 The Baptist Missionary Society was formed in 1792 and the London Missionary Society was formed in 1795 to represent various evangelical denominations.The Society for Missions to Africa and the East (as the society was first called) was founded on 12 April 1799 at a meeting of the Eclectic Society, supported by members of the Clapham Sect, a group of activist evangelical Christians, who met under the guidance of John Venn, the Rector of Clapham.Their number included Charles Simeon, Basil Woodd, Henry Thornton, Thomas Babington and William Wilberforce.