By the end of the nineteenth century, Dissent had gained a global presence, with churches from the Dissenting traditions scattered across the British Empire and beyond. This chapter traces the spread of Dissenting denominations during this period, through the establishment of both settler churches and indigenous Christian communities. In the settler colonies of Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape Colony, colonists formed churches that identified with and often kept formal ties with the British Dissenting denominations. The particular conditions of colonial society, especially the relatively weak place of the Church of England, meant that many of the Dissenting denominations thrived. At the same time, these conditions forced Dissenting churches to adapt and take on new characteristics unique to their colonial context. Settler churches in the Dissenting tradition were part of a society that dispossessed indigenous peoples and some members of these churches engaged in humanitarian and missionary work among indigenous communities. By the end of the century, many colonial Dissenting churches had also begun their own missionary ventures overseas. Beyond the settler colonies, Dissenting traditions spread during the nineteenth century through the efforts of missionaries, both indigenous and non-indigenous. Examples from Dissenting churches in the Pacific and southern and western Africa show how indigenous Christian communities developed their own identities, sometimes in tension with or opposition to the traditions from which they had emerged, such as Ethiopianism. Around the world, the nineteenth century saw the formation of new churches within the Dissenting traditions that would give rise, in the twentieth century, to the truly global expansion of Dissent.
Man Slaving to Divine: A Socio-religious Custom Gleaned from the Nineteenth Century Palm Leaves