The Kingdom of Character: The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1886-1926

The Unseen Heroes of the Global Missionary Movement

The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was a Protestant missionary recruiting organization. Launched in the late nineteenth century, it played an indispensable role in the creation of the modern missionary movement. While it was influenced by the optimism and expansiveness that characterized Americans at the turn of the century, it also mirrored the period’s provincialism and ethnocentrism.

The Kingdom of Character provides a thorough history of the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM), exposing both its strengths and weaknesses. Parker highlights how these student leaders addressed issues such as gender roles, the social impact of World War I, and various internal controversies, while emphasizing an American middle-class worldview that stressed the Victorian idea of character in their hope to spread the gospel around the world.

The Kingdom of Character is a great read for those interested in the creation of the modern missionary movement.

Michael Parker received his MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary and his PhD in American Religious and Cultural History from the University of Maryland. From 1995 to 2006, he served as a Presbyterian missionary in Sudan and Rwanda.