A Christian mission has been widely defined, since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, as that which is designed "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement." This definition is motivated a by theologically imperative theme of the Bible to make God known. The definition is claimed to summarize the acts of Jesus' ministry, which is taken as a model motivation for all ministries. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... The First International Congress on World Evangelization held from July 16. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ... Christian doctrine redirects here. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ...

The Christian missionary movement seeks to plant churches after the pattern of the first century Apostles. The process of forming disciples is necessarily social. "Church" should be understood in the widest sense, as an organization of believers rather than simply a building. Many churches start by meeting in houses. In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. ...

Church planting by cross-cultural missionaries leads to the establishment of self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating assemblies of believers. This is the famous "three-self" formula invented by Henry Venn of the London Church Missionary Society in the 19th century. Cross-cultural missionaries are persons who accept church-planting duties go to people outside their culture, as Christ commanded in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). For other uses, see Henry Venn (disambiguation). ... The Church Mission Society (formerly the Church Missionary Society) is a voluntary society working with the Anglican Church and other Protestant Christians around the world. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... In Christian tradition, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they spread the faith to all the world. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ...

However, Christian missions can more broadly mean any activity in which Christians are involved for world evangelization. St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar...

In addition to theological doctrine, many missionaries promote economic development, literacy, education, health care and orphanages, believing these causes advance the glory of God. Christian doctrines (such as the "Doctrine of Love" professed by many missions) may permit the provision of aid without requiring religious conversion. Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. ... The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. ... A physician visiting the sick in a hospital. ... // An orphanage is an institution or asylum for the care of a child bereaved of both father and mother; sometimes, also, a child who has but one parent living. ...

History of Christian missions

See also Timeline of Christian missions.

According to the documents of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the Biblical authority for missions begins quite early in Genesis 12:1-3, in which Abraham is blessed so that through him and his descendants, all the "peoples" of the world would be blessed. Others point to God's wish, often expressed in the Bible, that all peoples of the earth would worship Him. Therefore, Christian missions go where worship is not, in order to bring worship to God. // This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through its missionary work. ... For other uses, see Genesis (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ...

In this view, the early historical Jewish mission is that of being a people placed in the midst of the other nations, situated so that they could proclaim the Creator God that blessed them. This view is confirmed in many OT scriptures, (cf. Exodus 19:4-6, Psalm 67) as well as the nature of the temple (its outer court was "the court of the gentiles"). This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the second book in the Torah. ... Psalms (from the Greek: Psalmoi) (originally meaning songs sung to a harp, from psallein play on a stringed instrument, Ψαλμοί; Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or praises) is a book of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh or Old Testament. ... Solomons Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Beit HaMikdash), also known as the First Temple, was, according to the Bible, the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. ...

Several teachers including John R. W. Stott believe that a prominent prophecy in the Old Testament often unfolds continually and is certainly manifested in three situations, an immediate historical situation following the prophecy, a church-based intermediate situation, and an eschatological, end-of-time situation. Of course, Gen. 12:1-3 is such a prominent passage. John Stott John Robert Walmsley Stott, CBE (born 27 April 1921) is a British Christian leader and Anglican presbyter who is noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. ...

The first, and most famous missionary was St. Paul. He contextualized the Gospel for the Greek and Roman cultures, permitting it to reach beyond its Hebrew and Jewish context. For other uses, see Missionary (disambiguation). ... Paul of Tarsus (b. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ...

In the early Christian era, most missions were by monks. Monasteries followed disciplines and supported missions, libraries and practical research, all of which were perceived as works to reduce human misery and suffering, thus enhancing the reputation of God. For example, Nestorian communities evangelized much of N. Africa before Muhammad. Cistercians evangelized much of Northern Europe, as well as developing most of European agriculture's classic techniques. For other uses, see Monk (disambiguation). ... Monastery of St. ... The term Nestorianism is eponymous, even though the person who lent his name to it always denied the associated belief. ... Muhammad in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman. ... The Order of Cistercians (OCist) (Latin Cistercenses), otherwise Gimey or White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black scapular or apron) are a Catholic order of monks. ...

In the 16th century the proselyization of Asia was linked to the Portuguese colonial policy. With the Papal bull Romanus Pontifex the patronage for the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia was given to the Portuguese, who were rewarded with the right of conquest. The Portuguese trade with Asia was profitable and as Jesuits came to India around 1540, the colonial government in Goa supported the mission with incentives for baptized Christians.^[1] Later, Jesuits were sent to China and further countries in Asia. With the decline of the Portuguese power other colonial powers and Christian organisations gain influence. Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ... The Romanus Pontifex[1] is a papal bull written January 8, 1455 by Pope Nicholas V to King Afonso V of Portugal. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... For other uses, see Goa (disambiguation). ... The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China in the early modern era stands as one of the notable events in the early history of relations between China and the Western world, as well as a prominent example of relations between two cultures and belief systems in the...

After the Reformation, for nearly a hundred years, occupied by their struggle with the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant churches were not missionary-sending churches. But in the centuries that followed, the Protestant churches began sending missionaries in increasing numbers, spreading the proclamation of the Christian message to previously unreached people. In North America, missionaries to the native Americans included Jonathan Edwards, the well known preacher of the Great Awakening, who in his later years retired from the very public life of his early career. He became a missionary to the Housatonic Native Americans and a staunch advocate for them against cultural imperialism. Reformation redirects here. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703- March 22, 1758) was a colonial American Congregational preacher and theologian. ... The Great Awakenings refer to several periods of dramatic religious revival in Anglo-American religious history. ... Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, artificially injecting of the culture or language of one nation in another. ...

As European culture has been established in the midst of indigenous peoples, the cultural distance between Christians of differing cultures has been difficult to overcome. One early solution was the creation of segregated "praying towns" of Christian natives. This pattern of grudging acceptance of converts was repeated in Hawaii later when missionaries from that same New England culture went there. In Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Catholic missionaries selected and learned among the languages of the Amerindians and devised writing systems for them. Then they preached to them in those languages (Quechua, Guarani, Nahuatl) instead of Spanish, to keep Indians away from "sinful" whites. An extreme case were the Guarani Reductions, a theocratic semiindependent region established by the Jesuits. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Western Hemisphere of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... Quechua (Runa Simi in Quechua; Runa, human + Simi, speech, literally mouth; i. ... Guaraní (gwah-rah-nee) [gwarani] (local name: avañeẽ) is a language spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and southwestern Brazil. ... For the Spanish language as spoken in Mexico, see Mexican Spanish. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Jesuit Reductions were a particular version of the general Spanish colonial strategy of building reducciones de indios in order to civilise and catechise the native populations of South America. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ...

Around 1780, an indigent Baptist cobbler named William Carey began reading about James Cook's Polynesian journeys. His interest grew to a furious sort of "backwards homesickness," inspiring him to obtain Baptist orders, and eventually write his famous 1792 pamphlet, "An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of Heathen." Far from a dry book of theology, Carey's work used the best available geographic and ethnographic data to map and count the number of people who had never heard the Gospel. It formed a movement that has grown with increasing speed from his day to ours. 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist is... William Carey (August 17, 1761 – June 9, 1834) was an English missionary and Baptist minister, known as the father of modern missions. ... This article is about the British explorer. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Carey's example was followed by a number of missions to sea-side and port cities. The China Overseas Missionaries and Moravian Church are two of the more famous. The Moravian Seal, as rendered by North Carolina artist Marie Nifong. ...

Thomas Coke, the first bishop of the American Methodists, has been called "the Father of Methodist Missions". After spending time in the young American republic strengthening the infant Methodist Church alongside episcopal colleague Francis Asbury, the British-born Coke left for mission work. During his time in America, Coke worked vigorously to increase Methodist support of Christian missions and raising up mission workers. Coke died while on a mission trip to India, but his legacy among Methodists - his passion for missions - continues. Thomas Coke (1747–1814) was born in the Welsh town of Brecon, the son of a wealthy apothecary. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      This article... This article is about the current Christian denomination based in the United States. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... Francis Asbury (August 20, 1745 – March 31, 1816) was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. ...

Missionary preaching in China using The Wordless Book

The next wave of missions, starting in the early 1850s, was to inland areas, led by Hudson Taylor with his China Inland Mission. Taylor was later supported by Henry Grattan Guinness who founded Cliff College which exists today for the purpose of training and equipping local and global mission. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 460 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1668 × 2172 pixel, file size: 414 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) From Chinas Millions; China Inland Mission; London; January 1892 (colors added by Brian York in photoshop for emphasis) This image is in the public domain... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 460 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1668 × 2172 pixel, file size: 414 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) From Chinas Millions; China Inland Mission; London; January 1892 (colors added by Brian York in photoshop for emphasis) This image is in the public domain... Open air preaching in China using the Wordless Book[1] The Wordless Book is a Christian evangelistic device. ... Hudson & Maria Taylor in 1865 James Hudson Taylor 戴德生 (May 21, 1832 – June 3, 1905), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM) (now OMF International) who served there for 51 years, bringing over 800 missionaries to the country and directly resulting in... The China Inland Mission was a missionary society, set up by English missionary Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865 in Brighton during a home leave. ... Henry Guinness. ... Henry Grattan Guinness established Hulme Cliff College in 1883 following the success of Harley College, which had out grown its site in Bromley-by-Bow. ...

The new wave of missions inspired by Taylor and Guinness have collectively been called "faith missions" and owe much to the ideas and example of Anthony Norris Groves. Taylor was a thorough-going nativist, offending the missionaries of his era by wearing Chinese clothing and speaking Chinese at home. His books, speaking and examples led to the formation of numerous inland missions, and the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM), which from 1850 to about 1950 sent nearly 10,000 missionaries to inland areas, often at great personal sacrifice. Many early SVM missionaries to areas with endemic tropical diseases left with their belongings packed in a coffin, aware that 80% of them would die within two years. Faith mission is a term used most frequently among Evangelical Christians to refer to a missionary agency with an approach to evangelism that requires its missionaries to trust in God to provide the necessary resources and who are not financially supported by denominations with a fixed salary. ... Anthony Norris Groves (February 1, 1795 - May 20, 1853), has been described as the father of faith missions. He launched the first Protestant mission to Arabic-speaking Muslims, and settled in Baghdad, now the capital of Iraq, and later in southern India. ... In the field of psychology, nativism is the view that certain skills or abilities are native or hard wired into the brain at birth. ... The Student Volunteer Movement, or the SVM, began in July, 1886, when Dwight L. Moody held a Bible study conference of collegiate chapters of the YMCA at Mount Hermon, Massachusetts. ...

In 1910, the Edinburgh Missionary Conference was held in Scotland. Presided over by active SVM leader (and future Nobel Peace Prize recipient) John R. Mott, an American Methodist layperson, the conference reviewed the state of evangelism, Bible translation, mobilization of church support, and the training of indigenous leadership. Looking to the future, conferees worked on strategies for worldwide evangelism and cooperation. The conference not only established greater ecumenical cooperation in missions, but also essentially launched the modern ecumenical movement. Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Edinburgh Missionary Conference held in June of 1910 was both the culmination of nineteenth-century Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Christian ecumenical movement. ... This article is about the country. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 - January 31, 1955) was a long-serving leader of the YMCA. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Christian student organizations that worked to promote peace. ... This article is about the current Christian denomination based in the United States. ... Christian ecumenism is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of the Christian religion, more or less broadly defined. ...

The next wave of missions was started by two missionaries, Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran, around 1935. These men realized that although earlier missionaries had reached geographic areas, there were numerous ethnographic groups that were isolated by language, or class from the groups that missionaries had reached. Cameron formed Wycliffe Bible Translators to translate the Bible into native languages. McGavran concentrated on finding bridges to cross the class and cultural barriers in places like India, which has upwards of 4,600 peoples, separated by a combination of language, culture and caste. Despite democratic reforms, caste and class differences are still fundamental in many cultures. William Cameron Townsend is a prominent christian missionary whose ministry began in the early twentieth century. ... Donald McGavran is a missionary of the mid to late twentieth century. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... Wycliffe Bible Translators is a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, USA. It is dedicated to making a translation of the Bible in every living language in the world, especially for cultures with little existing Christian influence, sometimes referred to as unreached people groups. Wycliffe was founded in 1942...

An equally important dimension of missions strategy is the indigenous method of nationals reaching their own people. In Asia this wave of missions was pioneered by men like Dr G D James of Singapore, Rev Theodore Williams of India and Dr David Cho of Korea. The "two thirds Missions Movement" as it is referred to, is today a major force in missions.

Most modern missionaries and missionary societies have repudiated cultural imperialism, and elected to focus on spreading the Gospel and translating the Bible. Sometimes, missionaries have been vital in preserving and documenting the culture of the peoples among whom they live.

Often, missionaries provide welfare and health services, as a good deed or to make friends with the locals. Thousands of schools, orphanages, and hospitals have been established by missions. One of the quietest, yet most far-reaching services provided by missionaries started with the Each one, teach one literacy program begun by Dr. Frank Laubach in the Philippines in 1935. The program has since spread around the world and brought literacy to the least enabled members of many societies. The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. ... Dr. Frank C. Laubach (September 2, 1884—June 11, 1970) was a Christian Evangelical missionary and mystic known as The Apostle to the Illiterates. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ...

The word "mission" was historically often applied to the building, the "mission station" in which the missionary lives or works. In some colonies, these mission stations became a focus of settlement of displaced or formerly nomadic people. Particularly in rural Australia, missions have become localities or ghettoes on the edges of towns which are home to many Indigenous Australians. The word may be seen as derogatory when used in this context in a derogatory or racist way. A Mission station is a location for missionary work. ... For the 2006 historical epic set in Kazakhstan, see Nomad (2006 film). ... A Mission station is a location for missionary work. ... For the rapper, see Ghetto (rapper). ... Language(s) Several hundred Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so), Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol Religion(s) Primarily Christian, with minorities of other religions including various forms of Traditional belief systems based around the Dreamtime Related ethnic groups see List of Indigenous Australian group...

Modern missionary methods and doctrines

A Christian missionary’s objective is to give an understandable presentation of their beliefs with the hope that people will choose to convert from other faiths to Christianity. As a matter of strategy, many evangelical Christians in Europe and North America now focus on what they call the "10/40 window," a band of countries between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude and reaching from western Africa through Asia. Christian missions strategist Luis Bush pinpointed the need for a major focus of evangelism in the "10/40 Window," a phrase he coined in his presentation at the missionary conference Lausanne 1989 in Manila. Sometimes referred to as the "Resistant Belt," it is an area that includes 35% of the world's land mass, 90% of the world's poorest peoples and 95% of those who have yet to hear anything about Christianity. For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The word evangelicalism often refers to... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... This article is about the geographical term. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... Luis Bush Luis Bush is a naturalized American Christian activist and adjunct professor of intercultural studies at Columbia International University. ... The Second International Congress on World Evangelization, often called Lausanne II or Lausanne 89 was held in Manila. ...

In modern missionary strategy, mission stations are deprecated, because they were historically ineffective. Mission stations normally created disaffected individual converts, often seen as an outcast by their family and culture. In many cases, the only source of converts to a mission station were the orphans raised in the station's orphanage. Also, many mission station's converts were so alienated from surrounding cultures that they were unable to get work outside the mission station, let alone act as cultural ambassadors for Christianity. In some cases, these paid "rice bowl Christians" actively impeded Christian conversion in the mission's schools and orphanages so that their own incomes would not be reduced as more Christians came to depend on the mission station. A Mission station is a location for missionary work. ...

Modern pioneering missionary doctrines now focus on inserting a culturally adapted seed of Christian doctrines into a self-selected, self-motivated group of native believers, without removing the natives from their culture in any way.

Modern mission techniques are sufficiently refined that within ten to fifteen years, most native churches are natively pastored, managed, taught, self-supporting and evangelizing. The process can be substantially faster if a preexisting translation of the Bible and higher pastoral education are already available, perhaps left-over from earlier, less effective missions. The Bible has been translated into many languages. ...

A key approach is to let native cultural groups decide to adopt Christian doctrines and benefits, when (as in most cultures) such major decisions are normally made by groups. In this way, opinion leaders in the groups can persuade much or most of the groups to convert. When combined with training in church planting and other modern missionary doctrine, the result is an accelerating, self-propelled conversion of large portions of the culture. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

A typical modern mission is a co-operative effort by many different ministries, often including several coordinating ministries, often with separate funding sources. One typical effort proceeded as follows:

1. A missionary radio group recruits, trains and broadcasts in the main dialect of the target culture's language. Broadcast content is carefully adapted to avoid syncretism yet help the Christian Gospel seem like a native, normal part of the target culture. Broadcast content often includes news, music, entertainment and education in the language, as well as purely Christian items.
2. Broadcasts might advertise programs, inexpensive radios (possibly spring-wound), and a literature ministry that sells a Christian mail-order correspondence course at nominal costs. The literature ministry is key, and is normally a separate organization from the radio ministry. Modern literature missions are shifting to web-based content where it makes sense (as in Western Europe and Japan).
3. When a person or group completes a correspondence course, they are invited to contact a church-planting missionary group from (if possible) a related cultural group. The church-planting ministry is usually a different ministry from either the literature or radio ministries. The church-planting ministry usually requires its missionaries to be fluent in the target language, and trained in modern church-planting techniques.
4. The missionary then leads the group to start a church. Churches planted by these groups are usually a group that meets in a house. The object is the minimum organization that can perform the required character development and spiritual growth. Buildings, complex ministries and other expensive items are mentioned, but deprecated until the group naturally achieves the size and budget to afford them. The crucial training is how to set up a church (meet to study the Bible, and perform communion and worship), and how to become a Christian (the finer points of obeying God), usually in that order.
5. A new generation of churches is created, and the growth begins to accelerate geometrically. Frequently, daughter churches are created only a few months after a church's creation. In the fastest-growing Christian movements, the pastoral education is "pipelined", flowing in a just-in-time fashion from the central churches to daughter churches. That is, planting of churches does not wait for the complete training of pastors.

The most crucial part of church planting is selection and training of leadership. Classically, leadership training required an expensive stay at a seminary, a Bible college. Modern church planters deprecate this because it substantially slows the growth of the church without much immediate benefit. Modern mission doctrines replace the seminary with programmed curricula or (even less expensive) books of discussion questions, and access to real theological books. The materials are usually made available in a major trading language in which most native leaders are likely to be fluent. In some cases, the materials can be adapted for oral use. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the Ecuadorian artist, see Manuel Rendón Seminario. ...

It turns out that new pastors' practical needs for theology are well addressed by a combination of practical procedures for church planting, discussion in small groups, and motivated Bible-based study from diverse theological texts. As a culture's church's wealth increases, it will naturally form classic seminaries on its own. Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ...

Another related mission is Bible translation. The above-mentioned literature has to be translated. Missionaries actively experiment with advanced linguistic techniques to speed translation and literacy. Bible translation not only speeds a church's growth by aiding self-training, but it also assures that Christian information becomes a permanent part of the native culture and literature. Some ministries also use modern recording techniques to reach groups with audio that could not be soon reached with literature. The Bible has been translated into many languages. ... SIL International is a worldwide non-profit evangelical Christian organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document lesser-known languages in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development. ...

Recently, there has been a movement in the United States called home school mission in which a Christian is encouraged to train their children in the faith. This has arisen in the development of secular education that has increasingly excluded the Christian message. As a result many groups have focused missionary effort within the home to ensure that the children remain Christian rather than becoming secular as a result of daily training in secular schools.

Controversy and Christian missionaries

Some governments (such as Islamic nations, Communist China and Russia), secular anthropologists and sociologists object to missionary work among isolated indigenous populations. Some consequences are claimed to have been apostasy from Islam, disloyalty to the Communist Party, cultural assimulation, reduction of native language speakers, and loss of native culture.In fact, Christian missionaries have been criticised for having a general lack of respect for native cultures throughout history, even actively working to undermine the religious customs and beliefs of many non-Christian countries. This has been called Ethnocide and Cultural genocide and Cultural Imperialism. Ethnocide is a concept related to genocide; unlike genocide, which has entered into international law, ethnocide remains primarily the province of ethnologists, who have not yet settled on a single cohesive meaning for the term. ... Cultural genocide is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political or military reasons. ... Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, artificially injecting of the culture or language of one nation in another. ...

The Christian missionary mindset is generally depicted as that of simple religious folk with a pure desire to peacefully spread their gospel and message of love. In reality, their methods of propagation are often anything but peaceful and usually leave behind a native population stripped of their culture and often decimated.... In the words of one resident of Thailand, "They [Christian missionaries] seemed that they did not show any interest for our culture. Why? They are just eager to build big churches in every village. It seems that they are having two faces; under the title of help they suppress us. To the world, they gained their reputations as benefactors of disappearing tribes. They built their reputations on us for many years. The way they behaved with us seemed as if we did not know about god before they arrived here. Why do missionaries think they are the only ones who can perceive God?"^[2]

In India, it is charged by some that publicized persecution of Christians is, in fact, incited by the exclusivity and exceptionalism of Christian missionaries. These tensions have boiled over into violence. The governments of the affected states assert that most conversions undertaken by zealous evangelicals occur due to compulsion, inducement or fraud.^[3][4] In the Indian state of Tripura, the government has alleged financial and weapons-smuggling connections between Baptist missionaries and Christian terrorist groups like the Nagaland Rebels and the National Liberation Front of Tripura.^[5] Hindus have claimed that these organizations persecute^[6] and slaughter Hindus by the thousands.^[7] See also National Liberation Front of Tripura and [1]. Tripura   (Bengali: ত্রিপুরা, Hindi: त्रिपुरा) is a state in North East India. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist is... This article is becoming very long. ... Nagaland Rebels There are several separationist groups operating in Nagaland, in eastern India. ... The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) was formed in December 1989 for the purpose of seceding from India in order to create an independent state of Tripura. ... The Ku Klux Klan with a fiery cross Christian terrorism is a form of militant extremism that attempts to spread fear and terror, to perpetrate ideological goals, through violent attacks against civilian populations. ...

You are probably wondering what is the aggression caused by Christians in India. You may wonder how can a minority religion that is only 3% of the population cause aggression in a nation of over 1,000,000,000 people. In the press, the aggression and "persecution" of Christians is often publicized. However, it is never publicized how Christian Fundamentalists often incite this cycle of violence and aggression.... Christians believe that they have been commanded by Christ to go and "save" (convert) the people of this world. This is also supposed to give them special merit when it comes to the day of final judgment. While there are many Christians who today do not believe in this exclusivity, there are a still large number of misguided Christians who still believe in the exclusivity of Christianity and the concept of saving souls. It is this misguided belief that breeds a hatred and intolerance for other religions. and from this hatred, these Christian Fundamentalists begin their aggression to convert. And often they will go to any means to convert even if it means violence. This website seeks to educate the world about the atrocities that conversions bring and to bring this aggressive nature of Christianity to an end.^[8]

Often, some assert, coersion comes in the form of a pressure to convert through the injecting of fear of dire consequences if they don't. "Missionaries are actually in essence terrorists. Why? They come to us and say, 'If you don't do as we say, you are going to hell! You will die! You will be judged! You are not part of us! You are children of the Satan!' etc.etc. Aren't these sentences terrorising?"^[9]

The Vatican, of late, is taking a somewhat different view toward proselytizing.

"In mid-May, the Vatican was also co-sponsoring a meeting about how some religious groups abuse liberties by proselytizing, or by evangelizing in aggressive or deceptive ways. Iraq ... has become an open field for foreigners looking for fresh converts. Some Catholic Church leaders and aid organizations have expressed concern about new Christian groups coming in and luring Iraqis to their churches with offers of cash, clothing, food or jobs.... Reports of aggressive proselytism and reportedly forced conversions in mostly Hindu India have fueled religious tensions and violence there and have prompted some regional governments to pass laws banning proselytism or religious conversion.... Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya, a Hindu monk from southern India, told CNS that India's poor and uneducated are especially vulnerable to coercive or deceptive methods of evangelization.... Aid work must not hide any ulterior motives and avoid exploiting vulnerable people like children and the disabled, she said."^[10]

In an interview with Outlook Magazine, Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya said "If the Vatican could understand that every religious and spiritual tradition is as sacred as Christianity, and that they have a right to exist without being denigrated or extinguished, it will greatly serve the interests of dialogue, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence."^[11]

The meeting of religious leaders from the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Judaism and Yoruba faiths resulted in an agreement on ten points about proseltyzation, notably that if done, it be with respect for other cultures^[12]

The fictional movie The Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford depicts this missionary mindset and the damage some feel it can wreak upon native peoples. Another movie, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which is factually based, tells of similar destruction brought upon the Inuit culture by missionaries. See also Siqqitiq and these reference works on the subject. The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. ... For the silent film actor, see Harrison Ford (silent film actor). ... Siqqitiq (meaning transforming ones life, more specifically adopting Christianity) is the ritual of converting Inuits with shamanist beliefs to Christianity. ...

Aid and Evangelism

Another source of conflict regarding missionaries in the third world is the charge that the aid that comes in response to various world disasters comes with a condition: that assistance requires conversion. While there is a general agreement among most major aid organizations not to mix aid with proseltyzing, others see disasters as a means to spread the word. Innovative Minds, a Muslim software company "specialising in the application of internet and multimedia technology for promoting a better understanding of Islam in the west" has written a report^[13] about just such an occurrence, the tidal wave (tsunami) that devastated parts of Asia on December 26, 2004. is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"This (disaster) is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people," said K.P. Yohannan, president of the Texas-based Gospel for Asia. In an interview, Yohannan said his 14,500 "native missionaries" in India, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands are giving survivors Bibles and booklets about "how to find hope in this time through the word of God." In Krabi, Thailand, a Southern Baptist church had been "praying for a way to make inroads" with a particular ethnic group of fishermen, according to Southern Baptist relief coordinator Pat Julian. Then came the tsunami, "a phenomenal opportunity" to provide ministry and care, Julian told the Baptist Press news service.... Not all evangelicals agree with these tactics. "It's not appropriate in a crisis like this to take advantage of people who are hurting and suffering," said the Rev. Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan's Purse and son of evangelist Billy Graham.".^[14]

See also A Dangerous mix: Religion & Development Aid.

The Christian Science Monitor echoes these concerns... "'I think evangelists do this out of the best intentions, but there is a responsibility to try to understand other faith groups and their culture,' says Vince Isner, director of FaithfulAmerica.org, a program of the National Council of Churches USA".^[15]

The Bush administration has in fact recently made it easier for U.S. faith based groups and missionary societies to tie aid and church together.

For decades, US policy has sought to avoid intermingling government programs and religious proselytizing. The aim is both to abide by the Constitution's prohibition against a state religion and to ensure that aid recipients don't forgo assistance because they don't share the religion of the provider.... But many of those restrictions were removed by Bush in a little-noticed series of executive orders -- a policy change that cleared the way for religious groups to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in additional government funding. It also helped change the message American aid workers bring to many corners of the world, from emphasizing religious neutrality to touting the healing powers of the Christian God.^[16]

Christian counter-claims

One Christian organization, Voice of the Martyrs, in contrast to reports of Christian aggression in India, claims that it is Christians, not Indians, that are the recipients of violent aggression in India from "radical Hindus" (presumably Hindu Nationalists). One example is the brutal murder of Australian Graham Staines and his family who had been evangelizing and conducting aid work since 1965. The perpetrators say that it was the disrespect of Hindu religious tradition following such conversions, such as the eating of beef (cows are considered sacred to Hindus) which set them off. Hindutva (Hinduness, a word coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet entitled Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? ) is used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism. ... Graham Stuart Staines (d. ...

Missionaries, however, say that "false reports" of forced conversion are a key weapon in the Hindu Nationalist fight against both Christian missionaries and native-born Christian Indians (this despite the fact that Hindu Nationalists such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh frequently cooperate with Christian groups in times of natural disaster^[17] and have a good relationship with many Catholic organizations overall). The government in India has passed anti-conversion laws in several states that are supposedly meant to prevent conversions from "force or allurement", but are primarily used, they say, to persecute and criminalize voluntary conversion due to the government's broad definition of "force and allurement." Any gift received from a Christian is considered allurement. V.O.M. reports that aid-workers claim that they are being hindered from reaching people with much needed services as a result of this persecution.^[18] Alan de Lastic, Roman Catholic archbishop of New Delhi states that claims of forced conversion are false^[19] The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Hindi: , English: ), also known as the Sangh or the RSS, is a Hindu nationalist organization in India. ...

"'There are attacks practically every week, maybe not resulting in death, but still, violent attacks,' Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India tells The Christian Science Monitor today. 'They [India's controlling BJP party] have created an atmosphere where minorities do feel insecure.'"^[20] According to Prakash Louis, director of the secular Indian Social Institute in New Delhi, "We are seeing a broad attempt to stifle religious minorities and their constitutional rights...Today, they say you have no right to convert, Tomorrow you have no right to worship in certain places."^[21] Existing congregations, often during times of worship, are being persecuted.^[22] Properties are sometimes destroyed and burnt to the ground, while native pastors are sometimes beaten and left for dead.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]}

References

The Niyogi Committee Report On Christian Missionary Activities is a report published by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1956. ... , Madhya Pradesh (abbreviated as MP)   (HindÄ«: मध्य प्रदेश, English: , IPA: ), often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. ...

Bibliography

Positive or Neutral

• Discovering Missions by Gailey and Culbertson ISBN 083412257X
• Introducing World Missions by Moreau, Corwin and McGree ISBN 0801026482
• Missions by Van Rheenen ISBN 0310208092
• Operation World by Johnstone ISBN 1850783578
• Perspectives on the World Christian Movement edited by Winter and Hawthorne ISBN 0878082891

Critical

• Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide by George E. Tinker ISBN 9780800625764
• The Missionaries: God Against the Indians by Norman Lewis ISBN 0140131752
• The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe ISBN 0964487349

See also

• Evangelism
• Christianity and paganism
• Missionary
• List of Protestant missionary societies
• Missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Persecution by Christians
• Proselytism
• Religious conversion
• Short-term missions
• Timeline of Christian missions
• Inner mission
• Open Air Campaigners

Look up evangelist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Early Christianity developed in Roman Judea and in the milieu of Hellenistic Judaism, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries leading an underground existence as an illicit mystery religion, in the 4th century undergoing syncretism with Roman imperial cult and Hellenistic philosophy, a process completed by AD 391 with the ban... For other uses, see Missionary (disambiguation). ... The following List of Protestant missionary societies below were the most noteworthy Protestant Christian missionary organizations that began between 1691-1900[1]. // 1691 Christian Faith Society for the West Indies 1698 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 1701 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 1732 Moravian Missions... The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well known for their efforts to contact the public through proselyting activities. ... Christians have at times persecuted non-Christians on the basis of conflicts in their religious beliefs. ... Proselytism is the practice of attempting to convert people to another opinion, usually another religion. ... Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religious identity, or a change from one religious identity to another. ... Short-Term Missions (STM) is a trend in Christian missions that is mobilizing thousands as missionaries for short periods of time ranging from days to a year. ... // This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through its missionary work. ... An inner mission or rescue mission is a project set up by Christian groups to aid the poor and sick in the home country of the group. ... Open Air Campaigners (OAC) is an evangelistic ministry of preaching the gospel to lost people and mobilizing the body of Christ primarily through effective open-air preaching. ...

External links

• Crusade Watch
• Mission Opportunities - Visit worldwide directory and become a missionary, find Christian missions overseas.
• Cliff College - training Christians for mission and evangelism.
• Cross Search Missions Directory - Collection of missions related organizations and websites.
• Missiology.org - Resources on missions (Christian) education.
• LFM. Social sciences & missions (academic journal)
• AskAMissionary.com - over 300 answers online about becoming a missionary.
• Fish4Him.org - Christian Missions Portal
• Missions Organizations Directory - Missionary organizations and some of their current efforts.
• Adventures In Missions - Inter-denomninational, short-term missions organization that sends over 8000 missionaries into the foreign and domestic mission field each year.
• Youth for Christ, International - Short-term missions organization.
• Youth With a Mission (YWAM) - First major short-term missions organization for laypeople.
• World Vision - International adoption agency and community development organization.
• Compassion - International adoption agency that seeks to "release children from poverty in Jesus' name."