Missionary Bishops

A bishop sent by the church to lead the organization and development of the church in a new mission field. The 1835 General Convention, the Missionary Convention, passed the canon, “of Missionary Bishops.” This canon provided that the House of Deputies may, on nomination by the House of Bishops, elect a person to be a bishop to exercise episcopal functions in states and territories not organized into dioceses. Prior to 1835 there was no canonical provision made for extending beyond the organized dioceses. The Episcopal Church was rather passive in its mission strategy for the newly settled territories of the United States. Jackson Kemper was the first domestic missionary bishop, and William Jones Boone was the first foreign missionary bishop. See Kemper, Jackson; see Boone, William Jones.