The first British Missionary Societies were established at the beginning of the 18th century. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel that was founded by the Church of England, began work in India in 1710. By the 1740s missionaries had also been sent to North America and the West Indies.

The Church of Scotland established the Scottish Missionary Society in 1796 and three years later, the Evangelical Movement encouraged the Church of England to start the Anglican Church Missionary Society.

Nonconformists also became involved in missionary work. This included the establishment of the Baptist Missionary Society (1792), the Congregationalist Missionary Society (1795) and the Wesleyan Missionary Society (1813).