John Livingstone Nevius

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John Livingston Nevius (1829-1893) was a Protestant missionary in China and Korea, appointed by the American Presbyterian Mission.

Contents 1 Indigenous Church Mission 2 The Nevius Plan 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Indigenous Church Mission

After questioning the methods of western missionaries of his time, he took up the Venn-Anderson principles of "self-propagation, self-government, and self-supporting" in a series of articles in the Chinese Recorder journal in 1885, which was later published as a book in 1886, The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches.^[1] Nevius called for discarding old-style missions and the adoption of his new plan to foster an independent, self-supporting local church. He criticized the missionaries' practice of paying national workers out of mission funds, believing the healthy local church should be able to support its own local workers.^[2]

[edit] The Nevius Plan

The principles he laid out, known later as the Nevius Plan, did not gain popularity in China. However, when American Presbyterians began their work in Korea, the new missionaries invited Nevius to advise them. Embracing his method, the Korean mission enjoyed great success. The Nevius Plan outlined the following:^[3]

1. Christians should continue to live in their neighborhoods and pursue their occupations, being self-supporting and witnessing to their co-workers and neighbors.
2. Missions should only develop programs and institutions that the national church desired and could support.
3. The national churches should call out and support their own pastors.
4. Churches should be built in the native style with money and materials given by the church members.
5. Intensive biblical and doctrinal instruction should be provided for church leaders every year.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Rufus Anderson
• Henry Venn