In all his writings, Allen's overriding concern was to show that missionary method, far from being a secondary or indifferent matter, is a matter of supreme importance.

Roland Allen trained for the ministry at Oxford and became a priest in 1893. As a missionary in North China, he worked for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and also in collaboration with the founders of World Dominion. His experiences in China prompted him to radically re-assess the theology and missionary methods of the Western churches. He retired to Africa, where he died in Kenya in 1947. His published works enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, and are still highly influential today.