Missionary

===Christian missions===
{{main|Christian mission|List of Christian missionaries}}
{{see also|Jesuit reduction|Catholic missions}}
{{anchor|Catholic missions}} 
[[File:Finska Missionssällskapet interior 02.JPG|thumb|''Lähetyskirkko'', a Christian mission church in [[Ullanlinna]], [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]]]]
A [[Christianity|Christian]] missionary can be defined as "one who is to witness across cultures".<ref name="Thomas Hale 2003"/> The [[First International Congress on World Evangelization|Lausanne Congress]] of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement". Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world.

In [[Bible|the Bible]], [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] is recorded as instructing the apostles to make [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] of all nations ({{bibleverse|Matthew|28:19–20}}, {{bibleverse|Mark|16:15–18}}). This verse is referred to by Christian missionaries as the [[Great Commission]] and inspires missionary work.

====Historic====
[[File:Rugendas - Aldea des Tapuyos.jpg|thumb|Village of Christianized Tapuyos Indians, [[Brazil]] c. 1820 CE]]

The Christian Church expanded throughout the [[Roman Empire]] already in New Testament times and is said by tradition to have reached even further, to Persia ([[Church of the East]]) and to India ([[Saint Thomas Christians]]). During the Middle Ages, the Christian [[monasteries]] and missionaries such as [[Saint Patrick]] (5th century), and [[Adalbert of Prague]] (ca 956–997) propagated learning and religion beyond the European boundaries of the old Roman Empire. In 596, Pope [[Gregory the Great]] (in office 590–604) sent the [[Gregorian Mission]] (including [[Augustine of Canterbury]]) into England. In their turn, Christians from Ireland (the [[Hiberno-Scottish mission]]) and from Britain ([[Saint Boniface]] (ca 675–754), and the [[Anglo-Saxon mission]], for example)  became prominent in converting the inhabitants of central Europe.

During the [[Age of Discovery]], the [[Catholic Church]] established a number of [[Mission (Christian)|missions]] in the Americas and in other Western colonies through the [[Augustinians]], [[Franciscans]], and [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] to spread Christianity in the New World and<ref>{{Cite book |last=Office. |first=United States. General Accounting |title=Export controls: clarification of jurisdiction for missile technology items needed. |date=2001 |publisher=U.S. General Accounting Office |oclc=54862406}}</ref> to convert the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] and other indigenous people. About the same time, missionaries such as [[Francis Xavier]] (1506–1552) as well as other [[Jesuits]], Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans reached Asia and the [[Far East]], and the Portuguese sent missions into Africa. Emblematic in many respects is  [[Matteo Ricci]]'s [[Jesuit]] mission to China from 1582, which was totally peaceful and non-violent. These missionary movements should be distinguished from others, such as the [[Baltic Crusades]] of the 12th and 13th centuries, which were arguably compromised in their motivation by designs of military conquest.

[[File:The Reception of the Rev. J. Williams, at Tanna, in the South Seas, the Day Before He Was Massacred, 1841 (B-088-015).jpg|thumb|English missionary [[John Williams (missionary)|John Williams]], active in the [[Oceania|South Pacific]]]]

Much contemporary Catholic missionary work has undergone profound change since the [[Second Vatican Council]] of 1962–1965, with an increased push for indigenization and [[inculturation]], along with  [[social justice]] issues as a constitutive part of preaching [[The gospel|the Gospel]].

As the [[Catholic Church]] normally organizes itself along territorial lines and had the human and material resources, religious orders, some even specializing in it, undertook most missionary work, especially in the era after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. Over time, the [[Holy See]]  gradually established a normalized Church structure in the mission areas, often starting with special jurisdictions known as apostolic prefectures and [[apostolic vicariates]]. At a later stage of  development these foundations are raised to regular diocesan status with a local bishops appointed. On a global front, these processes were often accelerated in the later 1960s, in part accompanying political decolonization. In some regions, however, they are still in course.

Just as the Bishop of Rome had jurisdiction also in territories later considered to be in the Eastern sphere, so the missionary efforts of the two 9th-century [[saints Cyril and Methodius]] were largely conducted in relation to the West rather than the East, though the field of activity was central Europe.

The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], under the [[Orthodox Church of Constantinople]] undertook vigorous missionary work under the [[Roman Empire]] and its successor the [[Byzantine Empire]]. This had lasting effects and in some sense is at the origin of the present relations of [[Orthodox Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]] with some sixteen Orthodox national churches including the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]], the [[Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church]], and the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchy)|Ukrainian Orthodox Church]] (both traditionally said to have been founded by the missionary Apostle Andrew), the [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] (said to have been founded by the missionary Apostle Paul). The Byzantines expanded their missionary work in Ukraine after the [[Baptism of Rus'|mass baptism in Kiev]] in 988. The [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] had its origins in the conversion by Byzantine missionaries of the Serb tribes when they arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century. Orthodox missionaries also worked successfully among the Estonians from the 10th to the 12th centuries, founding the [[Orthodoxy in Estonia|Estonian Orthodox Church]].

[[File:Martires de elicura.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|[[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] who were martyred by the [[Mapuche|Araucanian]] Indians in Elicura in 1612 CE]]

Under the [[Russian Empire]] of the 19th century, missionaries such as [[Nikolay Ilminsky|Nicholas Ilminsky]] (1822–1891) moved into the subject lands and propagated Orthodoxy, including through [[Belarus]], [[Latvian Orthodox Church|Latvia]], [[Moldova]], [[Finnish Orthodox Church|Finland]], [[Estonia]], [[Ukraine]], and [[Chinese Orthodox Church|China]]. The Russian [[Nicholas of Japan|St. Nicholas of Japan]] (1836–1912) took Eastern Orthodoxy to [[Japanese Orthodox Church|Japan]] in the 19th century. The [[Russian Orthodox Church]] also sent missionaries to [[Alaska]] beginning in the 18th century, including Saint [[Herman of Alaska]] (died 1836), to minister to the [[Alaska Natives|Natives]]. The [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]] continued missionary work outside Russia after the 1917 [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], resulting in the establishment of many new dioceses in the [[diaspora]], from which numerous converts have been made in Eastern Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Early [[Protestantism|Protestant]] missionaries included [[John Eliot (missionary)|John Eliot]] and contemporary ministers including [[John Cotton (Puritan)|John Cotton]] and Richard Bourne, who ministered to the [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] natives who lived in lands claimed by representatives of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in the early 17th century. Quaker "publishers of truth" visited Boston and other mid-17th century colonies, but were not always well received.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Quakers in Boston: 1656–1964 |publisher=Fleming & Son |year=1980 |location=Somerville |last=Sellecl |first=D. |quote=discussed throughout Chapter 1}}</ref>

The Danish government began the first organized Protestant mission work through its [[College of Missions]], established in 1714. This funded and directed [[Church of Denmark|Lutheran]] missionaries such as [[Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg]] in [[Tranquebar]], India, and [[Hans Egede]] in [[Isle of Hope|Greenland]]. In 1732, while on a visit in 1732 to [[Copenhagen]] for the coronation of his cousin King [[Christian VI]], the [[Moravian Church]]'s patron Nicolas Ludwig, Count von [[Zinzendorf]], was very struck by its effects, and particularly by two visiting [[Kalaallit people|Inuit]] children converted by [[Hans Egede]]. He also got to know a slave from the [[Danish Virgin Islands|Danish colony]] in the [[West Indies]]. When he returned to [[Herrnhut]] in [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], he inspired the inhabitants of the village{{spaced ndash}}it had fewer than thirty houses then{{spaced ndash}}to send out "messengers" to the slaves in the West Indies and to the [[Moravian missions in Greenland]]. Within thirty years, Moravian missionaries had become active on every continent, and this at a time when there were fewer than three hundred people in Herrnhut. They are famous for their selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], including the [[Lenape]] 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 is in [[Tanzania]] in Eastern Africa. The Moravian work in [[South Africa]] inspired [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]] and the founders of the British [[Baptist]] missions. {{As of | 2014}}, seven of every ten Moravians live in a former mission field and belong to a race other than Caucasian.

Much [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] mission work came about under the auspices of the [[United Society|Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]] (SPG, founded in 1701), the [[Church Missionary Society]] (CMS, founded 1799) and of the [[Intercontinental Church Society]] (formerly the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society, originating in 1823).

====Modern====
[[File:Canyon of the Little Christians.jpg|thumb|The first recorded baptism in [[Alta California]] at [[La Christianita Canyon]]]]
[[File:Mayerhoff.jpg|thumb|A Christian missionary of the [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod|Wisconsin Lutheran Synod]] going to the [[Apache]]]]
With a dramatic increase in efforts since the 20th century, and a strong push since the ''Lausanne I: The International Congress on World Evangelization'' in Switzerland in 1974,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lausanne Movement &#124; Connecting influencers and ideas for global mission |url=http://www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=12722 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620162513/http://www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=12722 |archive-date=June 20, 2009 |website=www.lausanne.org}}</ref> modern 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 [[Bible]]s, [[Jesus (1979 film)|Jesus videos]], and establishing [[evangelical]] churches in more remote areas.

Internationally, the focus for many years in the later 20th century was on reaching every "people group" with [[Christianity]] by 2000. Bill Bright's leadership with Campus Crusade, the Southern Baptist [[International Mission Board]], The Joshua Project, and others brought about the need to know who these "[[unreached people group]]s" are and how those wanting to tell about the Christian God and share a [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Bible]] could reach them. The focus for these organizations transitioned from a "country focus" to a "people group focus". (From "What is a People Group?" by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins:  A "people group" is an ethnolinguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by the various members. There are two parts to that word: ethno and linguistic. Language is a primary and dominant identifying factor of a people group. But there are other factors that determine or are associated with ethnicity.)

[[File:The missionary ship "Duff" arriving (ca. 1797) at Otaheite, lithograph by Kronheim & Co.jpg|thumb|left|The missionary ship ''Duff'' arriving at [[Tahiti]], c. 1797]]

What can be viewed as a success by those inside and outside the church from this focus is a higher level of cooperation and friendliness among churches and denominations. It is very common for those working on international fields to not only cooperate in efforts to share their [[Gospel|gospel message]], but view the work of their groups in a similar light. Also, with the increased study and awareness of different people groups, western mission efforts have become far more sensitive to the cultural nuances of those they are going to and those they are working with in the effort.

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. These missionaries represent a major shift in church history where the nations they came from were not historically Christian. Another major shift in the form of modern missionary work takes shape in the conflation of spiritual with contemporary military metaphors and practices. Missionary work as [[spiritual warfare]] (Ephesians Chapter 6) weapons of a spiritual sense, is the primary concept in a long-standing relationship between Christian missions and militarization. Though when the Church establishes a governance, usually this results in a formation of a national or regional military. (Roman's Chapter 13) Despite the seeming opposition between the submissive and morally upstanding associations with prayer and violence associated with militarism, these two spheres interact in a dialectical way. Yet they when properly implemented they are entangled to support one another in the upholding of a civilizations morality and the prosecution and punishment of criminals. In some cases a nations military may fail to operate according to Godly principles and is not supported by the Church or missionaries, in other cases the military is made up of the Church congregants. The results of spiritual conflict are then present in different ways as prayer can be strategically used, for or against a military.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McAlister |first=Elizabeth |title=The militarization of prayer in America: white and Native American spiritual warfare |date=2015 |journal=Journal of Religious and Political Practice |volume=1 |pages=114–130 |doi=10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239 |doi-access=free |issue=1}}</ref>

Nigeria, and other countries have had large numbers of their Christian adherents go 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.

{{main|London Missionary Society|Church Mission Society|China Inland Mission|Church's Ministry Among Jewish People|Baptist Missionary Society|Christianity in China}}
[[File:Preaching from a Waggon (David Livingstone) by The London Missionary Society.jpg|thumb|[[David Livingstone]] preaching from a wagon]]

One of the first large-scale missionary endeavors of the British colonial age was the [[Baptist Missionary Society]], founded in 1792 as the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of [[The gospel|the Gospel]] Amongst the Heathen.

The [[London Missionary Society]] was an [[evangelical]] organisation, bringing together from its inception both [[Anglican]]s and [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]]s; it was founded in England in 1795 with missions in Africa and the islands of the South Pacific. The [[Colonial Missionary Society]] was created in 1836, and directed its efforts towards promoting [[Congregationalist]] forms of [[Christianity]] among "British or other European settlers" rather than indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bebbington |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1c_3TggbrcC&dq=%22colonial+missionary+society%22&pg=PP1 |title=A view from Britain |work=Aspects of the Canadian evangelical experience |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |year=1997 |isbn=0-7735-1547-X |editor-last=Rawlyk, George A |location=Montreal |page=46}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://research.yale.edu:8084/missionperiodicals/viewdetail.jsp?id=328 |title=Missionary Periodicals Database |date=2006-09-02 |publisher=Yale University Library|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902144551/http://research.yale.edu:8084/missionperiodicals/viewdetail.jsp?id=328 |archive-date=2006-09-02 }}</ref> Both of these merged in 1966, and the resultant organisation is now known as the [[Council for World Mission]].

The [[Church Mission Society]], first known as the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, was founded in 1799 by evangelical Anglicans centred around the [[abolitionism in the United Kingdom|anti-slavery]] activist [[William Wilberforce]]. It bent its efforts to the [[Coptic Church]], the [[Ethiopian Church]], and India, especially [[Kerala]]; it continues to this day. Many of the [[church planting|network of churches they established]] became the [[Anglican Communion]].

In 1809, the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews was founded, which pioneered mission amongst the Jewish people; it continues today as the [[Church's Ministry Among Jewish People]]. In 1865, the [[China Inland Mission]] was founded, going well beyond British controlled areas; it continues as the OMF, working throughout [[East Asia]].

[[File:LDS name tags.jpg|thumb|right|The iconic black name tags of [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionaries]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]]]
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (Mormons) has an active [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionary program]]. Young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five are encouraged to prepare themselves to serve a two-year, self-funded, full-time proselytizing mission. Young women who desire to serve as missionaries can serve starting at the age of nineteen, for one and a half years. Retired couples also have the option of serving a mission. Missionaries typically spend two weeks in a [[Missionary Training Center]] (or two to three months for those learning a new language) where they study the scriptures along with the [[Book of Mormon]], learn new languages when applicable, prepare themselves to teach the [[Gospel]] of [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]], and learn more about the culture and the people they live among. As of December 2019, the LDS Church had over 67,000 full-time missionaries worldwide<ref>{{Cite web |title=Missionary Program |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/missionary-program |access-date=April 13, 2020 |website=www.newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> and over 31,000 Service Missionaries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 April 2020 |title=Latter-day Saint membership increased this much in 2019, according to new church statistical report |url=https://www.deseret.com/platform/amp/faith/2020/4/4/21208195/mormon-church-membership-numbers-statistical-report-lds-general-conference |access-date=April 13, 2020 |website=www.deseret.com}}</ref>

=====Maryknoll=====
{{Further|Maryknoll}}
In Montreal in 1910, [[James Anthony Walsh|Father James Anthony Walsh]], a priest from Boston, met [[Thomas Frederick Price|Father Thomas Frederick Price]], from North Carolina. They agreed on the need to build a seminary for the training of young American men for the foreign Missions. Countering arguments that the Church needed workers here{{ambiguous|date=April 2024|reason=Where? Does 'here' mean Boston, North Carolina, or the entirety of the New World?}}, Fathers Walsh and Price insisted the Church would not flourish until it sent missioners overseas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Raymond A. |title=The Early Days of Maryknoll |year=1951}}</ref> Independently, the men had written extensively about the concept, Father Price in his magazine ''Truth'', and Father Walsh in the pages of ''A Field Afar'', an early incarnation of ''Maryknoll Magazine''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.maryknollmagazine.org |title=Maryknoll Magazine}}</ref>  Winning the approval of the American hierarchy, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911 to receive final approval from [[Pope Pius X]] for the formation of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, now better known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The gift of mission: yesterday, today, tomorrow: the Maryknoll centennial symposium |publisher=Orbis Books |year=2013 |editor=James H. Kroeger}}</ref>