During the first four decades of the church's existence, Episcopalians were more interested in organizing and expanding the church within their own states than in establishing centralized structures or attempting to spread their faith in other places. However, in 1821, the General Convention created a General Seminary for the whole church and established the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1835, the General Convention declared that all members of the Episcopal Church were to constitute the membership of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society"Constitution of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society," in Journal of the Proceedings of the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in General Convention'(New York: Protestant Episcopal Press, 1835): 129. and elected the first domestic missionary bishop, Jackson Kemper, for Missouri and Indiana. The first two foreign missionary bishops, William Boone for China and Horatio Southgate for Constantinople, were elected in 1844. The church would later establish a presence in Japan and Liberia. On both the domestic and foreign fields, the Episcopal Church's missions could be characterized as "good schools, good hospitals and right ordered worship".Roozen 2005, p. 190.
