This book is about the Basel Mission in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) before the First World War. Miller reconstructs the backgrounds and motivations of the mission's participants and describes the organizational structure that shaped their activities at home and abroad. He then traces some serious and recurrent internal problems to the commitment to difficult Pietist beliefs about authority and obedience. The organization survived those troubles and its impact on Ghana continued to grow, because the same biblical worldview that demanded extreme discipline also prepared the members of the mission community to sustain their efforts.

Authored by Miller, Jon

Part I - Evangelical Missions and Social ChangePart II - The ParticipantsPart III - Authority and Discipline Part IV - Contradictions and Their ConsequencesPart V - Accounting for Organizational PersistencePart VI - Afterword: The Basel Mission, the Presbyterian Church, and Ghana since 1918 by Paul Jenkins