Missionary

Hong Kong Christians at Gateway Camp. In 2005, there were four times as many non-Western World Christians as there were Western World Christians.

A missionary is one who spreads a religion or faith. Christian missionaries were involved in many early colonialism efforts, explaining the spread and staying power of Catholicism in South American nations like Mexico and throughout the Pacific nations.

Due in part to missionaries, in terms of its geographic distribution, Christianity is the most globally diverse religion.

Bible verse about missionaries: "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:11-13

African missionaries

See also: Christianity in Africa

Missionaries have been active in Africa for centuries, and there are currently many missionaries serving in Africa today. Missionaries come from a number of denominations, including Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican.

As of 2023, there are an estimated 718 million Christians from all denominations in Africa, up from about 10 million in 1900. . Gordon Conwell university's Study of Global Christianity projects 750+ Million Christians for Africa by 2025!

Protestant missionaries and their effect on history

The atheist and Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."

See also: Protestantism and Protestant cultural legacies and Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The article "The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries" published in Christianity Today notes:

“

In his fifth year of graduate school, Woodberry created a statistical model that could test the connection between missionary work and the health of nations. He and a few research assistants spent two years coding data and refining their methods. They hoped to compute the lasting effect of missionaries, on average, worldwide... One morning, in a windowless, dusty computer lab lit by fluorescent bulbs, Woodberry ran the first big test. After he finished prepping the statistical program on his computer, he clicked "Enter" and then leaned forward to read the results. "I was shocked," says Woodberry. "It was like an atomic bomb. The impact of missions on global democracy was huge. I kept adding variables to the model—factors that people had been studying and writing about for the past 40 years—and they all got wiped out. It was amazing. I knew, then, I was on to something really important." Woodberry already had historical proof that missionaries had educated women and the poor, promoted widespread printing, led nationalist movements that empowered ordinary citizens, and fueled other key elements of democracy. Now the statistics were backing it up: Missionaries weren't just part of the picture. They were central to it... Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations. In short: Want a blossoming democracy today? The solution is simple—if you have a time machine: Send a 19th-century missionary." ...at a conference presentation in 2002, Woodberry got a break. In the room sat Charles Harper Jr., then a vice president at the John Templeton Foundation, which was actively funding research on religion and social change. (Its grant recipients have included Christianity Today.) Three years later, Woodberry received half a million dollars from the foundation's Spiritual Capital Project, hired almost 50 research assistants, and set up a huge database project at the University of Texas, where he had taken a position in the sociology department. The team spent years amassing more statistical data and doing more historical analyses, further confirming his theory. ...Woodberry's historical and statistical work has finally captured glowing attention. A summation of his 14 years of research—published in 2012 in the American Political Science Review, the discipline's top journal—has won four major awards, including the prestigious Luebbert Article Award for best article in comparative politics. Its startling title: "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy." ...over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry's findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development.

”

The atheist and Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."

In China, the growth in religion has accompanied China's fast economic growth over the last twenty years. Christianity is seeing rapid growth in China and the historian Niall Ferguson attributes this recent economic growth to the Protestant work ethic being more incorporated into Chinese society.

Raising missionary support

• The Ultimate Guide to Missionary Support
• How to Raise Funds for Full-time Missions
• Raising missionary support with global frontier missions
• Missionary Support Raising Guide + 5 Free Templates

Raising support for missionary trips

• Six Steps for Raising Support for a Mission Trip

See also

Watoto Children's Choir from Kampala, Uganda. In recent years, Christianity has seen a rapid growth in Africa.

See: Christianity in Africa

• Evangelism
• Growth of Christianity
• Growth of Christianity in China
• Internet evangelism
• Anderson Bergemot

External links

• What is a Missionary?, Campbellsville University
• What are some of the first steps to becoming a missionary?, Ask a Missionary website
• Taking the gospel to the least reached
• Become a missionary. Go and make disciples., Crossworld website

Apostle Paul's journeys:

• Maps of the Apostle Paul's Journeys

Videos:

• How to become a missionary - video playlist, video playlist