USPG - one of the oldest mission agencies in the Church of England

Bishop Michael Doe, a former Vice-Chair of the Open Synod Group, became General Secretary of USPG in 2003. The good news, he says, is the continuing depth of our relationships with the dioceses and provinces around the world, and to be able to support them in the work of mission in the place where God has called them to be the Anglican Church. This support takes the form of people (now called Mission Companions rather than Missionaries), Grants and Scholarships. He says that the issues which are supposedly dividing the Anglican Communion are hardly ever mentioned.

But the bad news is finding the resources here in Britain and Ireland: Bishop Michael says that USPG feels increasingly squeezed by the rises in Parish Share, the decline of more liberal catholic parishes, Companion Links with a more restricted remit, the reduction of Mission to the poverty agenda, and a donor culture which wants to know where “my” money is going. The easiest answer, he says, would be to become a development agency like Christian Aid or pursue the narrower evangelical and interdenominational agenda being adopted by many of the other agencies.

However USPG will not be that easily beaten!

We are determined, he says, to maintain USPG as a church-based agency with a holistic understanding of mission, building relationships with the rest of the Communion, seeking to embody those relationships through the sharing of resources, and always seeking that generosity and openness which is at the heart of Anglicanism. Hence the new name: Anglicans in World Mission. And hence a very direct appeal to the Open Synod Group.

You can find more at their website: http://www.uspg.org.uk

Rt Revd Michael Doe
General Secretary
USPG: Anglicans in World Mission
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