He returned to Cambridge in 1933 to train for the ministry at Westminster College, and in July 1936 he was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh to work as a Church of Scotland missionary at the Madras Mission.

[8] Newbigin and his wife Helen left India in 1974 and made their way overland back to the UK using local buses, carrying two suitcases and a rucksack.

During this time, he preached at Elizabeth II's Scottish Country House Balmoral Castle and continued the prolific writing career that established him as one of the most respected and significant theologians of the twentieth century.

It was during this time that he wrote two of his most important works, Foolishness to the Greeks and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society[10] in which the strong influence of thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre and Michael Polanyi is apparent.

He returned to these themes in his small volume Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt and Certainty in Christian Discipleship, published in 1995, in the closing years of his life.

[11] Milestone In his mission time he influenced that first 'MERCY PETITION' for the people who wait for death punishment in independent India, Tamil Nadu.

At Newbigin's funeral service on 7 February 1998 his close friend Dr. Dan Beeby said, "Not too long ago, some children in Selly Oak were helped to see the world upside down when the aged bishop stood on his head!

[5] In 2008, Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan opened the Newbigin House of Studies with City Church San Francisco, focused specifically on leadership development of laity.