ABSTRACT
The Church Missionary Society (CMS) had been formed for missionary work "in Africa and the East." It was only in 1973, nearly two hundred years after the creation of the society, that it was resolved to bring missionaries to Britain. In addition to the crucial importance of deputations by staff and missionaries on leave, a great industry of missionary magazines, books, pictures, and later slides was developed in the nineteenth century to keep supporters in touch with the work overseas. The engagement with missions overseas also introduced many for the first time to people of other cultures. From the earliest days, the CMS took people from overseas to Britain. The period after the Second World War also saw dramatic change for the Church of England's missionary societies. The 1950s and 1960s saw a rapid growth in independent provinces of the communion often in advance of state independence.
