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World Mission in Church and Society has been known by a number of titles over the years. Initially called the Foreign Mission Department of the National Council, it was changed to the Overseas Department after the reorganization of National Council in October of 1942. From 1969 to 1971 the office was known as Overseas Relations, and from 1972 to 1974 it was called Jurisdictional Relations. In 1975, it became the Department of Mission under the executive direction of Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning. In 1978, the department became known as National and World Mission, and finally in 1980, World Mission in Church and Society.

As the Church’s conception of overseas work evolved, so did the work of the office. While it continued to support schools, hospitals, and missions established during the Church's early involvement overseas, the focus increasingly turned to the cultivation of networks of support between independent churches in the Anglican Communion. The Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence (MRI) program of the early 1960s committed the Church to sharing its resources generously with struggling Anglican dioceses around the globe seeking their footing in newly-independent nations. The Overseas Department (as it was still known at that time) was heavily involved in coordinating funding, sending workers, and setting up channels of communication with these groups.

From the MRI program, other initiatives evolved, including Partners in Mission and Companion Diocese relationships, intended to connect the American church with Anglican partners across the globe on a personal basis through cultural study, discussion, and mission work. While much of the work in these programs was diocesan, the office coordinated these efforts on the national level. It also administered a certain amount of funding from the Venture in Mission program as seed-money to aid overseas dioceses with much-needed infrastructure and other projects.

Apart from its work with the global Anglican Communion, the office also worked on ecumenical matters, participating in initiatives of the Church World Service, the National Council of Churches, and other ecumenical organizations. In 1989, World Mission in Church and Society became the International Ministries sub-group of the Witness and Outreach Committee of the Executive Council.

Julia Chester Emery was appointed secretary of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions in 1876, after her sister Mary Abbott Emery resigned the position. During her forty-year tenure she directed the expansion of the Woman’s Auxiliary into every domestic and missionary diocese of The Episcopal Church and was key to the founding and growth of the United Offering (now the United Thank Offering). She traveled overseas extensively to promote the Auxiliary by addressing the woman’s missionary congress in London in 1897, representing the Diocese of New York at the Pan-Anglican Congress in 1908, and visiting mission stations throughout Europe and Asia. In addition, she authored several books, including “A Century of Endeavor” (1921), the centennial history of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Julia Emery is commemorated in the Episcopal Calendar of the Church Year on January 9th.

In addition to Mary Abbott and Julia Chester, their sisters, Susan Lavinia Emery (1846-1914) and Margaret Theresa Emery (1849-1925) were involved with The Episcopal Church and the Woman’s Auxiliary, although to a much lesser degree.

William E. Hooker, of New Milford, Connecticut, was a lineal descendant of the Reverend Thomas Hooker who, in 1635, led the white, Christian settlers into what became the capital city of Hartford. William Hooker was ordained to the diaconate in 1879 and to the priesthood in 1882 by Bishop Huntington. He was assigned to various parish centers in Connecticut and New York and died on May 19, 1939.

Born in Reigate, England in 1927 and educated at Oxford, Nigel Renton (sometimes known as Nigel Auld Lindsey Renton) emerged as a prominent lay leader in The Episcopal Church after settling in California in 1957.

Renton began his church service in the 1960s and 1970s as vestry member and Senior Warden at All Souls and Saint Mark’s in Berkeley. He soon moved into national church politics, first elected as alternate lay deputy to the 1982 General Convention and seated as a full deputy in 1985. From 1987 to 2006 he was a prominent presence in the House of Deputies, co-chairing the California deputation and earning the nickname “the Terminator” for his skill in closing debate. Between conventions, he served as a deputy to the Synod of Province VIII and, as Treasurer from 1994–1997, sat on its Executive Committee and Provincial Council.

In the Diocese of California, Renton simultaneously served as a Diocesan Convention delegate and as President of the Diocesan Council (1981-1983). He was elected to the Standing Committee for a four year term in 1990 and served as President from 1993-1994. He was appointed chair of the Diocesan Resolutions Committee in 1990, and served in that capacity until his election as Secretary of the Diocesan Convention in 1994. He filled that office from 1994-2006.

Renton’s church work centered on his passion for liturgy and the expanded role of lay participation in worship. As Chair of St. Mark’s Worship Committee, he emphasized that “liturgy is the work of the people.” For nearly three decades he shaped Episcopal services through roles on the Diocesan Liturgical Renewal Commission, the General Convention’s Legislative Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music (1991), the Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission, and the Association of Diocesan Liturgy and Music Commissions, which named him “Person of the Year” in 1990. He also wrote widely on worship for The Living Church, Pacific Church News, and other publications.

Nigel Renton died on January 10, 2021 in Berkeley, California.