Welcome to the world of Roland Allen, a profound thinker and theologian whose insights continue to inspire and challenge us today. Roland Allen, born in 1868, was an Anglican missionary and writer whose works have left an indelible mark on the field of missiology and Christian mission strategy. His pioneering ideas on indigenous church principles and the role of the Holy Spirit in mission have earned him recognition as a seminal figure in modern Christian thought.
Allen’s belief in the empowerment of local communities to carry out their own mission work, free from the constraints of colonial oversight, was revolutionary in his time and remains highly relevant in contemporary discussions on cross-cultural ministry. Through his writings, Allen emphasized the importance of fostering self-sustaining, self-propagating churches that are deeply rooted in their cultural context and empowered by the Spirit of God. His insights continue to challenge conventional approaches to mission and provoke thoughtful reflection on the nature of Christian witness in a diverse and ever-changing world. Now, delve into the wisdom of Roland Allen through his memorable quotes below.
I have a profound belief in the power of the Sacraments. I believe that in a Divine way the use of them teaches the teachable their inward meaning and therefore I think we need be in no hurry to attempt to teach new converts all that we think we know about them. Roland Allen
The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. Roland Allen
In arriving at a decision in a question of doubt, the apostles in the Acts were guided solely by their sense of the Spirit behind the action, not by any speculations as to consequences which might ensue. And so they found the truth. Roland Allen
Among our own people also the church sorely needs clergy in close touch with the ordinary life of the laity, living the life of ordinary men, sharing their difficulties and understanding their trials by close personal experience. Roland Allen
Christ had given the apostles a world-wide commission, embracing all the nations; but intellectually they did not understand what He meant. They found that out as they followed the impulse of the Spirit. Roland Allen
Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. If I do not love a person I am not moved to help him by proofs that he is in need; if I do love him, I wait for no proof of a special need to urge me to help him. Roland Allen
The apostles were moved, not so much by an intellectual apprehension, as by a spiritual illumination. They met men, and the need of those men whom they met cried aloud to them. Roland Allen
Men who hold a theory of the Church which excludes from communion those whom they admit to have the Spirit of Christ simply proclaim that their theory is in flat contradiction to the spiritual fact. Roland Allen
To preach the Gospel requires that the preacher should believe that he is sent to those whom he is addressing at the moment, because God has among them those whom He is at the moment calling; it requires that the speaker should expect a response. Roland Allen
It certainly must help us if we recognize that it is the presence of the Holy Spirit which creates a unity which we can never create. Roland Allen
If we allow the consideration of heathen morality and heathen religion to absolve us from the duty of preaching the gospel we are really deposing Christ from His throne in our own souls. Roland Allen
