Allen, Roland, mission strategist, born Bristol, England, 29 December 1868, died Kenya, 9 June 1947.

Roland Allen was educated at Oxford and Leeds and became an Anglican priest in 1893. In 1895 he went to North China with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.  He survived the Boxer siege and following furlough and marriage returned briefly to China.  He resigned from parish ministry in 1907 and worked in association with the Survey Application Trust and World Dominion Press. His classic Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours? and other writings challenged the idea that missionaries knew best and argued from confidence in the gifting of the Holy Spirit for independent indigenous churches. He influenced Pentecostal missions and a new generation of missionaries from the 1960s.

• Allen, Roland. Mission activities considered in relation to the manifestation of the Spirit. London ; New York: World Dominion Press, 1927.
• Allen, Roland. Missionary methods : St. Paul's or ours ; a study of the church in the four provinces. London, 1912.
• Allen, Hubert J. B. Roland Allen : pioneer, priest, and prophet. Cincinnati, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Forward Movement Publications; W. B. Eerdmans.1995.

John Roxborogh