Anglicanism's spread from a national Church of England into a worldwide Communion owes much to its missionary history — historic mission societies carried Anglican Christianity across the British Empire from the seventeenth century onward, planting the churches that would later become the independent provinces of today's Anglican Communion.
Modern Anglican mission thinking is often expressed through the Five Marks of Mission, adopted across the Communion: to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God; to teach, baptise, and nurture new believers; to respond to human need through loving service; to challenge unjust structures of society; and to safeguard the integrity of creation. Mission today is understood less as one-way and more as mutual partnership between provinces worldwide.