The Important Role of Missionaries in the Anglican Church

The Important Role of Missionaries in the Anglican Church

Missionaries have been part of the Christian faith for many years. With the great expanse of the British Empire it is logical that the need for missionaries would expand as well. The problem is that England was already experiencing a shortage of clergy due to the increased demand caused by industrialization. With a shortage of Anglican clergy in England, the call to leave home and hearth to encounter unforeseen perils defines the true meaning of a missionary. The reason that the clergy were willing to make this sacrifice reflects society's perception, and the clergy’s perception of what it means to be a missionary.

John Kent in Nineteenth Century Church and English Society describes missionary work as doing "the divine will of God" (Kent 109). The fact that many different religions feel that they are doing the will of God is completely immaterial to the Christian missionary. They feel that theirs is the one true faith and it is their "duty to convert the heathens to the one true faith" (Kent 112). The missionaries felt in doing their duty that they would reap their just rewards and secure for themselves a place in Heaven. Kent also tells us that " Victorian missionary work was treated as a saga of sacrifice, heroism, and Christian philanthropy" (Kent 109). The sacrifice was in leaving the comforts of home. The heroism was in the converting of the non-believers and the philanthropy was in the giving of oneself for the "betterment" of humanity.

In Jane Eyre we listen to St. John telling Jane his deepest desire to be a missionary. He says he "aspires but after the day when the cross of separation from fleshly ties shall be laid upon his shoulders, and when the Head of that church-militant of whose humblest members he is one, shall give the word, 'Rise, follow me!'" (347; ch. 30). St. John is foreshadowing his separation from his family to follow the call of the missionary. His sister Diana describes his ambition to go to India as a "fever in his vitals" (349; ch.30) and that her conscience "will hardly permit me to dissuade him from his severe decision…. It is right, noble, Christian: yet it breaks my heart" (350; ch.31). She sees the missionary work as something extreme and severe. When she talks of the fever in St.