Missionary

[edit] Missionary

The word "missionary" is derived from Latin missio 'sending'. In Christian cultures and their languages, such as English, the term is most commonly used for missions to propagate Biblical faiths, mainly to people, who have not yet heard the message of Christ.

Since the Lausanne Congress of 1974 (Lausanne Covenant), a widely accepted Protestant definition of a Christian mission has been "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement." Recognizing justice as being at the heart of the Gospels, most modern missionaries now promote economic development, literacy, education, Bible translation, and health care. Missionaries have established orphanages, schools, colleges, clinics, hospitals, and seminaries to train workers for the new churches and cross-cultural workers for more outreach.

Biblical authority for missions appears first in Genesis, 12:1-3, where Abraham is blessed so that through him and his descendants, all the "peoples" of the world would be blessed. The Great Commission was first given by Jesus Christ in all four Gospels: Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:46-49, and John 20:21-23. The Great Commission is also given in Acts 1:8. The most compelling verse to many is found in the New Testament, where Jesus instructs the apostles to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). This reference is understood by Christian missionaries as the Great Commission to engage in missionary work.

The Danish government included Lutheran missionaries among the colonists in many of its colonies, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau in Tranquebar India in the late 17th Century. But the first organized Protestant mission work was carried out beginning in 1732 by the Moravian Brethren of Herrnhut in Saxony Germany (evangelische Brüdergemeine). While on a visit in 1732 to Copenhagen for the coronation of his cousin King Christian VI the Moravians' patron, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf got to know a slave from the Danish colony in the West Indies. When he returned to Herrnhut with the slave, he inspired the inhabitants of the village--it was fewer than 30 houses then---to send out "messengers" to the slaves in the West Indies. The first missionaries landed in St. Thomas in December, 1732. Work soon was started in another Danish colony, Greenland. Within 30 years there were Moravian missionaries active on every continent, and this at a time when there were fewer than 300 people in Herrnhut. They are famous for their selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with the native Americans, the Delaware and Cherokee Indian tribes. Today the work in the former mission provinces of the worldwide Moravian Church is carried on by native workers. The fastest growing area of the work in Tanzania in East Africa. The Moravian work in South Africa inspired William Carey and the founders of the British Baptist missions.

With a dramatic increase in efforts since the 1900s, but a strong push since the Lausanne I: The International Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland in 1974, evangelical groups have focused efforts on sending missionaries to every ethnic group in the world. While this effort has not been completed, increased attention has brought larger numbers of people distributing Bibles, Jesus film videos, and establishing evangelical churches in more remote, less Christianized areas.

Internationally, the focus for many years in the later 20th century was on reaching every "people group" with the Christianity by the year 2000. The Joshua Project - Joshua Project, Ethnê to Ethnê movement - Ethnê to Ethnê movement, Etnopedia and others brought about the need to know who these "unreached people groups are" and how those wanting to tell about a Christian God and share a Christian Bible could reach them. The focus for these organizations transitioned from a "country focus" to a "people group focus."

Over the years, as indigenous churches have matured, the church of the "Global South" (Africa, Asia and Latin America) has become the driving force in missions. Korean and African missionaries can now be found all over the world.

Missionaries from Brazil, Nigeria, South Korea and other countries have gone to other countries and start churches. These non-western missionaries often have unparalleled success because they need few western resources and comforts to sustain their livelihood while doing the work they have chosen among a new culture and people.

There is the need for the specific calling of Christians with the necessary gifts and training to serve in so called closed lands, especially the Muslim heartlands, the Communist lands of Asia and the former Soviet Union.

The spiritual integrity and vitality of missionaries is utterly important. Please pray that the spiritual life of missionaries will be renewed daily from time spent in God's presence. The missionaries desire to minister wherever God leads, confident in His purpose and authority. They can only because He can.

Pray for the missionaries to be Christ-centred and rooted in the Word of God. In their daily lives, may they seek to glorify Him. It is all too easy to allow other things, such as language and ministry to become the priority, even though these are an important part of missionary life.