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Karl E. Anderson (1867-1946) and his wife, Emma Jennie Wardle Anderson (1878-1963), were education missionaries with the Methodist Episcopal Church in India from 1899 to 1932. Educated at Cornell College (M.A., 1899) in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, He was recruited as a missionary by Bishop James Mills Thoburn. Karl Anderson was appointed to India in June 1899 and sailed on October 21, 1899. He worked first in Madras (1899-1901) and later in Bangalore (1901-1909). On October 23, 1903 he married Emma Jennie Wardle.

In January 1909 Anderson returned to the United States on furlough and took a leave of absence from missionary work. He was active in the Upper Iowa and Northwest Iowa Conferences, but was later reappointed to India on November 19, 1913 to work in Kolar, Bangalore, and Bidar. From 1926 to 1930 he served as District Superintendent for Bidar. He retired June 1, 1932, and died at Glendale, California on September 5, 1946.

Emma Jennie Wardle Anderson was educated at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa (1903), and at the Chicago Training School. Before becoming a missionary, she taught music at the Chicago Training School from 1901 to 1902. She was first appointed to the India field in April of 1903 and sailed to India on September 19, 1903. In that year she married Karl Anderson. She worked with her husband in Kolar, Bangalore, and Bidar until their retirement in 1932.

Dorothea Anderson Kemper, missionary and educator, was the daughter of Karl and Emma Anderson. She served as a short-term educational missionary in southern India. She later taught religious education in the San Francisco Theological Seminary and in the California public schools.

A variety of agencies have come together to create the current General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. This history will focus on the creation of the Division of World Missions. The missionary work of the denomination began with the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Missionary Society was organized on April 5, 1819 in New York, and became an officially supported agency, through General Conference action, in 1820. The purpose of the organization was to enable the several Annual Conferences to eangelizel more effectively, and to aid them in their benevolent and charitable work in both domestic and foreign missions. The Missionary Society administered its work through a board of managers and its corresponding secretaries, subject to the General Missionary Committee, which met annually to make appropriations and establish policy. The board had its headquarters in New York City.

The Board of Foreign Missions was organized on January 1, 1907. Along with the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, it replaced the Missionary Society in a reorganization of the Church's benevolent agencies. It is the successor to the Missionary Society in foreign work. Its objectives were religious and philanthropic, designed to share the Christian faith through promotion and support of Christian missions and educational institutions in foreign countries. The board maintained its headquarters in New York City.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South also created a missionary society shortly after its creation in 1846. In 1866, the missionary operation of the MECS were divided between a Domestic Board and a Foreign Board. The board had authority to make by-laws for regulating its own proceedings; to appropriate money to defray incidental expenses; to provide for the support of superannuated missionaries, and widows and orphans of missionaries, who may not be provided for by any Annual Conference. It was responsible for printing books for the Indian and foreign Missions, and for building houses of worship, schoolhouses, and residences for the missionaries, in any of the mission fields under its charge. It published annually a statement of its transactions and funds and submitted such report to the General Conference.

In 1870 the General Conference of the MECS revised the missions system. A Board of Missions had charge of the foreign missions, and of all others not provided for by the Annual Conferences. The Board of Missions had authority to regulate its own proceedings; to appropriate money to defray incidental expenses; to provide for the support of superannuated missionaries, and widows and orphans of missionaries, who may not be provided for by any Annual Conference. It was responsible for printing books for the Indian, German, and foreign missions; and for building houses of worship, school houses, and residences for the missionaries, and defray all other necessary expenses incident to the work under its care. After 1910 this was more formally structured into three departments, one of which was the Foreign Work Department.

The Methodist Protestant Church also established mission agencies shortly after its creation in the 1830s. This board was founded in 1834 by the first General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church. It had its headquarters in Baltimore and, in 1850, in Pittsburgh. Despite its name, for nearly 50 years the Board of Foreign Missions concentrated mostly upon domestic missions. the Board had the management of, and appointment of missionaries to foreign missions. The board was responsible for submitting to the General Conference a report of all the transactions, funds, societies, circuits, and missionary stations under its control and government. In 1877 the Board underwent reorganization. The mission work of this board was designated Home (within the U.S. and its Territories) and Foreign (elsewhere) Missions. The Home and Foreign Missions were conducted as two distinct and separate interests, with separate accounts, and reported separately to the Board and the General Conference. In 1928, this board was merged the Woman's Home Missionary Society. The board had the authority to establish missions and direct their work; to build churches, schools, homes, orphanages, and hospitals; to employ missionaries, pastors, and workers, and to supervise their labors; and to change and remove missionaries, ministers, and workers, and to vacate pulpits, as the interest of the board may have demanded. The Board had supervisory authority over the Women's Missionary branches and auxiliaries. The board promoted religious education, disseminated missionary information, and encouraged a benevolent spirit in the churches. It was responsible for arranging for the publication of the Missionary Record and the annual and quadrennial reports of the Board.

In 1939 the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church was created. This board, a merger of the missionary interests (both home and foreign, both general and women's) of the three uniting denominations, was organized in July 1939 and was so named until 1952. The World Division administered and promoted the work of missions outside the United States and its dependencies.

The Evangelical Association also created a mission agency in 1839. The purpose of this society was to enable the Evangelical Association, in a more effectual manner, to extend and prosecute its missionary labors in the United States and elsewhere. In 1922 there was a reorganization of the society so that it was under the direction of a Board of Missions.

The United Brethren in Christ created a missionary society in 1841. This society was organized for the purpose of aiding the Annual Conferences in extending their missionary labors throughout the country, and into foreign lands. In 1905 the Missionary Society was reorganized into two organizations; the Foreign Missionary Society and the Home Missionary Society.

The Board of Missions of the Evangelical United Brethren Church is a union of the Home Mission and Church Erection Society, the Foreign Missionary Society, and the Women's Missionary Association, all of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and the Missionary Society and the Board of Church Extension of the Evangelical Church. The purpose of this board was to disseminate missionary information; to create missionary zeal throughout the EUB Church; to gather missionary and church extension funds; and to promote, extend, and supervise the missionary and church extension activities of the EUB Church.

In The United Methodist Church the Board of Missions was created in 1968. In 1972 it was renamed the General Board of Global Ministries. The World Division continued to focus on benevolent and missionary work outside of North America.