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Do not fill this in! ====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 | 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=114β130 |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 β 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> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page