THE JACKSON KEMPER MISSION FUND

A Missionary Fund of the Diocese of the Central and Western States, Anglican Province of America

The Rt. Rev. David Jackson Kemper was born in Pleasant Valley, New York, on December 24, 1789.  He graduated from Columbia College in 1809 and was ordained deacon in 1811, and priest in 1814. 

Thereafter he served Bishop William White as assistant at Christ Church in Philadelphia. (In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, diocesan bishops in the Episcopal Church also continued their ministries as rectors of parishes.) At Kemper’s urging, Bishop White made his first and only episcopal visitation in western Pennsylvania.

In 1835, Kemper was ordained bishop in accordance with a canon that provided for missionary bishops to serve the frontier and in foreign countries. Bishop Kemper immediately set out on his travels through the vast territory committed to his episcopal charge. Assigned to Missouri and Indiana, Kemper also laid foundations in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas; and made extensive missionary tours in the South and Southwest. His unofficial title was “Bishop of the Whole Northwest”.

Bishop Kemper established Kemper College in St Louis, Missouri, to help train clergymen for specialized tasks in the Church, including preparation for the sometimes harsh life of the frontier. The College failed in 1845 from inadequate funding. Nashotah House, which he founded in 1842 with the help of James Lloyd Breck and his companions, was more successful, as was Racine College, founded in 1852.  Both institutions reflected Kemper’s devotion to beauty in liturgy. He ordained James DeKoven to the priesthood in 1855.

From 1859 until his death in 1870, he served as the diocesan bishop of Wisconsin.

HOW TO DONATE TO THE FUND

Donations to the Jackson Kemper Mission Fund will enable the Diocese of the Central and Western States to expand its presence in the same geography in which The Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper planted numerous missions, from Wisconsin to southern Texas. Although no longer the frontier of his day, the Church faces new challenges in yet a newer "frontier". Traditional Anglican churches do not presently exist in many of the states of this Diocese, and we ask for your monetary help to insure that new, vibrant churches are planted.  

Please consider making a donation to this fund. Checks and money orders should be made payable to "Diocese of the Central and Western States" and designated to "Jackson Kemper Mission Fund".

Mail to: Diocese of the Central and Western States, 20403 Encino Ledge, #593375, San Antonio, TX 78259-9998