Bishop A.R. Tucker of Uganda and The Implementation of an Evangelical Tradition of Mission

The thesis deals with A. R. Tucker and the implementation of an evangelical tradition of mission, as
represented by the Church Missionary Society, in Uganda where he was Bishop 1890-1911. Any
evangelical tradition claims to be Biblical, and so three probes are made into the New Testament
perspective on mission. The Acts of the Apostles was a foundation text for nineteenth-century
missionaries, and is considered along with a complementary discussion of mission in John’s Gospel
and Paul’s letter to the Philippians. This discussion uncovers tensions relating to the relationship
between older and younger churches, to finance, to the development of local leadership and
responsibility, to the relationship with political authorities and wider issues of contextualisation that
are echoed in both Venn and Tucker. Although Venn as Hon. Secretary of C.M.S. was largely
responsible for shaping the Society’s tradition of mission in the mid nineteenth century, its
implementation was often frustrated by unwilling missionaries. Whereas Venn was an administrator
based in London, Tucker’s locus of activity was in East Africa before 1897 and specifically Uganda
thereafter. Tucker’s theological position and spirituality bore a marked resemblance to that of Venn.
He worked when the prevailing socio-political context was a Protectorate mentality, which militated
against a radical implementation of the principles and concerns developed in Venn’s time. At the start
of the twentieth century Uganda was held in high repute in missionary circles, but the thesis questions
whether this can be wholly justified. Inasmuch as the reputation may be defended, Tucker’s was a
limited responsibility for the success. In the areas of the development of indigenous ordained
ministry, encouragement of evangelism and church-planting, defence of Africans whom he felt were
being exploited, insistence on local financial resourcing of the church, ecumenical vision, and the
desire to integrate the missionary presence within the African church, Tucker’s work was clearly in
the evangelical tradition developed by Venn. But in each of those areas we identity tensions and
ambivalence also. This returns us to the New Testament theme that Christian mission, although
fundamentally the Missio Dei, is in fact entrusted to fallible people by the grace of God.