His article was widely distributed in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
The Canadian resolution asked the Congregational Union of England and Wales to consider the feasibility of such a meeting.
The Congregational Union of England and Wales approved the idea, but practical steps to the congress only came after the Congregational Union of New South Wales approved the idea at a meeting in Melbourne in 1888.
In October of that year the American Congregationalist unanimously approved the idea of the gathering at its Triennial Council in Worcester, Massachusetts, after being formally invited by the English.
After much correspondence and deliberations by arrangement committees the First International Congregational Council opened in London at Memorial Hall on July 13, 1891.