ward and Stanley, The Church Mission Society and World Christianity, 1799–1999; Ward, T.W., ‘Repositioning Mission Agencies for the Twenty-first Century’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research 23 (1999), pp. 146150CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 152–53.

17. Bosch, D.J., Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992)Google Scholar; Donovan, V.J., Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai (Norwich: SCM-Canterbury Press Limited, 2001)Google Scholar; Door, D., Mission in Today's World (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000)Google Scholar; Ward, ‘Repositioning Mission agencies’; Yates, T., Christian Mission in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)Google Scholar.

18. Johnson, and Clark, , Anglicans in Mission.Google Scholar

19. Bruce, S., God Is Dead: Secularization in the West (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002)Google Scholar; Heelas, P. and Woodhead, L., Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion Is Giving Way to Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)Google Scholar.

20. Brierley, P., (ed.), Religious Trends 7 (Swindon: Christian Research, 2008), Section 8.Google Scholar

21. Buchanan, C.O., Cut the Connection: Disestablishment and the Church of England (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1994)Google Scholar; Leech, K. (ed.), Setting the Church of England Free: The Case for Disestablishment (Croydon: Jubilee Group, 2001)Google Scholar; Smith, G., Francis, L.J. and Robbins, M., ‘Establishment or Disestablishment? A Survey among Church of England Clergy’, Implicit Religion 5 (2002), pp. 105120Google Scholar; Smith, G., Francis, L.J. and Robbins, M., ‘Who Wants Establishment? A Comparison of Clerical and Lay Opinion in the Church of England’, Journal of Beliefs & Values 24 (2003), pp. 349365CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weller, P., Time for a Change: Reconfiguring Religion, State, and Society (London: T & T Clark International, 2005)Google Scholar.

22. Combe, V. , ‘Missionaries Flock to Britain to Revive Passion for Church’, The Daily Telegraph (2001), 18 JanuaryGoogle Scholar; Gledhill, R., ‘Send for Missionaries to Halt Church Decline, Bishops Told’, The Times (2007), 6 FebruaryGoogle Scholar.

23. Elliott, M. and Corrado, S., ‘The Protestant Missionary Presence in the Former Soviet Union’, Religion, State and Society, 25 (1997), pp. 333351CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gledhill, ‘Send for Missionaries to Halt Church Decline’; Parushev, P., ‘Witness, Worship and Presence: On the Integrity of Mission in Contemporary Europe’, Mission Studies 24 (2007), pp. 305332CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, pp. 146–47.Google Scholar

25. Bosch, Transforming Mission; Johnson and Clark, Anglicans in Mission; Schreiter, R.J. (ed.), Mission in the Third Millennium (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001).Google Scholar

26. O'Connor, , Three Centuries of Mission, p. 122.Google Scholar

27. Francis, L.J., Robbins, M. and Astley, J., Fragmented Faith? Exposing the Fault-lines in the Church of England (Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2005)Google Scholar; Village, A., The Bible and Lay People: An Empirical Approach to Ordinary Hermeneutics (Aldershot & Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2007)Google Scholar; Village, A. and Francis, L.J., ‘An Anatomy of Change: Profiling Cohort-Difference in Beliefs and Attitudes among Anglicans in England’, Journal of Anglican Studies, 8.1 (2010), pp. 5981CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28. Hylson-Smith, Evangelicals in the Church of England 1734–1984; Hylson-Smith, High Churchmanship in the Church of England from the Sixteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century; Nockles, The Oxford Movement in Context; Scotland, N., Evangelical Anglicans in a Revolutionary Age, 1789–1901 (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2004).Google Scholar

29. Balleine, , A History of the Evangelical Party in the Church of EnglandGoogle Scholar.

30. Walker, P.K., Rediscovering the Middle Way (London: Mowbray, 1988).Google Scholar

31. Francis et al., Fragmented Faith?; Randall, Evangelicals; Village, The Bible and Lay People; Village, A. and Francis, L.J., The Mind of the Anglican Clergy: Assessing Attitudes and Beliefs in the Church of England (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009).Google Scholar

32. Randall, , Evangelicals; Village and Francis, ‘An Anatomy of Change’.Google Scholar

33. Likert, R., ‘A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes’, Archives of Psychology, 140 (1932), pp. 155.Google Scholar

34. Francis, et al. , Fragmented Faith?; Randall, Evangelicals; Village and Francis, The Mind of the Anglican Clergy; Village and Francis, ‘An Anatomy of Change’.Google Scholar

35. Village, and Francis, , ‘An Anatomy of Change’.Google Scholar

36. Randall, , Evangelicals; Village and Francis, The Mind of the Anglican Clergy; Village and Francis, ‘An Anatomy of Change’.Google Scholar

37. McKennell, A., ‘Attitude Measurement: Use of Coefficient Alpha with Cluster or Factor Analysis’, Sociology 4 (1970), pp. 227245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38. Kim, J.-O. and Mueller, C., Factor Analysis: Statistical Methods and Practical Issues (London: Sage, 1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

39. Cronbach, L.J., ‘Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests’, Psychometrika, 16 (1951), pp. 297334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40. Kline, P., The Handbook of Psychological Testing (London: Routledge, 2009).Google Scholar

41. Village, and Francis, , ‘An Anatomy of Change’.Google Scholar

42. Village, A. and Francis, L.J., ‘The Visibility of Mission Agencies in General and USPG in Particular among Recently Ordained Anglican Clergy: An Empirical Enquiry’, Transformation 28.2 (2011), pp. 129137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar