USPG
Encyclopedia
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
organization, formed originally as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) in 1701. It became USPG in 1965 when the SPG merged with Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA).
Working within the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
, USPG's work involves pastoral care
Pastoral care
Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to persons of all faiths and none within institutional settings. This can range anywhere from home visitation to formal counseling provided...
, social action and supporting training programmes. It also encourages parishes in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to participate in mission through fundraising and prayer, and by setting up links with its projects around the world. Its main focus of work is setting up and providing support for projects in various dioceses around the communion. USPG particularly supports hospitals and care centres for those suffering with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
Early history
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
(1675–1713), requested Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray
Thomas Bray
The Reverend Dr Thomas Bray was an English clergyman, who spent time in Maryland as an Anglican representative.-Life:...
to report on the state of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in the American Colonies. Dr. Bray reported that the Anglican Church in America had "little spiritual vitality" and was "in a poor organizational condition". On June 16, 1701, King William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
issued a charter establishing the SPG as "an organisation able to send priests and schoolteachers to America to help provide the Church's ministry to the colonists".
The society’s first missionaries started work in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in 1702 and in the West Indies in 1703. Its charter soon expanded to include "evangelisation of slaves and Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
." By 1710, SPG officials stated that "conversion of heathens and infidels ought to be prosecuted preferably to all others." In the American colonies, the Anglican Church was competing with Congregational churches in New England. Especially after the Great Awakening
Great Awakening
The term Great Awakening is used to refer to a period of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century...
, SPG missioners had to compete with numerous Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist preachers. In New England the SPG helped promote better design for new churches, including the addition of steeples. The white church with steeple was copied by other groups and became associated with New England-style churches among the range of Protestant sects. Such designs also were copied in the Southern colonies.
By the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the SPG had employed about 300 missionaries in North America. It soon expanded to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. The SPG was also important in the establishment of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America after the revolution.
Slavery and the Codrington Plantation
The SPG was a slave owner in BarbadosBarbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
in the 18th and early 19th centuries, employing several hundred slaves on the Codrington Plantation. During the February 2006 meeting of the General Synod
General Synod
-Church of England:In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 , is the legislative body of the Church.-Episcopal Church of the United States:...
of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, bishops voted unanimously to apologise to the descendants of slaves for the church's involvement in the slave trade. Rev. Simon Bessant confirmed, in a speech before the vote, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts had owned the Codrington Plantation.
History of the Plantation
The Plantation was bequeathed to the Society in 1710 by Christopher CodringtonChristopher Codrington
Christopher Codrington , British soldier, bibliophile and colonial governor, was born on the island of Barbados, West Indies, in 1668...
and was run by managers on behalf of the Church of England, represented by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and a committee of bishops. It relied on new slaves from West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
: by 1740 four out of every 10 slaves bought by the plantation died within three years. This contrasted with some plantations in what is now the Southern USA, where the death rate
Mortality rate
Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...
was lower.
It was the situation in the West Indies and at the SPG's Codrington Estates in particular, which prompted Dr Beilby Porteus, Bishop of Chester
Bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.The diocese expands across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the City of Chester where the seat is located at the Cathedral...
and later Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
, to use the opportunity of preaching the 1783 Anniversary sermon of the SPG at St Mary-le-Bow
St Mary-le-Bow
St Mary-le-Bow is an historic church in the City of London, off Cheapside. According to tradition, a true Cockney must be born within earshot of the sound of the church's bells.-Bells:...
, Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to issue a call to the Church of England to cease its involvement in the slave trade. It urged formulation of a policy to draw attention to and improve the conditions of the Afro-Caribbean slaves in Barbados. At that time slaveholders used Biblical justifications for slavery. The church relinquished its slaveholdings only after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.
When the emancipation of slaves took place in 1833, the government paid compensation under the Emancipation Act to their owners. The Church of England's Codrington Plantation received £8,823. 8s. 9d in compensation for 411 slaves, According to the accounts of Codrington College
Codrington College
Codrington College is an Anglican theological college in St. John, Barbados. It was founded by Christopher Codrington, who after his death in 1710 left portions of his 'estates' - two slave labour plantations on Barbados and areas of Barbuda - to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in...
, which had been set up (by the Church under the will by which the Plantation was bequeathed to the Church) to provide education for slaves, the compensation funds were paid into the treasury of the College.
Conditions on the Plantation
Initially slaves were brandeHuman branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...
d with the word "Society" on their chests with a hot iron. Milton Meltzer
Milton Meltzer
Milton Meltzer was an American historian and author best known for his history nonfiction books on Jewish, African-American and American history...
explains that the branding practice throughout the sugar plantations was that “Already branded once by the trader, the slaves were branded a second time with their new owner's initials." On branding at Codrington, Hochschild says “For nearly a decade, Codrington officials tried to reduce escapes by branding all slaves on their chests. In the end, though, the chief deterrent was the lash
Whip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...
, plus, at times, an iron collar and a straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...
.” Branding, the policy of one overseer and not continuous official policy of the managers, ceased within a decade of the Church taking on ownership of the Plantation.
It has been suggested that in there was a deliberate "work to death" policy in operation, as was commonly the case on other plantations and in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. On this question, Hochschild makes the point ...”in 1746 one third of Africans died within three years of arrival in West Indies, from the ordeal of the middle passage
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave trade...
, and the shock of adjusting to the new life, foods, and diseases.” There is no specific evidence that on the Codrington plantation harsh treatment of slaves by its managers was the cause of the high death rate.
Hochschild goes on to say, “At Codrington, as throughout the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, new slaves from Africa were first “seasoned” for three years, receiving extra food and light work assignments. Slaves were vulnerable during this early traumatic period when they were most likely to die of disease, to run away... or to commit suicide. If you survived those three years, you were regarded as ready for the hardest labour.” Hochschild provides further detail about the policies of the SPG's managers, saying that by 1826, “As a result of changes, the Church of England's Codrington plantation, for example, had improved food, housing, clothing, and working conditions, and built a small hospital for sick and pregnant slaves.”
Expansion and merger
In 1820, the SPG sent missionaries to IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and in 1821 to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It later expanded outside the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1863 and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
1873. By then the society's focus was more on the care for indigenous people than for colonists. In 1866, the SPG established the Ladies’ Association for Promoting the Education of Females in India and other Heathen Countries in Connection with the Missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In 1895, this group was updated to the Women’s Mission Association for the Promotion of Female Education in the Missions of the SPG, which enabled British and Irish women to become missionaries. During this period, the SPG also supported increasing numbers of indigenous missionaries of both sexes, as well as medical missionary work.
The SPG continued the missionary work for the Churches of England, Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
and Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
until 1965. That year, the SPG merged with the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) to form the USPG. In 1968, the Cambridge Mission to Delhi (CMD) also joined the USPG.
See also
- Protestant missionary societies in China during the 19th Century