Church Army

Church Army, an English religious organization, founded in 1882 by the Rev. Wilson Carlile (afterwards prebendary of St Pauls), who banded together in an orderly army of soldiers and officers a few working men and women, whom he and others trained to act as Church of England evangelists among the outcasts and criminals of the Westminster slums. Previous experience had convinced him that the moral condition of the lowest classes of the people called for new and aggrssive action on the part of the Church, and that this work was most effectively done by laymen and women of the same class as those whom it was desired to touch. Evangelistic zeal with Church order is the principle of the Church Army, and it was essentially a working mens and womens mission to working people. As the work grew, a training institution. for evangelists was started in Oxford, but soon moved (1886) to London, where, in Bryanston Street near the Marble Arch, the headquarters of the army was established. Working men were trained as evangelists, and working women as mission sisters, and were supplied to the clergy. The men evangelists had to pass an examination by the Archdeacon of Middlesex, and are then (since 1896) admitted by the bishop of London as lay evangelists in the Church; the mission sisters had likewise to pass an examination by the diocesan inspector of schools. All Church Army workers (of whom therewere over 18oo of one kind and another) were entirely under the control of the incumbent of the parish to which they were sent. They never went to a parish unless invited, nor stay when asked to go by the parish priest. Officers and sisters were paid a limited sum for their services either by the vicar or by voluntary local contributions. Church Army mission and colportage vans circulated throughout the country parishes.

Related Topics:
Wilson Carlile - Church of England - Westminster - Oxford - Bryanston Street - Marble Arch - Archdeacon of Middlesex

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