History of Missions

In Suriname, they say: “Learn from others and don’t make them learn from you.” They mean that we should study history to avoid the mistakes of the past. Some have said: Those who ignore history will repeat the mistakes of the past. We have a glorious history of God’s dealing with mankind. Let’s learn from it. I will mention that the first few pages outline briefly the missions emphasis of the Bible. This is covered in much more detail in the section on Theology of Missions. The reader who has already studied that section might want to just skim or even skip over the first few pages to the sections beginning with the church fathers.

When we take a dispensational view of history, we can break the history in the Bible into seven segments. The first three are included in a time that God was dealing with all mankind. The first, of course, was the time of innocence, from the creation of Adam and Eve to their fall into sin. The second was the time of conscience, when man, now knowing good and evil, had a conscience to show him what he should do. But with a sin nature, man inevitably chose what was evil, and not good. Eventually God judged mankind, and only eight humans survived the flood. Third, we reach the time of human government, extending from the flood to the tower of Babel. Mankind refused to fill the earth, but rebelled to set up a human kingdom. God judged them and dispersed them by changing their languages.

After the tower of Babel, God began dealing with a selected group of people, the Jews. Beginning with Abraham, God called out a people for His name. But His intention was still to reach all people. He promised Abraham: Genesis 12:3... And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees to leave the idolatry of that great city. Abraham was to begin a nation which would be an example to all nations. Thus ultimately God wanted all nations to come to Him through the example of Abraham and his descendants, including the Lord Jesus Christ. This same promise to Abraham was repeated to Isaac and Jacob, and eventually to Judah. And during the time of the patriarchs, we see that they ministered outside the family of Abraham as well. Joseph ministered to Egypt as well as his own people, and also to the surrounding countries. Job was the most righteous person of his day, but he was not a Jew. Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God, but also not a descendant of Abraham. So although the dispensation of promise was primarily to the Jew, it was also dealing with the heathen world.

Israel went to Egypt to escape a famine during the time of Joseph. However, when the famine ended, they remained in Egypt, and were eventually reduced to slavery. When Israel came out of captivity from the Egyptians, the dispensation of law began with the revelation of the law on Mt. Sinai. Israel was now being called as a nation to be a light to all nations. Israel was to call all nations to the worship of the true living God. Israel was to be an example of the holiness of God and also the blessings of serving Him. The law actually was designed to show the holiness of God, and that all men are sinners. Israel was presumptuous to think that her people could hold the law in their own strength. They quickly demonstrated that they were incapable of keeping the law. In addition to the moral law, the ten commandments, and the ceremonial law, which showed how sinners could come back to a righteous God, there was the civil law, which gave special protection not only to the widow and the orphan, but also to the stranger. The stranger in their midst could be the bearer of the good news to other countries. He could tell of the true living God, and the blessings of serving Him. Thus although the law was for the Jews primarily, the outreach through this time was still to be to all nations. For example, the queen of Sheba heard of the glories of the reign of Solomon. She had doubted that much of what she was told was true. She came bearing riches and spices. She left amazed at the glory of Solomon’s kingdom, as well as his supernatural wisdom. Thus most of the time, Israel would call other nations to come to her. There were not many missionaries in the Old Testament, but Jonah was a very successful one, although he was a very unwilling missionary to Nineveh. Other prominent Jews who ministered to the countries outside of Israel included Daniel and his three companions, Queen Esther, and Nehemiah.

Sadly, Israel became proud of knowing the law, although she really did not keep it. Israel became proud of having the sign of a special relationship with God: all her males were circumcised. However, the Jews failed to realize that it was not the outward sign that was important, but circumcision of the heart. And finally, Israel failed to recognize her own messiah who had been clearly portrayed by her own prophets, and killed her own savior.

Jesus came to earth under the law, and He alone fulfilled the law. Galatians 4:[4] But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,[5] To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. It was very clear that Jesus was indeed the promised messiah. He fulfilled the necessary line of ancestors. His ancestry could be traced clearly from Abraham through David. By having two birth lines, one from Joseph and one from Mary, He was able to meet all the requirements, including bypassing Solomon in terms of his human line, as well as the curse on Jehoiachin. He was born in Bethlehem of Judah under most unusual circumstances (Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, thou thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting). The timing of His ministry and presentation as King were announced in the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27 [24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. [25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.[27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.). The miracles which He performed - giving sight to the blind, enabling the lame to walk, and even raising the dead, clearly pointed to Him as the messiah. And His teaching was the teaching of the messiah as well.

Jesus came under the law. He alone kept the law. He presented Himself as the king of the Jews. His message was that the kingdom of the Jews was at hand. But the official leadership of the Jews rejected Him as their king. (John 19:[13] When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.[14] And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King![15] But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.). They arranged to have their king crucified. But He arose victorious from the grave. True, He promised on earth that He would build His church. But He was still in the time of the law until His crucifixion, and the doctrine of the church for the age of grace was not yet given. So it is not surprising what the disciples asked in Acts 1:6-7 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying: Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Now we see Jesus working in a different way. In the past, the task of Israel was to say to the nations: Come. But now there is a change. Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now the church must go into all the earth. Jesus had given these instructions earlier. In each of the gospels, there is recorded His instructions to carry the message to the world. And He would provide the power to do so as well as His personal presence.

On the day of Pentecost, we find Jews from all over the known world assembled to worship God in Jerusalem. Pentecost was one of the three times per year that the Jews were required to come before the Lord in Jerusalem. Acts 2:1a And when the day of Pentecost was fully come...4 and they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, becase that every man heard them speak in his own language... 9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamie, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia 10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. The 120 persons gathered for prayer were speaking in at least 16 language groups. Peter preached, 3000 believers heard and were baptized and then added to the church. A few days later, Peter healed a lame man, and then preached to the huge crowd, and 5000 believed.

Soon the church was persecuted from without and within. The Sanhedrin arrested Peter and John twice, and beat them the second time. Ananias and Saphira died after trying to deceive Peter into thinking they had given the entire money received from selling property, although they had kept some for themselves. The problem was not that they did not give all the money, but that they deliberately deceived, apparently to get honor from the people. There was a problem with the distribution of food between the Hebrew speaking widows and the Greek speaking widows in the church. Deacons were appointed by the church. Acts 6:7 And the word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of priests were obedient to the faith.

However, after several years, although there was explosive growth in Jerusalem, it took the martyrdom of Stephen to spread the gospel beyond Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. 2. And at this time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.

Philip went to Samaria, and revival broke out. These Samaritans were a sort of “half-breed Jews” mixed with heathenism since the dispersion of Israel by Assyria in 722 B.C. They had set up their own worship and had not accepted the Jewish religion. The church in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they prayed for them, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

However, the church was still basically a Jewish sect until the conversion of Cornelius, who was a pure gentile. This man, a centurion held in honor by all, was a true seeker of God. Through an angel, he was told to send for Peter. In the meantime, Peter received a vision to show him that God accepted gentiles as well as Jews. When those sent by Cornelius arrived, Peter received them, and went with them, accompanied by some Jewish witnesses. As he preached to the assembly of heathen, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they also spoke in tongues. Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said: Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, 35. But in every nation hethat feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him... 43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. They were immediately baptized into the church. God was now reaching the gentiles.

The next step in reaching the gentiles occurred when the disciples were scattered to Phenice, Cypress, and Antioch but they limited their preaching at first to the Jews. But when they actually spoke to the gentiles, they found them open to the gospel. Acts 11:20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. At this point, the church sent Barnabas to help. He was a great encourager, but felt the work was too big for one man, and sought out Paul, who joined him. Then they worked together for a year with great results.

Now the Holy Spirit, who is really in charge of evangelization, began to work in Antioch. Acts 13:1 Now there were in the chuch that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said: Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Thus the first actual missionary journey began.

They traveled first with Barnabas going to Cypress, which was his homeland. They were accompanied by John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. They then traveled to Galatia and the surrounding countryside. John Mark abandoned them when they reached mainland, and returned to Jerusalem. However, Barnabas and Paul had great success despite great persecution, including Paul being stoned in Lystra.

Following the initial success reaching the gentiles, a major question arose. The Judaizers claimed that to be a true Christian, you must also accept the Jewish traditions and laws, become circumcised, and in fact come under the law. This of course raised great contention, especially with Paul, who was disturbed by the situation in Galatia, but also in Antioch. When Peter first came to Antioch, he mixed freely with the heathen, but when the Judaizers came from Jerusalem, he withdrew from the heathen and ate only with the Jews. Even Barnabas followed his example. (See Galatians 2) Thus Paul confronted the issue. Finally the Jerusalem council settled the issue when a team went from Antioch to Jerusalem. It was decided that the heathen should abstain from immorality and idolatry, and also a couple practices which were abhorrent to the Jews. (Acts 15) But there was no demand that they come under the law, and no command for circumcision.

After returning with Silas and another man from Jerusalem, Paul decided eventually to return to strengthen the churches which they had founded. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them again, but Paul did not want to depend on someone who abandoned them. Barnabas wanted to give him another chance. The discussion became so bitter that they split into two groups. Barnabas took John Mark with him and went to Cypress, and Paul took Silas with him to go to Galatia and beyond. On Paul’s second missionary journey, the Holy Spirit forbid him to travel further north or east, and he saw a vision of a man from Macedonia, and headed west. This decision was key in determining the direction of Christian growth into Europe rather than toward the east. During this trip, they were assisted by a young man from Lystra named Timothy, who later became a key follower of Paul.

On Paul’s third missionary journey, he not only expanded the work in Macedonia and Greece, but also spent a long time in Ephesus with a teaching ministry there. His students then spread the gospel to many cities in the area of Turkey, then called district Asia. He returned to Jerusalem, but was arrested falsely, and after two years, he appealed to Caesar, and was taken to Rome. It appears that he was released from Rome after an additional two years, and traveled again, perhaps as far as Spain. He was then arrested for the second time, and tradition says that he was beheaded under Nero in approximately 64 A.D.

It is worthwhile to think a bit about Paul’s methods. In general, he concentrated on population centers, but not always on the largest, most populated cities. He depended on the leadership of the Holy Spirit. His goal was not simply seeing multitudes of people saved. He planted churches. These were full-fledged churches, and not just groups of persons. They had appropriate leadership, and also the burden to reach out into the surrounding community and start other churches. Paul also reached all levels of society.1 He did not use the methods of some of the mega-churches of today, concentrating on reaching one group of people to the exclusion of others. And Paul knew how to put the gospel in the context of the culture of the people he was reaching. He was a master at finding ways to communicate to others. He indeed tried to be “all things to all people so that he might reach some.” We will discuss what is involved in much more detail in the section on worldview.2

It was while Paul was in prison that he developed and expounded the doctrine of the church, and the plan for the church age. We can now see that God’s plan for the church age, the age of grace, is no longer Israel calling to the world: Come. It is the church going into the world under the direction of the Holy Spirit to seek the lost. By the time Paul died, we believe that the church had spread from Alexandria and north Africa in the south, to Rome, Macedonia and Dalmatia in the north. Spain may have been reached in the west, and Babylon in the east.

The Lord Jesus had prepared the disciples for the task before His death and ascension. He described the parables in Matthew 13, which are especially appropriate for the dispensation of grace. The parable of the great supper also shows how we must reach the lost - seeking them in the highways and byways. We are, in fact, to reach every people and every nation.

There were a number of advantages for the rapid spread of the gospel at the time of Christ and the apostle Paul. First, there was Pax Romana - the Roman peace. Rome was the unquestionable master of the world at this time. With her armies securely in control, there was a general peace which was helpful to travel freely. Furthermore, Rome had created an interchange of good roads throughout her empire. Some of these roads are still intact today, 2000 years later. This made travel much easier. There was the universal use of the Greek language. All educated men spoke Greek. Thus communication was much easier. The availability of synagogues scattered throughout the empire also assisted those who were going “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” There would be groups of men who would have a grasp of Old Testament truth to begin a presentation of the gospel. And in general, there was openness to new ideas.

But although there were many advantages, there were also disadvantages, especially active persecution of believers. Yet the faith spread throughout the known civilized world in the first century. Why? First, there was the personal witness of believers. They demonstrated the reality of their faith in face of death. Many were martyrs (the word itself means witness). They showed love and kindness even to their persecutors. The traveling evangelists preached with power and taught with clarity. And the Lord raised up apologists who defended the faith. Their defense was not based simply on theory. It was based on history and faith. Although every believer was a witness despite possible persecution, some did turn back under persecution. But many did not. They lived sacrificial lives for the gospel.

Summary of the Biblical times: First, we see that God has always wanted the salvation of all men. John 3:16 For God so loved the world (all mankind) that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 2 Peter 3:9 But the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness: but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

During the dispensations of Innocence, Conscience and Human Government, as outlined in Genesis 1-11, God dealt with all mankind. But beginning with Genesis 12, at the time of the dispensation of promise, God chose a man, Abraham, and a folk, Israel. God’s dealing with His people has always ben to have people call others to Himself. They were to model godly life. This was true through the time of the law of Moses until the crucifixion. Beginning with the birth of the church at Pentecost, God is now calling people to come to Himself under grace.

Now God is sending His people out to a lost and dying world. They are to witness to Himself and call all people to come to the Lord. Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and as we come to Him, we find true life. Many unsaved men reject both the message and the messenger, but some accept. And we must bear the message regardless of how we are received.

Christianity during the time of the Church Fathers:

As we begin the study of the early church during the time of the church fathers, it is well to note two main problems which plagued the church, not only at the beginning, but throughout the history of the church until today. One of the problems was persecution. Initially, the persecution was by Rome. Later, we find Rome in the form of the Roman Catholic church persecuting many true believers who did not agree with many of the unbiblical teachings of the church. The second problem was false teachings and false teachers. Both arose very early in the history of the church, even at the time of the apostles. Peter, John, Paul and Jude warned about false teachings in the Bible written just a few years after the death of Christ.

At the time of Christ, the Jews were tolerated for their faith, and excused from some duties because of their religion. Initially Christianity was viewed as a Jewish sect, and there was not a great deal of persecution. But when the church spread through the heathen world, and also was rejected by the Jews themselves, then persecution began in earnest. Many rulers at that time were considered divine, and the Roman emperors considered themselves divine, and worthy of worship. As the church gained power, the Roman emperors opposed it. There were 10 major persecutions between the first by Nero in 64 A.D. and the last by Diocletian in 303 A.D. It was estimated that perhaps 5,000,000 Christians died as martyrs in this early period.

Rome wanted a uniform world controlled by the Roman government, and a common tie across the Roman empire was the worship of the Emperor. But Christians were governed by spiritual factors and placed Christ above the Caesar. This Rome would not tolerate. Their pure lives were in contrast to the heathen around them. They thus underminied the classic culture which Rome wanted to propagate. Christians met at night. Thus they were accused of secret rites. Christians prayed, but did not pray to idols. Thus they must be atheists. Christians had a “kiss of peace.” Thus they promulgated immorality, although their lives totally denied this. Christians “ate the body of Christ” and were thus accused of cannibalism. Christians were “antisocial” because they did not participate in many of the rites and entertainment, such as the theater and ampitheater, of the masses. Christians believed that all people were equal, whereas the pagans believed in a rich aristocracy. Rome was tolerant of other religions; you may hold others if you wish - but they must be subservient to the state.

Although some turned back under persecution, in general, persecution helped spread Christianity. First, it spread the word by spreading the believers, who often fled under persecution. Second, it purified the church. Persecution removed apostates and mere professors. Third, the witness of believers was strengthened through their testimony at death. Tertullian is quoted as saying: The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Most of the apostles died a martyr’s death.3 Paul was beheaded at Rome by Nero. Peter was crucified upside down also in Rome by Nero. Thomas was speared in India. Others were flayed alive, dragged by horses, and tortured in all sorts of ways. John was placed in boiling oil, but remained unhurt, and was exiled to Patmos. In one catacomb in Rome, they estimated that there were the bodies of 174,000 martyrs.4

After the death of the original apostles, the persecution continued. Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, was godly and effective. He glorified Jesus Christ and spoke out agenst idolatry. He was powerful in prayer. Not only was he effective in Smyrna, but also traveled to Rome. He was told to deny Christ at age 86, but flatly refused.5 As he was burned to death in 155 or 156, a number came to Christ because of his witness.6 Emperor Tragan, in 112, gave the following advice when asked. Don’t seek out the Christians, but if one comes before you, ask him three times if he is a Christian. If he continues to answer “yes”, kill him. Justin Martyr was beheaded for the crime of teaching Christians in their own homes. 7 Justyn Martyr may have originally been a Stoic, but defended the faith of Christianity and was perhaps the first well-known apologist. He was killed by Marcus Arelius, a Stoic emperor who believed that Christians were the cause of the problems the empire was having at that time.

Iraneus, a disciple of John, was devoured by lions. In 177, there was a ferocious persecution of Christians in the area of Lyons. The Romans could not tolerate that the Christians asserted that Jesus Christ, not Caesar, is Lord. A large group of Christians were rounded up, and eventually tortured and martyred. They were given a chance to confess Caesar as Lord, and if they did not, they were tortured. Some of the Christians denied Christ under torture, and confessed that the Christians did immoral activities and even cannibalism. But the majority of the Christians stood firm despite incredible tortures.

One of the heroes of the faith was a slave woman Blandina, whom some of the Christians were afraid might deny the faith because she was not physically strong. She was tortured one entire day, until her torturers finally gave up taking turns torturing her. She was made to see the torture and death of other martyrs. She encouraged the others to endure and confess Christ. Finally she was forced to sit in a heated iron stool, and after being severely burned, was tossed by wild bulls until she died. Bishop Plothinus, a frail 90 year old man, was strengthened to endure torture and die as a martyr. Sanctus was tortured horribly and died a noble death, as did the nobleman Vellitius, who had led an exemplary life. Although the usual practice was to release those who broke under torture, in Lyons they were returned to jail with those who were martyred. Those who had held forth, whom they called “confessors”, who had not denied the faith, encouraged those who had broken under torture, and many recovered and went to the judges. The judges expected them to recant, but they confessed Christ and joined the martyrs.8 Irenaeus was a strong believer in southern France during the time of these persecutions.

A young woman named Perpetua had just delivered a newborn child. She was discovered to be a Christian, and refused to renounce her faith. When her father, a nobleman, pled with her to recant, she refused. Finally she pushed her family away. She was brought to the arena, and gored by a bull. When the executioner botched his first attempt to behead her, she seemed to help him, and then was killed.9 Her slave girl Filicia, who had also accepted Christ, died with her. The first martyr in England was Alban, a Roman soldier who was converted while giving shelter to a fleeing Christian. When he met the soldiers arresting the Christian, he wore the Christian’s clothing and was arrested in his place. He refused to renounce his new faith. The executioner also refused to kill Alban, and was also executed as a Christian. Then the hiding Christian, hearing about Alban’s arrest, arrived to try to save him, and was also executed.10

During this time, there were smaller groups led by such persons as Montanus and Novatus who were basically fundamental and baptistic in belief. It is difficult to sort out sometimes which groups are true believers, as sometimes they were misrepresented and persecuted.11

By the beginning of the fourth century, Christians were estimated at between 5 and 15% of the entire population. One of the worst persecutions was under Diocletian. Churches were burned, and leaders were executed if they failed to sacrifice to the emperor. So many Christians were jailed that there was no place for regular criminals. But after this persecution, in 311, Galerius made an edict of toleration, and in 313, Constantine declared freedom of all religions.

Initially Christianity was strong in the east. It then spread to the Greek-speaking masses, especially in Alexandria. Later, it moved into the Latin areas, with a strong church developing in Carthage. One of the problems was what to do with Christians who had denied the faith and given over the scriptures to be destroyed by authorities during the waves of persecution. When the persecution subsided, then they wanted to return to the church. There was much debate about what should be done with these individuals.

During the first three centuries, there were problems also with false teachers and false doctrines. Paul had already clashed with the legalistic Judaizers. Later other false books arose. Apparently a false letter had been written as if Paul had written it. A number of spurious books were written, but rejected by the believing churches, such as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. The canon was settled at the end of this time to see just which books were authoritative. There was also a problem of gnosticism, a sort of mixture of Greek philosophy with Christianity, and a tendency to interpret the bible allegorically, especially in the school started in Alexandria. This school had great influence on many during the time of Origen. There were a number of church councils in the fourth and fifth century to address these problems. Most of the false teachings were from Greeks, who brought their philosophy with them, or Jews, who brought the legalistic methods of the Old Testament with them.

I will mention some of the main points of the major deviations from Christianity because of their influence on the spread of Biblical Christianity. The most important is gnosticism, which believed in dualism with matter, which is evil and not created by God, and Spirit, which is good. They viewed Jehovah as a demiurge who was a mixture of spirit and matter. He created this evil world. The Christ is totally spiritual. They would believe that the man Jesus was either a phantom, or that the Christ came on Him at His baptism and left Him while He hung on the cross. The gnostics thus denied a physical resurrection. Salvation was for those spiritual people who had this special knowledge, or who had faith without the special knowledge. Because the body was irrevelant, you could be either an ascetic or libertine - it did not matter. There was a tendency to antisemitism. One of the gnostic sects which was most popular was begun by Marcion. This false teaching was refuted by Tertullian, Iraeneus and Hippolytus. I might mention that the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the physical resurrection of the body as well, and state that Christ was resurrected “a glorious spirit creature.”

The Ebionites believed that both Jews and Greeks should submit to the laws of the Old Testament, which represented the highest expression of God’s will. They believed that Jesus was the son of Joseph, who attained some level of deity when the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Manicheanism, like Zoroastrianism, believed in dualism. Man is now a mixture of light and darkness but you release the light through asceticism. Sex was perceived as evil. Neoplatonism taught that absolute being had emenations and man was created through this overflow. Through mystic intuition you are absorbed back into the one. Montanism believed that inspiration was instantaneous. The founder believed that he was the Holy Spirit.

Monarchianism placed an overemphasis on the unity of God, really denying the deity of Christ and resulting in a form of Unitarianism. On the other hand, Sabellius attempted to avoid three gods by using modalism. He believed that God was the Father in the Old Testament, as creator, as the Son in the New Testament, as redeemer, and after the resurrdction is active as the Holy Spirit. He did not believe in three persons, but three manifestations of God. Donatism arose with the question of the validity of ordination through the hands of one who denied Christ. The church decided that the validity of a sacrament was not dependent on the character of the person administering it.

Thus we see that a number of false religions were active at the time of Christ and shortly thereafter. It appears that Mohammed was influenced by some of these false ideas about Christianity when he instituted the Muslim faith. There arose a group of men who vigorously defended the faith against a hostile Roman empire. These men were called apologists. Justyn Martyr defended Christianity against the charges of atheism, idolatry, cannibalism, incest and immorality. Trypho attempted to convince the Jews that Jesus was their messiah. Tatian wrote to the Greeks. Other apologists included Athenagoras and Theophilus. Missions after the “conversion” of Constantine:

By the time Constantine became emperor, it was estimated that 10-15% of the entire Roman empire were Christian. Prior to a key battle to see who would be the new Caesar, Constantine saw a vision of a cross in the sky and heard a voice saying: “In this sign conquer.” He painted crosses on the shields of his soldiers, marched them by a river, and they were “baptized” (sprinkled) by priests as they passed by. Constantine won the battle, became emperor, and wrote the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. allowing the toleration of Christianity. Soon Christianity became popular, and many heathen priests joined. They brought many heathen customs with them. Martyrdom became something of the past. The church became tied to the state. After a number of years, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. And I believe that this official acceptance spelled the deterioration of the quality of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and led to little further outreach beyond the safe limits of the Empire.

In the first few centuries after Christ, the church spread through Mesopotamia on the east, and then north to Armenia by the fourth century. There were many strong churches in North Africa in early centuries. In fact, Augustine, one of the great church fathers, was originally from North Africa. Turkey also had a strong Christian witness with the churches planted by Paul and the witness of such men as Polycarp. It is sad to look at a map of the early spread of Christianity and realize that many of the areas where Christianity was the strongest are now under Muslim domination.12

What about early missions? The strongest missionary church, of course, was Antioch in Syria, where the first missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, were sent forth. The church at Ephesus, where Paul labored for three years, also had strong missions, especially in what was called the district Asia (now Turkey). We believe that the seven churches in “Asia” mentioned in Revelation 1-3 were planted from Ephesus. In Egypt, there was a strong church at Alexandria begun by Pantaenus. Likewise, there was a strong missions church in Carthage under Tertullian, who advocated a simple lifestyle and no immorality. Tertullian, who had been trained as a lawyer before conversion, was eloquent, a prolific writer, and seemed sound in doctrine.13 He was followed by Cyprian, who was later martyred, and objected to Stephen’s claim that the bishop of Rome had priority.

The church also spread in the Tigris-Euphrates valley to Arbela, which was north of the Tigris, by the end of the first century. Tradition also states that Thomas continued eastward all the way to India, where he was martyred. Another important center in the upper Euphrates was Edessa. By 200 A.D., the king was converted, but then overthrown by the Romans. The Syriac Bible was translated by 150 A.D. from the traditional text, approximately 200 years before the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus were written.

However, a number of these churches, especially in Alexandria, were strongly influenced by gnosticism (a sort of mixture with Greek philosophy) and Arianism, which denied the deity of Christ. The Alexandrian school was heavily influenced by Philo, a Jew who had tried to integrate Greek philosophy with Judaism. He used the allegorical method extensively, and had influence on those who followed.14 Clement of Alexandria followed Pantaenus, and ended up with a syncretic mixture of bible and Greek philosophy. Clement was brilliant, with a broad educational background, and tried to synthesize secular and religious learning. He was followed by Origen when Clement fled. 15 This very capable young man took over his family as a teenager when his father Leonides was martyred. At age 18, he took over the school from Clement, and wrote 6000 scrolls over many years. He lived simply. However, he had a number of false beliefs. He believed that Christ was eternally generated from the Father and subordinate to Him. He believed in the pre-existence of the soul, and denied the physical resurrection. He believed in the ransom theory of Christ’s death. He believed in Universalism - that eventually all souls would be saved. I find Origen a strange mixture of brilliance, commitment to Christ, and at the same time many false doctrines. His emphasis on allegory caused many problems to the church, opening the door to many strange beliefs.

Also during the fourth century, there were a number of debates over the nature of Christ, especially between Arius, who really denied the deity of Christ, and Athanaseus, who strongly defended the deity of Christ. The church finally rejected the teachings of Arius, although his position is held today by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. During these church sessions, the canon was agreed upon and the final number of books of the Bible established. The first of the great church councils was the council of Nicea in 325 A.D. This council was basically biblical. However, the council in Constantinople in 381, although confirming the deity of Christ, supported baptismal regeneration when it stated that baptism is for the remission of sins.16

The councils moved the churches more and more into the Roman Catholic system. The council in Ephesus correctly denied the Nestorian attempts to prevent Mary from being the “mother of God”, declaring that Christ had two natures in one person. The council of Chalcedon condemned the false teaching that Christ was not fully man, but at the same time advanced the idea that Mary was “the mother of God.” Further councils drifted further from Biblical truth, particularly as they allowed the use of icons and images.17

Although it was a great relief to be freed from the heavy persecution of the Roman emperors, the growth of the church was probably actually hindered by Constantine and the Edict of Toleration. Many came the church for ulterior motives. Many were unbelievers, including heathen priests who brought their pagan practices with them but “Christianized” them. Many false teachings came into the church. Those who opposed and rejected false beliefs often retreated into asceticism and monasticism. Constantine himself had strange beliefs. He waited until he was on his deathbed to be baptized, believing that then he would be forgiven all his sins. This is a sacramental belief stating that baptism is effective only for sins which we have already committed, but not for sins in the future. He also consolidated the irregular churches and strengthened the position of Rome.18

During this time, gradually more and more false teachings were being promulgated, especially by the church at Rome. These include the following:19 baptismal regeneration (200), hierarchy beginning (250-300), union of church & state (313), infant baptism established by law (500), indulgences and purgatory (600-700), saint and image worship (787), transubstantiation (1100), auricular confession (1215), forbidding Bible reading by the laity (1229). Monasteries began with Basil the great. The monasteries gave an opportunity to those who wanted to spend time studying the scripture and in prayer to retreat from the worldliness and paganism that began to creep into the church. Monasteries played an increasingly important role in the church especially during the middle ages.

Gregory called the Illuminator was a strong missionary for Armenia, northwest of Edessa. He was trained by Origen of Caesarea, and returned. It was said that when he arrived, there were only 17 believers, and when he died 30 years later, there were only 17 pagans. Gregory the Illuminator spread the gospel after it was under Persian rule and then became free. He had gone to Roman territory and was trained as a Christian. When he returned, he was asked to participate in re-establishing the ancient religion, but refused to put a garland on the altar of the goddess Anahit. He was jailed and cruelly tortured, but later released and eventually king Tiridates himself was baptized. Eventually when the priests of Anahit resisted, the temple of Anahit was leveled to the ground. The nobles followed the king. Later Mesrob developed a new alphabet and the Bible was translated into Armenian.

Gregory showed great perseverance and courage. He resisted the temptation to yield to false gods, and was tortured. God eventually blessed his efforts, and with the conversion of the king, there was a great turning to Christ among the Armenians. Note also the translation of the Bible into their language. We will see many times that the translation of scriptures is often key to establishing a solid national church. Armenia was a bulwark of Christian faith until the Turks persecuted them in the early 20th century.

One of the most effective missionaries in the early church was Ulfinas. This man was raised with the Goths. His mother was a Goth, and his father was a Christian who had been captured by the Goths. As a young man, he was sent to Constantinople, a center of learning, to learn Greek under Eusebius. Eusebius was an Arian or Semi-Arian, and thus weak on the doctrine of the deity of Christ. At age 30, he returned as the bishop of the Goths. He traveled north of the Danube river where he was out of Roman territory. However, a chieftain who suspected that Ulfinas wanted to put the Goths under Rome opposed him in 348 A.D. After fighting occurred, resulted in many deaths, Ulfinas actually relocated his church on the other side of the Danube River. Ulfinas reduced the Gothic tongue to a written form, and then translated the entire Bible very accurately. He failed to translate 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings because of the many battles described there and his concern about their influence on the warlike Goths. His translation corresponds to ground text of the Masoretic Hebrew text and the Textus Receptus. Here is an example of a complete Bible translated before the so-called earliest manuscripts, the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. (See more details in the section on translation.) Ulfinas died at age 70, but his followers remained effective witnesses for Christ.20 Eventually the Visigoths attacked Rome in 410 A.D. Martin of Tours was another extremely effective missionary living from 316-396. He is still considered the patron saint of France. He broke down idols and proclaimed Christ and Christianity. He had a great missionary outreach. France had been effectively reached earlier by Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon between 175-200 A.D. During the time of Irenaeus, there was great persecution and the martyrs of Lyons were tremendous witnesses for Christ. (See the section on Persecution in the Church.) However, they had pretty much reverted back to heathenism.

Approximately 100 years later, there was a very significant event in France - the conversion of Clovis, the king of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic heathen horde which descended on Europe. In 493, Clovis married Clotinda, who was a Christian princess of Burgundy. Clovis swore that if he had a victory over Alemanni, he would convert. After his victory, he was baptized with 3000 of his troop on Christmas day. This swung power in the direction of Rome and away from the Arians, as he was baptized by a Roman bishop. Again, heathen power came into the church. We will follow the history of some of his descendants below.

A third extremely famous missionary of early times was Patrick. He was born in Britain about 389 A.D. of a godly family. His grandfather was a Celtic priest, and his father a deacon in the church. However, as a young man, he was captured as a slave and was taken to Ireland, where he tended swine for six years. At that time he was converted, accepting Christ. He escaped and went to a monastery. He began to be trained as a priest. When he had completed training as a deacon, he wanted to go to Ireland as a missionary. The monastery sent another man instead, but after his death, Patrick arrived in Ireland in 432, a man in his early 40's. In Ireland, he clashed with the druids. These priests were involved in witchcraft, including human sacrifices. Although he did work through power encounters, he emphasized spiritual growth. He was able to persuade King Loigaire to grant religious toleration for Christians, and the king’s brother was converted. Under his leadership, there were 200 churches started and about 100,000 baptized converts. He evangelized widely although at least a dozen times he was in danger of death. Patrick encouraged study of the scriptures. He also started monasteries which remained influential even after his death. He remained a humble man despite his accomplishments.21 During his life, he had had contacts with the Picts of Scotland, the Angles and Saxons of England, and the Frisians of northern Europe.

Britain had been evangelized by the time of Constantine. However, the Anglo-Saxons had destroyed the churches later, and Britain was re-evangelized in the fifth century The Celtic church was effective early in England. Typically there would be a group of 12 monks under an abbot. They would begin a village with a church, huts for the monks, and school rooms. The monks could marry or remain single. They would teach, translate scriptures into the native language, start a church, and work on handicrafts.. The most effective worker was Colomba. Also effective were 12 workers from Ireland going to Scotland, and the outreach of the monastery at Iona.

Columba was born in 521 in a Celtic church in Ireland. He was raised a Christian. He left for Britain after a war left 5000 dead. In 563, at just over 40 years of age, he went to Scotland, and evangelized the entire area. One very important contribution was beginning a monastery in Iona, an island off the cost. Formerly this was a center of druid worship. He founded a school for missions, training evangelist missionaries. He baptized Brude, the king of the Picts, and later a king of the Scots asked for baptism. He evangelized the Orknew and Shetland Islands. He was expelled from Burgundy when he denounced immorality in high places. He actually established a monastery in Italy. Not only did his monastery in Iona have an impact on Britain and Scotland, but their ministry extended worldwide.22

Two additional missionaries of note at this time were Aiden and Cuthbert. King Oswald was converted about 634 BC after a successful battle. Aiden was sent to Northumbria and restored Christianity to the area after King Oswald requested Iona for teachers. King Oswald himself served as his interpreter on many occasions. Cuthbert followed him, being born in northern England about 625 AD. He lived as a hermit and preached throughout England in remote areas.23 King Oswald died in 642, but his brother followed also as a Christian.

During the first centuries after Christ, we find that the church really was concentrated around the Mediterranean sea. The church was particularly strong in the area of the middle east, especially the area of Turkey, Irak and Iran. The church was also strong along the North African coast, especially in the area of Carthage, as well as Italy and Greece and southern Spain and France. There were certain prominent missionaries who proved effective in Britain, Ireland, Scotland and northern Europe. In addition to the Roman Catholic church, the Celtic church proved effective in reaching the lost.

There were a number of church councils between 313 and 451 A.D. The church wanted to solidify her teachings and avoid heresy. The first large church council in 325 was called by Constantine and paid for by the state. There were 200 bishops in attendance. The biggest battle was between the Arians, who denied the deity of Christ, and the supporters of Athanasius, who stated that Christ was of the same essence as the Father, but different personality. Christ was coequal, cosubstantial and coeternal. The debate went on for years, and Athanasius had many setbacks, but eventually his view was accepted and Arianism defeated. Other views that were rejected included those of Macedonius, who believed that the Holy Spirit was a servant of the Father like an angel. Apolaius believed that Christ had a normal body and soul, but the logos came on Him. This too was rejected. And the Nestorians, to avoid stating that Mary was the mother of God, stated that she was the mother only of the human side of Jesus. Thus Jesus would become the God-bearer rather than the God-man. This view was also condemned. Euthyches claimed that the two natures of Christ were fused into one divine nature, but this also was condemned. The orthodox view is that Christ had two natures in one person.

There were also debates on the nature of man. Pelagius believed that God created each individual which was uncontaminated by the sin of Adam, and that each man could choose good or evil. Thus he denied original sin. Augustine believed that the entire race fell with Adam, and man cannot exert his own free will to choose salvation, but that it comes through grace. The church supported the belief of Augustine.

During this time, there were some great church fathers who helped the church stay on course. Chrystostom was a well trained monk who was eventually the bishop of Constantinople. He demonstrated that the cross and ethics go together. Theodore (350-428) was a great exegite and opponent of allegorical interpretation. Eusebius was a great historian. He tried to compromise during the Arian controversy, and was weak on the deity of Christ. We might say that he had a semi-Arian position. Jerome was a great translator from the Hebrew, translating into the Vulgate in Latin. The Vulgate was used as a standard Bible for about 1000 years. He also wrote commentaries. Ambrose was a great administrator and preacher.

Perhaps the greatest church father was Augustine, who was an excellent theologian, preacher and administrator.24 Many still read his book “Confessions” with benefit. His father was a heathen, and his mother Monica was a Christian. He was raised in North Africa, and had his initial training there. He went to Carthage, and was involved in a relationship with a concubine for 13 years. He received excellent training in rhetoric, went briefly to Rome, and fell under the influence of Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. He was eventually saved, left his future arranged marriage as well as a concubine, and lived a celibate life thereafter. For a while he was involved in Manichaeanism, but later rejected it when he was saved, and wrote against it. He wrote the city of God after Rome was sacked by the heathen in 410 AD.

Augustine was brilliant. He was committed to the Lord. He struggled with the flesh, but came out victorious over sexual sins. Many of his concepts were helpful, but also many furthered the false teachings found in Rman Catholicism, including grace through the sacraments as administered by the church.25 He embraced the method of allegory, which again contributed to many false doctrines.

By the end of 500 years, the Christian faith had made remarkable progress. The church had spread through the middle east, northern Africa, much of Europe, and also as far as India. The church had defined doctrinal truths and had set the canon. There were some struggles between various centers of Christianity for the most prominence, but basically Christians felt that they were unified. The church, although especially influencing the poorer people, had penetrated all society. Much of Europe had been civilized.

Missions in the middle ages:

The church during the middle ages had two main problems. The first was the recurrent invasions of hordes of barbarians from the north - coming from Russian and Central Asia. Some, like the Huns, were primarily destructive, but others were more open to the gospel. The task was not easy but eventually many came to Christianity. The second problem was the aggressive expansion by the sword of Islam sweeping across North Africa and into Spain, only to be stopped at Tours in France, and gradually sweeping across the eastern section of the Mediterranean. We will look especially at these two problems.

In the middle ages, Europe was still pagan. Most people did not live in the cities, but in the country sides. There was much lawlessness, and travel could be dangerous. The missionaries were often pioneers going into heathen territory. The heathen were not educated, and could not understand the theological arguments of an Augustine. There was a tendency to look for power encounters and miracles similar to what we see today in attempting to reach primitive cultures. Sometimes there was a “conversion” of a military or political leader either by force or by political alliance. Often the entire troop or people was then “baptized.” An example was Clovis, king of the Franks. (See above) The Roman Catholic church was consolidating power under the pope during this time. They often engaged in “mass conversions.”26

Christianity had been in England since at least the third century. However, the Angles and the Saxons who invaded England rejected Christianity. The Christians basically retreated to Wales. Augustine, a missionary to England, (not the Augustine from North Africa), was sent to England with a group of monks by Pope Gregory the Great. The pope, who had been a monk formerly, was stimulated by seeing three white slave boys from England being sold in 596. Augustine was accepted by King Ethelbert, and had great success. King Ethelbert had married a Christian princess from Gaul previously. One year after his arrival, Augustine baptized 10,000 persons on Christmas day. He taught the gospel in the context of the culture so that the people could understand. He converted their heathen temples into Christian churches, and substituted festivals for the heathen sacrificial rites. Augustine was made archbishop after the conversion of the king. He was not successful with those in Wales, and had difficulty with the Anglo-Saxons. These were later reached by Aldan, who also began a monastery.

During this same time period, the Nestorians were very active. They did not believe in the Catholic doctrines worshiping Mary. They believed that Mary bore the human side of Jesus, but not the divine, and viewed Christ as having two persons, rather than two natures in one person. They expanded east into Persia, Turkey and Russia, winning a number of converts from Zoroastrianism. As they were being persecuted by the Roman Catholics on one side and the Zoroastrians on the other, they traveled further east. They even traveled into India (the Mar Thomas churches) and to China in the sixth century. They were later driven out. They were strong in the scriptures, and established Bible Institutes. After reaching Central Asia, they penetrated to China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. In China alone, they had 200 bishops. A man called A-lo-pen brought the Christian belief to China in 635 A.D. It was initially received by the emperor, and expanded over the years until there were 30,000 monks in monasteries in China. The monks translated into Chinese, and lived in monasteries. About 200 years later, Emperor Wu Tsung was an enthusiastic Taoist, and basically eliminated all monasteries and monks, both Christian and Buddhist. A group investigating China 100 years later found little evidence of Christianity. Eventually they were overwhelmed by Genghis Khan.

Returning to the evangelization of Europe, in the 6th century, Columban (note the difference between Columba, who worked in England and Iona, and Columban) had a real impact. He was raised in Ireland, and received a good education as a monk. Apparently he left Ireland when he had too much attraction to young ladies. At age 30, he left with 12 others to go to Gaul (France), and there established three monasteries.27 When he rebuked their immorality, the court in Burgundy rejected him, and he eventually moved to northern Italy. There were a number of legends arising around Columban, including beer bursting into flames, and animals loving him. In some of his work, he was accompanied by St. Gall, who eventually went to northwestern Switzerland.

Another effective early missionary was Willebrord. (657-739) This Englishman first went to Holland and the to Denmark. He was supported by Charles Martel, the king of the Franks. At first, he was rejected and opposed by King Radbod of the Frisians, but persisted despite opposition. King Radbod had retaken his country and killed many missionaries. Later both countries became proponents of the gospel. During his 40 years of work, he was made archbishop of Utrecht, and established two monasteries.28

Boniface (680-755) worked originally with Willebrord. He was educated in a monastery age 7 as a child of an English noble, and wrote the first Latin grammar in English. He was sent to preach in Friesland, and later was offered the position of Bishop of Utrecht. He went to Rome to secure support from the pope. Then he moved further south to Saxony and Germany (Hessia). He challenged those who mixed Christianity with heathenism.29 To show the impotence of false gods, he chopped down the sacred oak tree of the god Thor and used its wood to make a Christian chapel. The tree was rotten inside and filled with mice, rats and snakes. He was a real leader, and recruited both men and women as missionaries and trained them. This is the first use of woman missionaries in centuries. His cousin Lioba began a convent for nuns. He had the personal strong support of Charles Martel, the man who defeated the Muslims at the battle of Tours. He was a strong proponent of Romism. He was against marriage and certain foods. He was certainly one of the greatest missionaries of the middle ages.

The monasteries and monks which were started with Boniface worked closely with the people. They tended to change the pagan holidays and practices into ones compatible with Christianity. They also worked in the vernacular languages of the people, although the liturgy remained in Latin. Finally, Boniface returned to Friesland in 753 with a group of monks, but was later killed by a group of armed bandits at age 75.

There were strong ties between the Roman Catholic church during this time and the rulers of the Franks, who supported the Catholics in evangelizing Europe. We had already mentioned Clovis, the king of the Franks who was converted and assisted evangelizing France at the beginning of the 6th century. However, the rulers following him were weak. The Muslim hordes began sweeping across northern Africa in the middle of the 7th century, and then invaded Spain and proceded north. They were finally stopped by Charles Martel, the king of the Franks, at the battle of Tours in 732 A.D.

Martel began a new line of rulers with his son, Pepin. Pepin had received a great deal of territory. He helped the Pope against the Lollards, who were persecuted by the Catholic church. Pepin gave a substantial amount of territory to the Pope, called the donation of Pepin, which became the papal states under Pope Stephan II.30 There was also talk of the donation of Constantine, but later this was proven to be a forgery. Pepin the short was followed by his son Charlemagne, a man of great size, culture, and ability. He controlled all of France, Germany, and northern Italy. He had offered to marry Irene from the East, to solidify his empire, but she refused. There was great cultural development as well as improved education under Charlemagne. During his reign, the Saxons were finally pacified.31

With the death of Charlemagne, there was no single ruler in power. He divided his empire among his three sons at the treaty of Verdun. Because there was no strong central government, at this time feudalism arose. The churches received large plots of land, and became more and more secularized. The abbots had positions of power and wealth, and were often appointed politically rather than for their spiritual interest. However, the church was of help in reducing the worst of the constant feudal fighting.

Summary of the work between 313-900 A.D.

In every age, you can find true believers. Between the time of Constantine the emperor and Charlemagne, there were a number of key missionaries. Some saw many converts, planted churches, started monasteries, and trained missionaries. The Roman Catholic church now rose in power, espeically after Gregory the great. The church’s power was rarely challenged for nearly 1000 years, from 590 A.D. to about 1500 A.D. However, there was a great deal of paganism in the church, and politics were rife. Positions in the church were for sale. Furthermore, we see the church tied to the state, particularly in the time of Charles Martel to Charlemagne. Unfortunately, there was limited evangelism outside the Roman Empire and Europe.

We will now look at the period from Charlemagne and Luther (800-1517 A.D.)

The Roman Catholic church’s power continued to rise to a peak with Innocent III in the late 12th century. Popes were often interfering in politics, and would sometimes depose or consecrate kings and emperors. A bit later, there were popes living in France, and at one time, there were three popes, each of whom had excommunicated the others! There was much immorality among the priests, who were supposed to be celibate. Much of the education was confined to the monasteries until the development of the universities at the beginning of the time of the enlightenment. During this time, the “golden age” of Islam, many of the centers of learning were Islamic. Many of those who wanted to live a spiritual life and avoid the worldliness of the church would go to the monastery and live as a monk, or for ladies, as a nun. Nevertheless, despite the low level of morality, there were many outstanding examples of Christianity and some outstanding missionaries.

Europe had been briefly unified under Charlemagne. But with the treaty of Verdun, Europe was again divided, with the two most important groups being France and Germany. Furthermore, the German states were divided, but nevertheless they became dominant. King Otto the Great used his power from Saxony over the Viking invaders, and strongly supported the pope. For several centuries, the popes were weak and the German emperors were strong, and came over the Alps to help them. The emperors also interfered with church business. This ceased with Innocent III, who humiliated the German ruler, having him stand 3 days barefoot in the snow waiting for an audience with the pope.

Anskar was considered the apostle of the north. He was a French monk sent to Denmark by Emperor Louis the pious. In 826, King Harold of Denmark with 400 of his court members were baptized. They were seeking military help. Three years later, both Anskar and King Harold were expelled from Denmark. They had a difficult time. When they were called to come to Sweden by King Bjorn, they were attacked by pirates. At that time, they saw a number of conversions, possibly political in nature. Anskar’s school, church and library between Denmark and Germany were also burned when the Danes overran the area. Eventually he was accepted by King Horic as well as King Olaf of Sweden. After his death, the people reverted back to paganism. However, Anskar is considered the apostle of the north.

The Vikings were the scourge of northern Europe and England for several centuries. They were fierce, warlike, and destructive. Between 793 and 867, they made severe inroads on England, and for a time it appeared that England would become Danish. They were even more effective in Ireland, and Olaf the White set up a government in Dublin that lasted 300 years. A Norwegian king used a church altar for the throne for his wife. Alfred the Great was finally victorious over many of the Vikings in 878, and a number became Christian. Thirty Viking lords were eventually converted int 9th century. Northern France also made a treaty with the Vikings between the Viking ruler Rollo and Charles the Simple in 911.

In the 10th century, Norman missionaries from England came also to Norway. They were opposed by the worshipers of the pagan gods Odin and Thor. When the missionaries broke a great image of Thor, snakes, mice and lizards came out of the image, but no harm to the missionaries. Later, King Olaf sent missionaries to Iceland, where the Norseman had been first. Then missionaries from Iceland went further to Greenland. The most prominent was Leif Ericson.

In the area of Denmark, King Gorm tried to eliminate Christianity, but his son Harold Bluetooth embraced Christianity instead. His son King Knut (also Cnut, Canute) was a great leader and took over much of the area of the North Sea, including Denmark, England, and Norway. He also supported Christianity and eventually established his own bishop, although he was opposed by Adelbert, the bishop of Hamburg, who wanted control of the area. The archbishop eventually was a Dane but his base was in Sweden.

The evangelization of Norway began with King Olaf Tryggvesson, who became a Christian after contact with a hermit while in Sicily. He forced the country to accept Christianity. This was followed up by his son Olaf and grandson Harald, who had bishops consecrated in England. Olaf was also successful in introducing Christianity without force to Iceland. They decided that the wisest man there would decide, and he chose the Christian belief. For a time, they continued infanticide and eating horseflesh, as well as some tendency to sacrifice to their old gods. However, after a time, they revoked all these practices. Then missionaries came from Iceland to Greenland, especially under the son of Eric the Red, Leif Erikson, who brought a bishop with him. We will look further at the evangelization of Greenland below.

In Sweden, both King Olof and 100 years later, King Inge tried to introduce Christianity without great success. Olof Skotkonung was unsucccessful in converting the people and in destroying the temple at Uppsala, which was a center of heathen belief. King Inge tried to convert the people about 100 years later without result. King Sverker did succeed, and brought in Ciscercian monks, which were some of the strongest monks of the time. Eventually one became the archbishop of Sweden.

Finland, which was inhabited by a different race and language group from Sweden, was also extremely resistant to the gospel. Eric IX brought in Bishop Henry, an English bishop, but when he left, and the bishop was not directly protected, he was killed in 1155. It was not until nearly 150 years later that Finland had their own Finnish bishop in 1291, and Christianity was established firmly.

Another extremely resistant area was Lithuania and the Balkans. Finally these areas were opened up by templars who were given property if they would Christianize the people. Also King Jagiello sought help against the templars, and went to the Poles. They agreed if he would convert to Christianity and take a Christian wife. He agreed and was baptized on 15 February, 1386. A bishop of Vilna was appointed.

Two brothers worked effectively further south in Bulgaria. Cyril and Methodius (815-885) worked together with the Khazars (Muslims) in Russia. They developed an alphabet (Cyrillic) and translated the scriptures in 863. Methodius was an artist. His depiction of the last judgment led the king to accept Christ. Cyril was also a brilliant apologist defending Christianity against Islam and Judaism. Unfortunately Cyril died quite young. Methodius became the bishop of Moravia and Pannonia, but he had controversy with German bishops and used latin in their services. When he used the vernacular of the people, Methodius were accused and sent to the Pope, who cleared him and sent him back. With the death of Methodius, his replacement was deposed and his followers were scattered further east, carrying the gospel with them. Bulgaria proved the center for reaching Eastern Europe as they embraced the Orthodox faith, and King Boris was baptized. However, at this time the Orthodox faith was not yet firmly established in Russia.

Russia was initially reached as Queen Olga accepted Christianity and went east to be baptized. However, her son was now king and strongly opposed to Christianity. Her grandson who followed, was Vladimir. He converted in 988, and Russia became essentially Christian following his baptism.

Bohemia was evangelized from Moravia. King Vratislav was a nominal Christian, and there was a return to paganism following his death. However, his son Vaclav was a true Christian. He was killed by his own brother Boleslav, but Boleslav II was Christian and the country eventually became Christian. Adelbert worked in the area without initial success but eventually the country accepted Christianity.

In Poland, Duke Mieszka married a Christian princess. At that time, his country was under Otto I. After his conversion, his son, another Boleslav, led the country and was named King by the Pope. The country was in turmoil for about 100 years, but then firmly established as a Christian nation.

Hungary was overrun by the Magyars, a fierce barbarian people. Eventually Geisa, a prince married a Christian princess. Their son Stephen became king and a strong Christian leader. He and his wife Gisela brought Hungary to Christianity. His birthday is still celebrated as an important holiday in Hungary.

Thus we see that there was a difference between eastern and western Christianity. The division line ran essentially through the middle of Europe. Gradually kings or queens were converted. Although there were pagan reactions, or returns at time to paganism, gradually the people were brought into the fold of Christianity as the bishops and others worked with the kings.

Confrontation with Islam:

Muhammed died in 632 A.D. Within the following century, Islam had swept across North Africa to the west, and reached Spain (Moors). Islam continued to advance into Europe until it was stopped by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours in France in 732, one hundred years after the death of Muhammed. The Muslims were stopped by the Orthodox church in the area of Constantinople, but also were able to advance into southern Europe on the east. In the far east, Islam spread through the middle east into India, which is now Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as central Asia. Eventually Islam reached Indonesia and the island of Mindanao in the Philippine Islands.

Over about 400 years, there was a stalemate, punctuated by the Crusades. These were religious wars to get the Holy Land back. There were 7 crusades between 1096-1270. The crusades, which were to a certain extent also defensive, never really won back any area for a significant period of time. Both the Christians and the Saracens looked at the other as heathen, who were slaughtered ruthlessly. Many atrocities were committed on both sides with great bitterness and loss of life. The crusades were a disaster both spiritually and militarily. It is most unfortunate that the church gave up the sword of the Spirit, and used fleshly weapons with the sword of might. There still remains bitterness over the crusades hundreds of years later.

The first crusade, led by Peter the Hermit and others, was mostly a group of unorganized Frenchmen, many of whom never reached Constantinople, and those who advanced were killed by the Turks or sold as slaves. However, the first crusade did win Nicea, Antioch and Jerusalem. The knights started a feudal system and organized the Knights Templar to protect the areas. In the second crusade, the Muslims captured Edessa, and the king of France and the emperor of the Holy Empire were unsuccessful. Saladin, the Muslim leader, won Jerusalem in 1187. In the third crusade of three kings, one king drown, Phillip returned to France, and Richard continued. He was unable to defeat Saladin, but was able to negotiate safe conduct for pilgrins to come to Jerusalem. In the fourth crusade, the Eastern church was weakened, and Constantinople was sacked. In the sixth crusade, the Christians were briefly in charge of Jerusalem, but then the Saracens took control again. The seventh crusade was the tragic children’s crusade, which was a total disaster.

One of the negative effects of the crusades was contention between the western and eastern branches of Christianity. The crusades brought the crusaders into the area of the Eastern church. But when they won property, they often set up bishops under the western Roman branch. Furthermore, on the 4th crusade, the crusaders turned to sack Constantinople in 1204. Sixty years later, the east won the city back. Second, the relationship with Muslims was hurt until today. The followers of the Prince of Peace were anything but peaceful. The spiritual life of the church was also hurt disastrously. One individual who tried to do otherwise was Francis of Assisi, who made three attempts to reach the Muslims. On his third attempt, he did have an opportunity to speak with the Sultan of Egypt. During this time, the west began to develop nationalism as feudal lords remained in the middle east. And the pope gained strength with the support of several groups of monks.

In 1453, Constantinople fell to Islam. The Mongols set up their empire reaching to northern India and spreading to Malaysia, the East Indies and Mindanao. Thus they prevented the Roman Catholics from spreading further south. For a time, Islam was the world’s largest religion.

One of the few missionaries to the Muslims was Raymond Lull. He lived an immoral profligate life, but saw two visions of Christ in 1232. He left his wife and family with adequate finances, and became a monk. After another vision, he decided to learn Arabic and reach out to the Muslims. He purchased a Saracen slave to learn Arabic. When the slave cursed Christ, Lull nearly killed him. He had him jailed, and the slave committed suicide. At this point, Lull left support behind for his wife and family, and became a missionary. He was an apologist who wrote 60 books on theology. With the help of King James II of Spain, he opened a monastery in Majorca for training evangelists. On his first missionary trip, he lost heart and had his goods removed from the ship, which sailed without him. However, he relented and went on the next ship.

Lull tried to reach both Jews and Muslims. He had many effective apologetic arguments. He was very aggressive and offensive. He also tried to reach the Jews. He would hold up the 10 commandments and show from the Muslim’s own books that Muhammed broke all of them. He was repeatedly jailed at age 75. Eventually at age 80 he again witnessed defending Christianity in Bugia, east of Algiers. After 10 months in hiding, he presented himself again publically. He was stoned to death in 1315. Although some of his philosophical ideas were not accepted, he clearly had a tremendous burden for the Muslims.

Raymond Lull certainly had an unusual background. I could hardly recommend leaving your wife and family to launch out on a missions endeavor. He also had problems with controlling anger when he nearly killed his own slave. However he must be commended for his zeal to reach the Muslims. He took time to learn the language. He studied Islam carefully. He was an aggressive apologist. His confrontational methods were certainly not “politically correct” and ultimately led to his death by stoning when his opponents had no answer to his arguments. But his burden for reaching the Muslims was commendable, and a burden which we need to have today.

About this time, the Mongols swept east to China and west to the middle of Europe, with a path of destruction before them. Their leader was Genghis Khan. The pope sent three envoys to him asking him to become a Christian. He replied three times asking the pope to submit to him as the divinely ordered ruler of the world. He was followed by Kublai Khan, and was visited by Marco Polo. The Khan requested that they send 100 men to show the superiority of the Christian faith. However the current pope did nothing. It is sad to contemplate what “might have been...” In a similar vein, after World War II, there was a call for 1000 missionaries to come to Japan, but only a few answered the call immediately. The door of opportunity that was open is not totally closed, but the Japanese do not seem greatly receptive at this time. When a door is open, it is our responsibilty to walk through it. Finally, a later pope sent two men, one of whom arrived - John of Montecorvino. Seven monks arrived later to consecrate him as bishop. They opened a second area, followed by other monks as the work expanded. However, when the Chinese later defeated Mongolia, the Christian presence stopped for two hundred years.

Further west, the monks adapted to the Mongols, growing beards and living among them. It appeared that with the conversion of a leader called Toqtai, there might be a breakthrough. However, his sons opted to become Muslims, and the Mongols became Muslims rather than Christians. There was also a brief success around the Black Sea, but this area also became Muslim. Likewise there was some initial success in Persia and India by the Dominicans, but the successes were very brief. Furthermore, the hordes of barbarians were a great problem, and their leader Tamerlane, who was brilliant, was also ruthless and destroyed much of western culture and Christianity.

Roman Catholic evangelization during the middle ages:

Pope Gregory the great proved a very effective leader. He was very missionary minded, but compromised, accommodating the pagan religions with a mixture of paganism and Catholicism. This syncretism has been a constant problem for the Catholic church, and is seen worldwide in their methods of evangelization.

The church had much corruption as well. Many who wanted a closer walk with the Lord chose monasticism. Thus monastic orders began to have great outreach. There were the Franciscans, Benedictines, Dominicans, Augustinian, and the Jesuits. Benedictus started the first system of monasteries. He ordered the life of the monks so that they would have time to worship, work, and study. His order put an emphasis on poverty, chastity, and obedience.

As the monasteries developed, many became wealthy and corrupt. There was a reform movement - the Cluny reforms. The Cluny abbot was directly responsible to the pope, and he appointed other abbots who were under him. Eventually the Cluny abbot had 1100 monasteries under him. They fought against three sources of corruption. First, there was no simony (or selling of church offices) or nepotism (favoritism for families). They also attempted to insist that the monks remain celibate. The Cluny monasteries began missionary outreach. But then Cluny itself became wealthy, filled with aristocrats, and needing renewal. During this period, Bernard of Clairvaux set up his great Ciscerian monastery. Again we see that worldly power and wealth are antagonistic to the purity of the Bible. We are commanded not to love the world (I John 2:15-17). We are told that he who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God (James 4:4). The dangers of worldliness may be far more insidious and disastrous than the dangers of overt persecution. Some monasteries were military. Other outreach included the friars, who worked directly with the people, spoke in the vernacular, and were supported by alms. The Franciscians were started by St. Francis of Assisi, and had a number of intellectual leaders. A noble named Dominic started the Dominicans, who were loyal to a prior, and especially loyal to the pope. They greatly increased the strength of the pope, and ran the inquisition. They had many outstanding missionaries, and the most outstanding theologian of the middle ages, Thomas Aquinas. The Franciscians began from 1182-1226, the Dominicans from 1170-1221, the Augustinians from 1256, and the Jesuits from 1540.

These groups hunted down the Albigenses in southern France, and the Waldensians, who were poor protestant laymen who were excommunicated by the pope. Peter Waldo traveled to Rome and presented his ideas. Initially Rome was inconclusive, but later he was excommunicated and his teachings were rejected at the fourth Laterine Council of 1215. His followers were viciously persecuted. Some began their own groups. Sometimes the church tried to win the “heretics” over, sometimes they tried to eliminate them by persecution, and generally forbad the publication of Bibles in the vernacular language because they would result in invidious comparisons with the church. In addition to the Waldensians, who probably were the same as the Vallenses of Italy in previous centuries, the Paulicians, the Cathari, the Bogomils, and other groups were also persecuted. Because the only information we have is from their persecutors, it is quite likely that they were Bible-believing groups persecuted by the Roman Catholics.32 Satan has always opposed the true church and true believers. One of his most effective methods is using religion to suppress the truth. What is especially sad is Satan’s success in deceiving the official church officers to believe that they are actually serving God. A classic example, of course, is the apostle Paul before his conversion.

As we study the popes of the middle ages, Nicholas II was a strong pope, but he was followed by a string of weak men. At one time, three men simultaneously claimed to be pope. Finally the power of the pope increased with Pope Leo IX, and culminated in Innocent III. During this time, there was more and more acceptance of the mass as a sacrifice. This concept greatly increaed the power of the priests. A man named Hildebrand helped Leo IX and Nicholas II, and was their financial head. He helped place the selection of the pope in the hands of the cardinals. After Nicholas II, he was unanimously elected as Pope Gregory VII. He placed the pope above all temporal authorities. When King Henry refused allegiance and the pope excommunicated him, Gregory VII left him outside barefoot in the snow for 3 days before releasing excommunication. It was now the Pope who had control over kings. With such secular power, we can anticipate that soon the popes will seek the position for power rather than spiritual service to others. The popes were also rich - in contrast to Peter, who said “Silver and gold have I none...”

The papal authority increased over the states. Innocent III, although well educated and humble, believed that God Himself made him hte vicar (substitute) of Christ, above all secular and spiritual powers. When the king of France was granted a divorce, the pope forced him to restore his wife. He humbled King John of England. In both cases, he used the interdict to assert his power. In a Laterine council, transsubstantiation was approved, and the church required all people to attend mass at least at Easter and confess yearly to a priest. With an interdict, the church forbids a person or group to participate in sacramental rites and to have a Christian burial. In these cases, the pope asserted his authority to forbid all Catholic priests from performing sacraments such as the mass as well as Christian burial. At that time, both France and England were Catholic, and his power was such as to force the kings to obey his wishes. However, the power of the papacy dropped dramatically with Boniface. Then for 70 years, the pope was relocated in France, and was under French domination.

During the middle ages, the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split, and this break was not healed for 1000 years. By 385, after Constantine had moved his center to Constantinople, the emperor controlled the patriarch of the East, but he did not control the bishops of the west. In the East, the emperors had great power, and were almost popes. In the West, the popes had great power, and were almost emperors. They finally broke relationships in 1054. The pope excommunicated the patriarch on the high altar of St. Sophia, and the patriarch declared the pope anathema. This breach was not formally done away with until 1965, over 9 centuries later. This break, of course, had important implications for missions.

There were a number of differences in the priests from both groups. The priests from the west were required to be celibate, could shave, were practical, used Latin in their ceremonies, and used both pictures and statues. The priests from the East were more theoretical, were able to marry, required beards, spoke in Greek, and kept icons although no pictures. The West declared that the Holy Spirit proceded from both the Father and the Son, while in the East, they believed that the Holy Spirit proceded only from the Father.

During the early middle ages, the educational and scholastic centers were the monasteries. The church worked to have a consistency between intellectual and religious beliefs. Famous theologians included Anselm and William of Ockham, and most famous of all, Thomas Aquinas. However, the universities began to replace the monasteries as the centers of learning, with famous universities at Paris, Oxford and Cambridge. There was also some mysticism, as exemplified by Thomas a Kempis, who wrote the famous “The Imitation of Christ.”

During the latter middle ages, there was a movement toward reform, ultimately resulting in the Protestant renewal, which had a major effect on missions over the next several centuries. One of the early reformrs was John Wycliffe. His major contribution was his translation of the Bible into English, later finished by Nicholas of Herford. Wycliffe opposed the power of the Pope and transubstantiation, and believed that one should obey the Bible rather than simply accept the traditions of the church when the two conflicted. Wycliffe influenced the Lollards and also the Mennonites through John Huss. Wycliffe died of a stroke before the Roman Catholic church could punish him. However, they declared that he was a heretic, banned his books, and in a most strange ceremony, exhumed his body, burned his bones, and cast the ashes in the River Swift. Thus again we see the anger of the unbelieving church against reformation and return to true Christianity. Wycliffe was called with good reason “the morningstar of the reformation.”

When King Richard II married Anne from Bohemia, the ideas of Wycliffe spread to Bohemia, where they were accepted by John Huss. Huss was called to appear before the pope and guaranteed safe conduct. However, when he was condemned as a heretic, he was condemned to death and burned at the stake. Again we see the deceit of the church. Huss was guaranteed safety, but when he was declared a heretic, then the church turned around and said that no safety is guaranteed to a heretic. However, the group he began was continued as the United Brothers of Moravia, and this group later was the first missionary group to arrive in Suriname. Even today the Evangelical Broeders Gemeente (Evangelical Brothers Church) consider their originator was John Huss. When I purchased property, the man who sold it was from the EBG church. When I mentioned that his church began with Nicholas Zinzendorf, he corrected me. No, he said - our originator is John Huss.

Savanorola was a firebrand priest who eventually gained secular power in Florence, where he acted as governor. His policies were strong, and he gained powerful political enemies and lost public support. He made sodomy a capital offense. He collected items of worldiness and gambling, and even art, and burned them. He was opposed by Pope Alexander VI, and when he ignored the pope, he was excommunicated. He was eventually condemned, hanged and burned with two associates at the same location that he had burned many items previously.

During this time, the pope and the Roman Catholic church began losing their power. Feudalism was being replaced by the nation-state. Wealthy merchants did not appreciate the power of the pope. England developed a constitutional monarchy, and both France and Spain gave increasing power to the king. The idea of the universal church was being replaced by national state churches. The ideas of righteousness by faith as stated in the Bible were replacing the traditions of the church, and Biblical interpretation was replacing Greek philosophy. Two major problems especially precipitated the move to reformation. There was heavy taxation by the church, and papal courts were replacing the courts of the nations. The stage was set for reformation, especially in northern Europe.

In 1517, Martin Luther placed his 95 theses on the door of the church, precipitating a reform movement culminating in the Protestant reformation. This movement spread to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Two key features were the doctrine of salvation by faith, and the translation of scriptures into the native languages. However, Luther continued to believe in infant baptism and baptismal regeneration. Luther also believed in what he called consubstantiation rather than transubstantiation. (I have never really understood the difference). Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, agreed with most items of Luther except that he viewed communion as a remembrance. Luther was originally a Catholic priest, and studied the scriptures and became a theological professor. He was tormented by the thought of his sins. He tried many forms of penance without success. While studying Galatians and Romans, he came to realize that salvation was by faith alone apart from works. He was excommunicated by the pope, brought to the diet of Worms to recant, and refused. On his return, he was “kidnapped” by masked riders and taken to safety, where he remained in a castle and translated the Bible from the original languages into German. He later married Katrina von Bora, and had 6 children. He wrote many hymns. Unfortunately during the Protestant reformation, there was a peasant revolt with many atrocities, some done in his name.

As we look at the life of Luther, he provided a great impetus to the Protestant reformation. He stood firm against the Pope in his loyalty to the truth of salvation by faith. However, he did not abandon many of the false doctrines of the Catholic church, including baptismal regeneration and infant baptism. Lutherans were involved in persecuting anabaptists, who were true Biblical believers. I believe that God did use Luther greatly in taking a step away from Rome, but he stopped far short of coming to a more biblical stance. Furthermore, he had little emphasis on missions. It would appear that there was a focus on simple survival. There were long wars between the Lutherans and Catholics in Germany. It was left to the Pietist movement about two centuries later that the Lutherans became heavily involved in missions, especially through the Danish-Halle mission and the missions burden of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians.

John Calvin also left the Catholic church after developing his ideas. He was originally trained as a lawyer, but became a spokesman for the new Protestants in France. En route to Basel, he was persuaded by William Farel to stay and help in Geneva. He left to pastor, and then was invited to return, and settled in Geneva, which he set up as a sort of model community. However, he sent many men back into France and northern Europe as well as two missionaries overseas. His doctrine was further from Catholicism than that of Luther. He held to two ordinances, and did not believe in sacramental grace. There is a question of whether or not he believed in all of the five points now attributed to Calvinism. He wrote extensively, especially in his Institutes of Religion, which he wrote in both Latin and French. Calvinism was strong in Holland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Most of the missionary activity was confined to northern Europe and the British Isles.

In England, there was an ongoing struggle between the Protestants and Catholics, especially during the 16th century. Many were killed, and many others fled, especially during the time of the children of Henry VIII. The church was first led by Protestant Edward VI, then by “bloody Mary”, who was Catholic, and then eventually by Elizabeth, who was Anglican. With the rise of the Anglican church, many who were involved in a reform movement, the Puritans, fled to Holland or America to escape persecution. Many formed Congregational churches, and some became Baptists. As we summarize the major effects of the Protestant reformation, the Protestants dominated most of northern Europe, but the Catholics were dominant in the south, especially in France, Spain and Italy. Protestantism was characterized by emphasis on individual freedom, salvation by faith rather than sacraments, the priesthood of the believer, and the authority of the Bible rather than the traditions of the church. During this time, there was a Roman Catholic counter-reformation with some of the worst abuses of the Catholic church corrected. The Catholics also won territory. Many popes regained strength and reformed spiritually. Some of the worst abuses of the priests were stopped. And Spain was noted for strong Catholic leaders as their kings.

Two powerful weapons of the counter-reformation were the “ban”, which prevented faithful Catholics from reading both the Bible and controversial books, and the inquisition, which tortured those who questioned the beliefs of the Catholic church. King Frederick II gave the order to hunt out heretics in 1232. Gregory IX used the inquisition, and the Laterine council of 1215 set up courts to try the heretics. The heretics were mostly Bible-believing Christians who rejected the unbiblical beliefs of the Catholic church, and many died. Despite the persecution and martyrdom, the true church believers became more numerous. The persecution was worst in Spain, and very widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries, but persisted after that time in Spain.33 However, many of the Dominican and Franciscan priests were involved in the inquisition.

The Jesuits arose as a powerful group to help the pope. During this time, there were many explorers from primarily Catholic countries. At first, Venice and Genoa were the areas of the great explorers, but soon they were superceded by Portugal and Spain. These countries were Roman Catholic. Both countries explored along the African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope. To avoid major confrontations, the pope arbitrarily divided the New World between both countries. Through this division, most of South and Central America was for Spain, but Brazil was Portuguese. During this time, the West Indies, Mexico, and South America were explored and conquered. The natives were not really able to resist. The Aztecs fell to Cortez, and the Inca Indians to Pizarro. And with the explorers and conquerors, they brought Catholic priests. These Catholic priests often engaged in syncretism between the native beliefs and Catholicism. Thus although the population was nominally Catholic, this was a veneer of Christianity placed on top of the native beliefs. This situation persists until today in such areas as Chiapas, where there is great persecution of evangelical believers.34

Las Casas was born in 1474. His father traveled with Columbus a bit later. He was trained first as a lawyer. He was the legal advisor of the governor in Hispaniola, and arranged raids and enslaved the native population. Later, he became a priest, but continued his lavish affluent lifestyle. He joined the Dominican order while in Cuba. He felt responsible for the Indians, and became a voice for them. When Spain aggressively took over Mexico and further south, Las Casas defended the Indian population. He was appointed Bishop of Chiapas at age 70. He was opposed by both colonists and some of his own priests. He retaliated by refusing absolution to those abusing the Indians. After being bishop for three years, he resigned and returned to Spain. There he continued to work for the betterment of the Indians until 90 years of age. Emperor Charles V changed some laws to provide basic human rights for the Indians.

It is wonderful to see the Lord change priorities. We see that first Las Casa was a lawyer, and then a priest, but his lavish lifestyle persisted. Later he joined the Dominican order and the Lord gave him a burden for the Indians. He used his position as Bishop of Chiapas to defend them. Even when he returned to Spain at age 73, he continued to strive for the betterment of the Indians until his death at age 90.

Saint Peter Clavier was a Jesuit (see below) priest who had great interest in the slaves who came into the New World. He lived for 40 years caring for the slaves in Cartagena, 700 miles north of the equator and a center of slave trade. He spent much time caring for them, instructing them, baptizing them, and trying to insure that they were not abused. He cared for the sick and dying. He was later considered the patron saint of the slaves.35 Although the outline I read about him was rather embellished (like claiming that his countenance had a divine type of light around him at times) there is no question that he truly loved the slaves and served them throughout his entire life.36

The Jesuit order was begun by Ignatius of Loyola. This aggressive and well-organized group of monks were totally loyal to the pope. One of their tenants was that the end justifies the means, even if the means might result in murder. The group grew rapidly to 15,000 members. The most well known member of the Jesuits was Francis Xavier, one of the original 6 members of the inner circle.

Francis Xavier was originally interested in the Protestants in Paris, but then fell under the influence of Loyola. He made a vow of poverty and celibacy to promote the Catholic church. When another missionary was sick, he was assigned to India. He began working in Goa with children. He was disturbed by the worldliness which he found there. He went to India and taught people prayers, and baptized thousands there. He worked among the poor pearl fisherman. He taught the children to break idols, and to teach each other prayers. When other replaced him, he moved farther east, first to Malacca and then eventually to Japan. In Japan, Francis had been encouraged by Anjiro, a Japanese man. When he left, there were about 100 converts. He arrived at a time that Japan was open to foreigners, and there was a Japanese minister favorable to the Catholics. However, when that minister was assassinated, he had to leave. Incredibly, in 10 years he planted missions in 52 kingdoms, traveled 9000 miles, and “baptized” 1,000,000 persons.

Francis showed great zeal for Christ, but it is questionable how many of his converts were truly converted to Christ. Again, this is an illustration of the effects of false doctrine, especially baptismal regeneration. We still see this today. I went to a Catholic funeral for a church member’s unsaved mother. The priest declared that she was in heaven because she was baptized Catholic. Here is a man on fire with zeal, leaving perhaps 1,000,000 people with a “baptism” but how many truly have trusted Christ?

However, other Jesuits followed, and there were eventually 300,000 converts to Catholicism. Many local leaders were converted, and a seminary was begun to train Japanese pastors. They eventually were consecrated by a bishop. The Catholic church persisted in Japan for some 200 years despite some opposition and persecution. The Japanese Islands were consolidated under Hideyoshi in 1590. His children persecuted the foreigners. There was also competition between the Jesuits and the Franciscans, as well as the English and Dutch, who arrived in Japan. Heavy persecution broke out, and 1900 Japanese Christians and 62 foreign missionaries were tortured and killed, usually by crucifixion. The Japanese tried to get persons to deny their faith by torturing until near death, and then stopping. Japan remains a difficult land to reach for Christ until this very time.

Another brilliant Jesuit was Matthew Ricci. He had been preceded much earlier by Friar John, who had been protected by the Mongols who were then ruling in China. Matthew was born in 1522. He proved a brilliant student and joined the Jesuits. He went initially to Goa, and then Macao, off the China coast. He was an expert in mathematics and astronomy. He mastered various maps and gadgets and was able to influence the intellectuals of China. He and another Jesuit decided to shave their heads and dress like Buddhist monks. When the other Jesuit was falsely accused of immorality, he shifted to the garb of a Confucian scholar. Matthew Ricci carried out a syncretic approach between Confucianism and Roman Catholicism. He studied and respected the Confucian classics. He rejected the approach that one must become a Christian with a clean slate (tabula rasa). Thus he allowed ancestor worship although the Roman church opposed that practice. He was eventually brought to Peking under protection of the emperor. He was skilled in repairing clocks and making maps. He saw about 2000 professions. Some of his converts we believe were genuinely saved. One of his converts was Paul Hsu. Two of his descendants were Christian ladies who became the wives of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.37 Within the orders of the Catholic church, there was great conflict. The Dominicans and the Franciscans opposed syncretism and contextualization, but the Jesuits like Ricci pursued it. The church did grow 100 fold over the next 200 years. It appears that some were genuinely converted.

Alexander de Rhodes (1591- 1660) was a Jesuit priest and missionary to Vietnam. He made a Portuguese-Latin-Vietnamese dictionary. Twice he was thrown out of the country but returned. Apparently many were baptized through his ministry, perhaps 100,000. On his third rejection from Vietnam, he went to Persia, where he died. However, others followed his footsteps.

Other effective Roman Catholic missionaries included Robert de Nobile, who adopted the local dress customs while in South India. He was fluent in Tamil and Sanscrit, and did some translation work. He separated himself from the Portuguese bishop. He left many converts to Roman Catholicism there. He was able to penetrate into the upper classes and even saw 6 Brahmins baptized. He remained in India 37 years. His syncretism, however, brought protests that went back to Rome. O

Other Roman Catholic missionaries include a priest named Britto was tortured, released, and publically beheaded as a martyr. Father Beschi also mastered Tamil and was able to write in classic form. The church continued to debate about how much contextualization was acceptable, and eventually limited it severely.

In the Philippines, Father Legaspi was very effective. The Catholics saw eventually 2,000,000 persons baptized over a 100 year period. By the following century, virtually all the major Catholic groups were found in the Philippines. They built schools and hospitals, and converted the animistic people to Catholicism. However, the understanding of the people was (and perhaps is today) superficial. The Pope put the bishop under Mexico. Two advantages of the Philippines was that there was no attraction for gold, and now older established religion, as there was in India and China.

The Catholics developed a program called “Propaganda”. They began to realize that Portugal and Spain could not handle all the New World. France began to contribute, especially in North America. The church began to train nationals, realizing that nationalization was necessary. It also permitted increasing contextualization, but this was an area of constant controversy.

Summary of Roman Catholic missions:

The Roman Catholics operated from a strong mission base. The various orders were especially effective. The monks were unmarried, and able to go overseas without major problems. They were usually well educated. However, they baptized millions with only a dim view of Roman Catholicism, and few would have a true understanding of the gospel. The Roman Catholic church often allowed syncreticism and compromise with animistic religion, and there was a lack of permanent results in many places.38 They had a method of “conquer and convert”, especially in the Philippines and America. There was a great problem with human greed and abuse of the Indians and slaves.39 There was little development of a national priesthood, especially in the more primitive societies, and little emphasis on learning the language and culture. However, there were some striking exceptions, with some priests very knowledgeable in both the culture and language. Also the Jesuits were closed for a time in 1742, with the collapse of many missions started by that order.

Orthodox Church Expansion:

The expansion of the Orthodox church has not been as dramatic as that of the west. There was a gradual division over about 200 years from approximately 867 to 1053, when there was a formal split between the two churches. With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the old Eastern Orthodox church basically ended. The patriarchs in Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople and Alexandria were not aggressive. Also the Tartars who invaded became Muslim, but were not aggressive in outreach. The Khans were a bit more aggressive. The center of the Orthodox church shifted to Moscow. The church continued to expand eastward, eventually encompassing all of Russia and Siberia. Stefan Charp in the 14th century proved to be an effective missionary. Tibet was not reached, but was under shamanistic Lamaism.

Russian evangelism was promoted by Ivan III and especially by Ivan IV, who was an aggressive Christian. Peter also asked help for setting up a Metropolitan (structure of the Orthodox church) in Tobolsk to Christianize both Russia and Siberia. The initial bishop assigned there was very aggressive in baptizing, but also used an incentive - he forgave taxes of those baptized. Those who followed him had difficulties.

In the Volga region, by the middle of the 17th century, nearly 500,000 persons were baptized and made free from service in the Russian army. However, the Tartars were resistant, and the government removed the priest and sent him to Russia. In China, when the emperor recognized China over Mongolia, the Russians were allowed to bring four priests to China, and a handful of Chinese came to the church. They were not successful in reaching the Kalmucks, a nomadic tribe. In Eastern Siberia, they purchased slaves and set them free to work on the church grounds. This outreach lasted as long as the missionaries were with them. One priest was Cyril Suchanov, initially a godly layman, who lived among the nomads and eventually started a church. In the area of Kamschatka, a very cold peninsula with high volcations, Martinian arrived in 1705 and baptized some converts but was murdered. Later, Ioasuf Chotkunschevsky organized the entire area and by 1748, he had baptized over 10,000 and the entire area was Christianized. The Aleutian Islands were also annexed by Russia at this time. They send missionaries to the Islands with success, who baptized 10,000 persons. However, the organizer, who had been named the new bishop, was lost with all hands at sea. Later, the people were destroyed by alcohol and disease.

Summary of Russian expansion: There was a strange combination of statesmanship and zeal coupled with coercion. Many lived simply and were willing to die for their faith. The long term effects of evangelization were somewhat limited.

Pre-reformation Evangelicals:

There were many true believers during the time of the dark ages. They opposed the false teachings which had crept into the Catholic church, especially after the time of Constantine. Beginning with men like Priscillian, who was beheaded in 385 as a heretic but was truly an evangelical, there were many groups who taught true biblical faith. The Paulicians were in existence from about 650-950. Other groups included the Bogomiles, the Waldensen, the Bohemian brethren, the Albigenses, the Lollards, and especially many groups called anabaptists (re-baptizers). Men like Peter de Bruys, Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, John Hus, and Menno Simon also opposed the corruption and false teaching of the dominant Roman Catholic church. Although they reached out to many surrounding areas, they did not usually go far afield as far as missions are concerned. They were hunted and persecuted unmercifully. Many of their writings were destroyed. Often the only information which we have is actually from their enemies. But out of their teaching the reformation arose.40,41

Protestant missions:

One of the first Protestant missions was begun by 500 French Catholic Hugenots who went to Brazil to start a mission in 1705. However, one of their leaders betrayed them, and they were murdered by Portuguese Catholic Jesuits when they refused to convert to Catholicism. Also, Cerceslaus Budovetz, a Mennonite from Budapest went to Istanbul for 4 years (1577-1581). He reported winning only one Muslim, and was impressed with the hold of Islam on the people. Dutch Calvinists also started a colony in 1595. Further, there was a debate at that time as to whether the great commission was binding on all believers or just the apostles. Hadrian Saravia, one of the translators of the King James Bible, wrote a chapter on missions and demonstrated that it was binding on all believers, although Theodore Beza, who replaced John Calvin disputed him.

Other Protestants of that time reaching the lost include King Gustav Vasa of Sweden, who wanted to reach the Lapps of the north. A German nobleman wanted to see books translated into the Slavic language to reach the Muslims and Turks. And Hugo Grotius wrote a book encouraging missionary expansion. The Dutch also worked in Indonesia, training workers in Leyden not only to work for the Dutch East India Company, but to care for the Dutch citizens and care for nationals. They gave a cash bonus for each person baptized. The Dutch claimed that 40,000-100,000 were baptized. However, only 10 were allowed to participate in communion. The New Testament was translated into Malay in 1668. The Dutch also went to Taiwan, but were driven out by a Chinese pirate.

Baron Von Welz, a Lutheran, was a strong advocate of missions but no one listened to him. He was opposed by Johan Ursinas, who complained that it was hard to recruit missionaries, and that there are great needs at home. He stated that the depravity of the lost made it difficult for them to convert, and that the Christians of other lands have the responsibility to reach the heathen. Von Welz apparently lived a rather profligate life until he was converted at age 40. He studied the Bible and lives of the martyrs. He advocated a simple lifestyle, and the necessity of reaching the heathen at a time that the Lutheran church viewed outreach as political and territorial. He advocated setting up special schools for the training of missionaries including training in Pauline methods, culture and communication as well as theology. He contributed considerable money for this project, which was matched by a friend. He was 100 years before his time, and his ideas were rejected. When Von Welz was ignored, he went to Holland, and as a baron, he was commissioned as apostle to the gentiles. He went to Suriname as a missionary, but soon died of tropical disease within two years of his arrival.

Von Welz served as a forerunner of the modern missionary movement, and as a man who was willing to sacrifice position and wealth for reaching the lost. He had a clear vision for missions, and also for using Pauline methods. He advocated training missionaries, and was willing to sacrifice his own wealth for this project. He was willing to pay the price of dying in a lonely grave in the tropics.

What about the great reformers, Luther, Calvin and Zwingli? Unfortunately, they showed little burden for missions. Luther felt that the Lord would be coming soon, and that the great commission was just for the apostles. Calvin’s theology was actually anti-missionary in emphasis. If only the elect were to be saved, then why go? If they were elect, they would be saved. If they were not, then they would never be saved. However inconsistent it was with his theology, he did send out dozens of missionaries, including the group murdered in Brazil. He trained and smuggled pastors back into France. Later William Carey had to fight against these Calvinist ideas. Zwingli did little for missions, and actively persecuted the anabaptists.

Why were there initially so few Protestant missionaries?

First, most of the Protestant countries were landlocked, and had little access to the sea. But they did have trading companies to make a profit. Unfortunately, often the trading companies themselves did not want missionaries, as they feared that they would interfere with their profits. The companies often strongly resisted missions, even refusing to transport missionaries or allow missionaries in their territories. It appears that they wanted a docile and uneducated labor pool, and no opposition to their prominence and power. What a sad commentary on western civilization. Their attitude contributed to the problems missionaries had reaching the lost in years to follow.

Also the structure of Protestantism and the situation with the Catholics created many problems. First, they had no monastic orders as did the Catholic church. The monks were totally committed to the church and able to go at any time. They had no family considerations. Second, the Protestants were a persecuted minority in many places, and had difficulty maintaining themselves against the Catholics. Further, there was fighting between Calvinists and Lutherans, and both of them persecuted the Anabaptists.

Arguments against missions were promulgated by men like Johann Urisinas. His excuses included the following, with my own thoughts in parenthesis: We need to evangelize at home. (Answer - of course we do, but also overseas). Make the heathen evangelize themselves (that is an interesting thought - how can they do that? What can they do if they have not heard?). They are too depraved to become Christians. (This of course totally ignores the work of the Holy Spirit. It also ignores what the Europeans were like when they were heathen, and apparently even practiced cannibalism as well as human sacrifice).42

The Reformed churches also had theological problems. They misinterpreted many missionary texts. I mentioned already that Calvinism with salvation of just the elect is anti-missionary, and certainly hypercalvinism is strongly against missions. Then too, the Reformed churches still accepted the concept of the state church. They believed in baptizing into a state church which was territorial. And indeed if this is true, then it is the government’s job to send out missionaries, and not the church’s responsibility. Indeed, in some locations, the state paid the clergy.

Further problems included the concept of missions beginning at the borders of heathendom. We shall see later that some of the missions emphasized that they were going to the interior of the country, and not just to the coast. Therefore they were named China Inland Mission, Sudan Interior Mission, Africa Inland Mission, etc. There was opposition by kings and rulers. There was the feeling that without a very clear missionary call, you should not venture forth. And the evil conduct of some Christians complicated missions by giving a bad example of Christianity.

A Protestant group shortly after Von Welz which made a huge impact on missions was the University of Halle. Phillip Spener and August Francke started the university in 1698. Franke had been dismissed from Leipzig University because of his religious beliefs. Franke also developed a Latin school for talented boys, a house for widows, another for unmarried women, a medical dispensary, a book deposit, a printing establishment and a Bible house. Spener was first a pastor, and then a teacher. He preached with the following principles: 1. No missionary vision without evangelistic zeal. 2. No evangelistic zeal without personal piety. 3. No personal piety without a true conversion experience. 43 Spener and Franke may not be recognized as important in the missions movement, but they were key in their influence. At the time, Lutheranism had apparently become cold theology with little personal piety or fire for evangelism. They were involved in the Lutheran Pietistic movement with a return toward personal faith in Christ impacting the life for holiness.

They later united with King Frederick of Denmark to form a college to train missionaries. This school eventually became the largest divinity school in Germany. The Danish-Halle mission was the greatest missionary force until the time of William Carey. It was also the first Reformed foreign mission with over 60 missionaries at the time of Schwartz. Their first two missionaries were very effective. These missionaries sent from the Danish-Halle mission to India were Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau. They experienced opposition, as we had mentioned before, from the Danish East India Company. Nevertheless, they learned Tamil in just 8 months. Neither missionary had a long stay in India. Plutschau died after 5 years, and Ziegenbalg died after 14 years. But in that time they had over 350 believers, they started a missionary seminary, had compiled a Tamil lexicon, and had translated part of the Tamil Bible. Plutschau influenced Count Zinzendorf before his death. God enabled them and used them greatly in the relatively short time that they were in India.

Ziegenbalg and Plutschau had a number of principles which they applied to their work. First, church and school must go together. All Christian children must be educated, and Christians must be able to read the Bible. Second, the Bible must be available in their own native language. This was a great weakness of the Catholic church. (I might mention that the Catholics opposed the use of the Bible by anyone except the priests, perhaps to avoid exposure to so many unbiblical practices). Third, the preaching of the gospel must be based on accurate knowledge of the mind of the people. Fourth, the aim must be for personal conversion, avoiding false professions. And finally, as soon as possible a native indigenous church must come into being.44

Even more influential was Christian Fredrich Schwartz. He is considered the founder of the native church in India. He arrived in 1750 at age 24 and remained 48 years. During that time, he became fluent in Tamil, Persian, Hindi, English and Hindu-Portuguese in addition to his native German. He lived simply among the people and never married. He was totally trusted and loved, and served as a diplomat between the British and the Indian government. He had not only a powerful intellect but genuine spirituality. He related not only to adults but also children although he was unmarried. He befriended a raja who was not saved, but he placed his adoptive son in the care of Schwartz. It is estimated that 6000 Hindus and Muslims were saved under his ministry. He was considered the apostle to South India.

Another missionary who was greatly revered was George Bowen.45 This Methodist missionary lived simply his entire life. He spoke several European languages as well as three Indian languages. He had a great impact on the lives of the people.

One of the most striking groups in missions of all time, and certainly before the “great century” was the Moravians.46 Their origin came from John Huss, who lived before Luther. They believed in the scripture as rule and practice. They started about 400 churches, but were ruthlessly persecuted by the Jesuits. They then fled to Saxony in Germany under the leadership of Christian David, who found shelter for them in the estate of Count Zinzendorf at Herrnhut. The driving force behind the Moravians was Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf.

Count Zinzendorf was born into wealth in 1700. His father died. His mother raised him in evangelical pietism rather than the state Lutheran church. He had trained under Francke at Halle. Originally he was trained in state service, but he was troubled, wanting to serve Christ. In 1722, he opened his estate to those fleeing persecution. The Moravian church which originated there had an incredible impact. Normally, they expected a church would send one missionary for each 5000 members. But this church sent out a missionary for every 60 members. Initially there were many problems in Herrnhut, the name Zinzendorf gave to his estate. However, there was revival in 1727. They began a prayer vigil round the clock, which continued without break for 100 years. Zinzendorf met two Greenland converts and an African slave which he brought to Herrnhut. In 1732 he sent missionaries to Greenland and West Indies. He went personally to the West Indies to release missionaries from jail in 1738 and help set up a good missions program. Although he was not enamoured of Native Americans, he also sent 20 missionaries to them. Zinzendorf continued to lead the mission for 30 years. By this time, they had sent out 226 missionaries, which was more than all the Protestant and Anglicans had done in the previous 200 years.

His method was as follows. All persons were laymen. They were all trained as evangelists. They were also self- supporting, and worked alongside their converts, witnessing with their work and with their life. There was to be no political or economic involvement. The Moravian church was not strong on doctrine, but was strong on love. Married life and family took second place. His own relationship with his own wife was not good. He was exiled for 10 years, and his wife maintained their affairs during these times. For the last 15 years of their married life, they were married in name only. However, he was distressed when his first wife died, realizing that he had not supported and treated her as he should have. He later married a peasant woman. They were married secretly for a year before making the marriage public, because there was opposition to his marrying someone far beneath him socially. His second wife was heavily influenced by mysticism. The Moravian church became enamoured about mysticism of the death of Christ. Zinzindorf later recognized that he had gone too far, but the church never completely recovered from this. However, in 150 years, the Moravian church sent out 2170 missionaries, or 1 in 12 members of the church. In contrast, the usual Protestant ratio is one missionary for 3000 members.47 They opened missions in St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands, Greenland, St. Croix, Suriname, Gold Coast of Africa, South Africa, North American Indians, Jamaica and Antigua between 1732 and 1756.

I should mention as a personal note that the Moravian church still persists in Suriname. When I arrived over 20 years ago, there were very few true believers among the pastors, and the church was heavily influenced by liberalism. However, in recent years, we have seen a number of the pastors become truly saved. And as is true in many liberal churches, although the majority of the members are simply professors, there are also godly believers within the church.

In looking at the story of Count Zinzendorf, we see a man who is very human with his human faults, but also a man who loved the Lord and sacrificed much for Him. I find the emphasis on prayer is compelling. It was after prayer and study of the scriptures that the church resolved her differences within the membership. There was then a sort of Pentecostal revival. The church maintained a continuous prayer for 100 years, and I must attribute this emphasis on the great missionary outreach. It should serve as a great stimulus to us in missions today.

The story of the mission movement in Greenland is a bit complicated by the interactions of two men from two different church and mission backgrounds. Christian David was converted from being a fervent Catholic age 27. He met Count Zinzendorf and recruited persons for Herrnhut with the Count. He heard that Hans Egede, who had been in Greenland, was leaving, and David headed a team there.

The Danish-Halle mission had sent Hans Egede to Greenland a few years before. Hans Egede was a Pietist Norwegian pastor who had pastored for 10 stormy years. He had learned that Leif the Lucky had started a church many years ago, which had grown but later stopped, and the people reverted to paganism. His wife was originally opposed to going, but then supported him. He went under the Danish-Halle mission. When Egede arrived there in 1721, he had many difficulties with both housing and the language. He found just Eskimos there. There was no evidence of Christian belief, and evangelism was slow. His boys picked up the language and helped. His singing also helped. Egede tried baptizing children and teaching them to abandon heathenism. However, he lacked support. The Bergen Company who was there made no profit and stopped. The king who supported the venture died. The new king abandoned the commercial venture.

When Christian David came a number of years later, the two men from two different missions clashed. David thought that Egede was too rigid. Egede thought that David was too compromising. The Moravian church filled with converts. They worked on a translation of the Bible. Egede showed love to the people when a returning Greenlander brought with him smallpox, which became an epidemic. Egede cared for many of the sick. Three years later, Egede’s first wife died. Egede remarried and returned. His son Paul continued the work. Revival broke out. Hans died at age 72. His son carried on he work, and worked on a translation although Paul Egede’s vision deteriorated. They continued working on the translation until Paul’s death thirty years later.48

It is interesting to see the effectiveness of two very different men with two different backgrounds. David, the Moravian, was much more emotional, and saw the church grow faster. Egede, the stolid Lutheran, saw his real breakthrough when he had an emotional tie with the group of Eskimos during the smallpox epidemic. Egede stuck it out, even after the death of his wife, and returned, and was followed by his son Paul. He is now considered the apostle to the Eskimos of Greenland, and not Christian David.

Another Moravian missionary was George Schmidt. He was converted at age 16 and actually arrived in Herrnhut prior to their revival. He preached in Germany and Austria, often in secret, but was imprisoned twice by the Jesuits. He endured three years in prison followed by three years at hard labor. Finally he recanted his faith to satisfy his oppressors. When he returned to Herrnhut, he was thus not well received. He was sent to Holland to learn Dutch, and then went to South Africa in 1737. Both the Dutch colonists and sadly, the Reformed pastors, opposed Schmidt. They did not want a change in the Africans’ status. Therefore he supported himself by numerous jobs, evangelizing through contacts. He finally started a church, but his convert Africo relapsed into drinking. Schmidt was very discouraged. Because he was not ordained, he was finally ordained in absentia. He began to baptize converts. The Dutch Reformed pastors were furious. However, when they examined his converts, they understood their beliefs well. Eventually he was sent back to Holland to face charges. He was never allowed to return. For fifty years the work languished though some believers persisted. Then Hans Hallbeck revived the work, especially at Cape Colony. The Moravians saw 50,000 converts with 38 stations.49

I would like to make a few observations concerning George Schmidt. This man went through great trials of faith. I doubt that anyone knows what they will do under persecution until it actually occurs to them. It appears that those at Herrnhut looked at Schmidt as a “second class missionary” because he eventually folded under pressure from the Jesuits. Even after being arrested twice, and spending six years essentially “in prison” by the Jesuits, he persisted, learned Dutch, and then traveled to South Africa where he persisted without support from Europe, without family support, and despised by the European community. He trained and baptized many Hottentots before the fury of the Dutch colonists resulted in his return to Holland. He was never able to return. But he had fruit that remained - 50 years later they found an old lady with a New Testament given to her by Schmidt. And Hans Hallbeck was able to reap an abundant harvest from the seed sown 50 years previously.

Missions to Native Americans:

Although the Native Americans were aggressively approached by both Protestant and Catholic missionaries, the overall results were very poor. There had been land grabbing of the Indian grounds, often considered sacred by the Indians, as well as abuse of the Indians. For many Indian groups, the land is for the community to use, but can be neither bought nor sold. It is also sacred, and tied to ancestors. In addition, there was a clash of cultures. The Indian culture decisions were made by the group rather than individuals. Further, there was slow extinction of the native Americans themselves.

The Franciscans worked with the Pueblo Indians in the western area of the United States. Thy brought on domestic animals, food and tools. There were many converts, but syncretic beliefs. The Frenchman Jean de Brebeuf worked with the Huron Indians in the north. He did much contextualizing, mixing heathen customs with Christianity. He called the mass a thanksgiving. He never mentioned the body and blood of Christ. Similarly, the Hurons sprinkled tobacco before fishing. He looked at this as similar to the novenas (a sort of prayer) that the Catholics say. Likewise, he translated creeds and prayers, but not the Scriptures themselves. With the work of Paul le Jeune, the scriptures were translated with great difficulty. In about 10 years, half the tribe was converted. However, the Iroquois league attacked the Hurons and killed most of them. They tortured and murdered Jean de Brebeuf. This was the end of that mission.

The dangers of extreme contextualization are shown here. The Catholic priests accommodated the Indian beliefs so much that there was little Christianity left. They also focused on the external creeds and prayers that were said ritually. But the scriptures were eventually translated; however, before the Indians were solidly converted and trained, they fell before the combined Indian forces of the aggressive Iroquois league.

Some of the American colonies stated that their goal was to reach the Indians. The seal of Massachusetts Bay showed an Indian saying: “Come over and help us.” Connecticut was supposedly started for the same reason. But often colonists despised the missionaries as well as Indians. They viewed their culture as superior, and had few qualms about grabbing land from the Indians.

The father of the American Indian missionaries, and in many ways, the father of the modern missions movement was John Eliot. This brilliant Hebrew and Greek scholar at Cambridge was appointed as a missionary under Oliver Cromwell. He was the first missionary out of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, the first Protestant organized mission agency. He was a non-conformist Congregational pastor in England. When he came to the USA, he was followed by his brothers and his fiancé. He became a pastor at Roxbury, outside Boston. At age 40, he started learning the Algonquin language. Two years later he began preaching in a wigwam. The Indians were given a sizeable area, and set up a town. Elliot worked slowly, waiting five years before the first baptisms. He worked on translation of the Bible, translating the entire New Testament in a seven year period. His Bible was the first printed in America. He trained 24 Indian evangelists. He also had schools and a Bible Institute. Unfortunately he equated Christianity with western culture. Eliot’s ministry ended in tragedy during the King Phillip’s war. There was bloody fighting between Indians and settlers. The praying Indians helped the settlers. However, they were shipped off to a bleak island with no supplies. After the war he continued to serve the Indians another 13 years until his death at age 85. He also began to build a missionary outreach for the Anglican church. John Eliot showed unbending optimism despite setbacks. He knew enough to get help from others. And he never forgot that it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves souls.50

Another early missionary to the Native American Indians was also the founder of the first Baptist church and colony in the United States. Roger Williams (1606-1683) was a staunch defender of the Indians. He was brilliant in different languages and had been trained originally as an Anglican, but then adopted Puritan beliefs. He came to America seeking religious freedom. However, he came into conflict and was arrested and thrown out of the colony because of his strong views on separation. When he was thrown out of the colony where he was in the dead of winter, he walked 100 miles through the snow until the Indians took him in. Roger Williams was finally successful in establishing the colony of Rhode Island, the first colony to guarantee total religious freedom. He believed in the separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion, and founded the first Baptist Church in America. He did learn the language of the Indians and wrote a handbook on Indians, but was not particularly successful in seeing conversions. However, he was a faithful friend of the Indians for 40 years and labored for their material betterment and protection against the aggression of the white man.

A very successful missionary family was the Mayhew family. Thomas Mayhew was a landlord and the governor of Martha’s Vineyard. His son became a missionary to the Indians there, but he apparently died at sea while crossing to England accompanied by an Indian. He had been successful in seeing about 300 converts. Despite his age, Thomas took his son’s place at age 72, and served for 20 years. His grandson and great-grandson also worked among the Indians. His grandson Experience Mayhew worked with the Indians for 32 years. They saw several thousand saved and organized into churches. The Mayhews served the Indians through five generations to Zachariah Mayhew, who died in 1806.

David Brainerd was a brilliant student at Yale University, but made a negative comment about a faculty member and was dismissed despite his apologies and pleas. Apparently Yale had used him as a scapegoat to squelch a revival at the college. He was deeply religious, and spent much time in prayer. His diary and prayer life were preserved in his diary, edited by Jonathan Edwards. He was offered a position in a number of churches, but persisted in his missionary service. His original interpreter was often drunk as he ministered to the Indians, though he and his wife later got saved. He worked first with Indians in Massachusetts, and then later with the Delaware Indians. The first two years were very discouraging, and he became depressed. He perhaps made a mistake going off on his own rather than working under a successful senior missionary at first. He saw true revival and was able to organize a church among the Indians. He struggled with tuberculosis, and eventually died in the home of Jonathan Edwards. Jerusha Edwards, whom he had hoped to marry, died of tuberculosis a few months later. Although he was effective as a missionary, his greatest impact was actually through his diary, inspiring other missionaries including William Carey, Robert McCheyne and Henry Martyn, and Carey influenced Adoniram Judson. God greatly used his devotion to Him to inspire the lives of other missionaries, and his diary is read even until now.

Eleazer Wheelock had a unique approach to missions. He wanted to combine both white and Indian students. The Indians would learn the white man’s culture, and the white men would learn the Indian’s language. He would train both as evangelists, especially to the Indians. He was partially successful, with a total of 50 students, a third of whom actually went as evangelists. One problem was that Wheelock did not respect the Indian culture. He did not consider their evangelists as equal to the whites, although his first young Indian man turned out to be a fine evangelist. Eventually the white students dominated, and after he enlarged it, it eventually became Dartmouth College. Some Moravian missionaries came to the USA, including David Zeisberger. He originally started in the Hudson Valley, and then later moved to Pennsylvania, where he set up a prosperous village. He was opposed by many, who considered the Moravians a cult. However, his village in Pennsylvania of 500 Indians prospered. But in the French-Indian war of 1755, his village was attacked and burned, and 11 were killed. They left for Ohio. The English called them spies and they fled for the winter. When they returned for their grain the following year, the American militia killed 96 of them. They finally settled in Ontario when Zeisberger was over 70 years old. Zeisberger himself returned to Ohio, where he remained until his death. He had labored among the Indians 63 years. It is impressive to see that this missionary did not give up despite many problems, but persisted 63 years in missionary service!

Another missionary, Isaac McCoy, began in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He then came to southern Michigan, and was successful, but he was afraid that the whites would encroach on their property. He arranged through the government to get land for the Indians west of Missouri. The Pottawatomie Indians were then forcibly moved to Kansas. He also agreed with the state of Georgia to move the Cherokee Indians. Other missionaries disagreed. Some Indians were put to hard labor, others dragged off in chains. About 20% of the Indians died during this forced move in winter, some by foot without shoes or moccasins and lacking adequate clothing. They suffered a great injustice. Actually 6 missionaries, 2 Methodist and 4 Presbyterian, were arrested and convicted because they protested the injustice done to the Indians.51

The forced movement of Indians was one of the greatest injustices the white man imposed on the Indians. They were moved off their tribal hunting grounds. They suffered incredibly while being moved to another area of the country. It is not surprising that the Indians have been resistant to the gospel and to the white missionary even now. There was an ironic combination of missonaries to the west. Henry and Eliza Spaulding traveled to the west. Henry was a minster, but a difficult individual, and Narcissa Whitman had refused to marry him. He married Eliza instead. Narcissa met Marcus Whitman, and they both felt called to missions among the Indians in the west. Marcus had previously made a partial trip to Oregon. He married Narcissa, who became pregnant on the trip. Both families traveled together under much tension. The Whitmans settled at Waiilatpu. They asked for further missionaries, and three families came. There was no clear leadership, and a great deal of tension and fighting among the missionaries. When the only daughter of the Whitmans was two, she wandered off and drown. Narcissa had many bouts of depression.

The Whitmans became prosperous as they began to sell to other immigrants. The local Cayuse Indians resented their prosperity, perhaps after Whitman led a group of 1000 settlers from the East to Oregon. The Sager family died, and Narcissa undertook care of the seven Sager orphans. Then disaster struck. A plague swept through the Cayuse Indians, killing 50% of them. Marcus was trained in medicine and did what he could to help. Although Marcus helped in the plague, the Indians thought that he might be poisoning them. The mission compound had now grown to 72 persons. The Cayuse attacked suddenly and killed 14 there, including Marcus and his wife. Apparently according to the Indian culture, when a shaman (medicine man) failed to heal, others might kill him. They held the remainder captive for five weeks. Eventually five of the attacking Indians were captured and hanged for the massacre.

In the meantime, Henry Spaulding, who had appeared to be unsuccessful, did succeed in reaching the Nez Pierce Indians with the gospel. Many were saved. He started a church and his wife started a school. Later there was a revival among the Indians, and Spaulding baptized 1000 of them. When he died, two ladies took over the mission, trained Indians as evangelists, and they reached other Indian tribes as well.

Stephen and Mary Riggs worked with the Sioux Indians in the Dakotas for 40 years. Their initial years were discouraging, filled with fighting and bloodshed between the Indians. Strangely, a real breakthrough came after an uprising occurred against the whites. The Indians were angered that they did not receive their normal government funds on time, and ended up killing a few whites. The government captured several hundred Sioux, and they were all sentenced to death. However, most were pardoned, but nearly 40 were hung simultaneously. The others were convicted of their sinful lifestyle and many asked for salvation. Riggs and another missionary worked in their midst, resulting in a revival with many saved.

Bishop John Horden was an outstanding CMS missionary to the Hudson Bay. He arrived with his wife and started immediately to preach and teach. He was a brilliant linguist, and learned the Cree Indian language, several other Indian languages, as well as Eskimo and Norwegian. He was eventually consecrated as bishop over an enormous territory of about 1500 miles. He translated the Bible into the Cree language. Again we see the tie between evangelization and translation of the Word of God.

This certainly was a bleak picture of reaching the American Indians. What were some of the reasons for the lack of success? First, there were a lot of mercenary reasons that the Indians were “evangelized.” Some were forcibly removed from their homelands. The worst abuse was with the Cherokee Indians, who were forced to leave and walk the trail of tears in the dead of winter. There was often a contest over the land. It is important to realize that the Indians viewed the land as sacred, and tied to their own ancestors. It was not something to be simply bought and sold, or exchanged. Further, there was a confusion between “evangelizing” and “civilizing” the Indians. The Indian culture was not respected. Many seemed to feel that conversion was equivalent of rejecting their own culture and accepting western civilization. Even the missionaries sometimes had an attitude of superiority over the Indians. Thus the resistence of the Indian to the “white man’s religion” is understandable.

The “great century of missions” - the 19th century In the 19th century, Protestantism grew rapidly, especially in the USA. At the same time, Roman Catholicism was struggling both with the French Revolution and with rationalism. The three greatest other religions, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism were relatively quiescent. Revivals occurred, and religion became separated from the state. After bloody revolutions, the world was more at peace. And in the western nations, industrialization led to their world power status.

In England, several evangelical Christians held key government positions. During this time, the Orthodox church began to reach out again, and was freed from domination from the Turks. The Roman Catholic church was recovering from the destruction by Napolean, and France became more dominant in mission.

Men started to accept that it is the responsibility of the individual and the church, and not the state, to propagate the faith. Voluntary mission societies grew tremendously. Some were denominational; some were independent. During this time, colonialism and imperialism became prominent. There were some advantages to the missionaries, where they had more open doors than previously. However, often the colonialists opposed the missionaries, and the missionaries were scandalized by the lives of many colonists. Missions, however, brought many advantages. In addition to schools, hospitals and universities, the missions also brought democracy. At the same time, some missionaries brought the sense of superiority of the white man and his culture.

Most of the missions were initially located along the coast. It was only later that they penetrated into the interior. The trading companies such as the British and Dutch East India Company continued to oppose missions, because they viewed the missionaries as interfering with their profits. During this time, about 1-3% of the population of India and China converted to Christianity.

Several events prepared the world for missions in a more effective way. Jonathan Edwards had a major impact in the USA in his writing and preaching, which started a revival. Also his publication of the life of David Brainerd was a great challenge to missions as well as total commitment to Jesus Christ.52 We remember that David Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indians until his death from tuberculosis. Edwards was also a missionary for 8 years, and his son also learned Mohican. Edward was the greatest theologian and revivalist in America of his time. His sermon: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a classic, and perhaps the most famous sermon preached in America. Unfortunately, Edwards died of a smallpox vaccination shortly after being made president of Yale University.

At the same time, Phillip Dodderidge was influencing England for missions. He was the 20th child in his family, and always in poor health. He became a very effective nonconformist pastor and hymnwriter. He had an impact on Wilberforce, who eliminated slavery, and also the great evangelist Whitefield. In fact, Dodderidge proposed the formation of a mission society. Prayer meetings were organized, but it was 64 years before a society was formed. It is interesting that Dodderidge was influenced by the writings of Richard Baxter, who a century before had been jailed - apparently for wanting to have a missionary movement. Some of those who were influencial in getting missions going never left their countries, but were used of God to spread the gospel. Dodderidge was such a man, who served the Lord and had a mission burden in a time that this burden was rare. Despite his poor health, God used him as a forerunner of the missions movement.

The First Great Awakening was begun when Theodore Frelinghuysen, a Reformed pastor who had been influenced by Dutch Pietists, linked together with Gilbert Tennent, the founder of Princeton University. George Whitefield’s preaching also led to thousands being saved. Later John and Charles Wesley followed and had great success with spiritual revival in America. They had received the assurance of their salvation from Moravians on shipboard on a trip to America. It is often the case that true revival brings forth missions. This should not be surprising. If missions is the heartbeat of God, when we are revived and in tune with the Lord’s desires, we too should sense a burden for missionary outreach.

John Wesley was not only a great preacher who traveled widely, but he also built an effective church organization. He was followed by Thomas Coke, whom the Wesleyan church selected as their bishop. Thomas Coke sent out 43 missionaries to the New World. Coke made 16 visits to the USA, four to the Caribbean, and also a trip to Sierra Leone. He was aggressive in missions. He died during a trip with 6 missionaries to Ceylon.

In England, Andrew Fuller, liberated from extreme Calvinism, began to confront sinners with the gospel, as did William Carey. William Carey published a key booklet in 1792, followed by the formation of a mission society. An additional 12 societies were formed over the following 25 years. Fuller became secretary of the society. He preached widely despite opposition by the Presbyterians and even many Baptists. Again, Fuller never went on the field as a missionary, but fought for missions.

19th century missions in India:

The father of modern missions, William Carey was born the son of a weaver in 1761 (1761-1834) He wanted to be a gardener, but was prevented by his allergies. He apprenticed to a shoemaker and became a cobbler. As a teenager, he was converted through the witness of a coworker. He married Dorothy, the illiterate daughter of his boss, who was five years his senior. He was brilliant, learning 5 languages by age 20, and became a pastor of a Baptist church age 22. Despite the influence of Reformed theology, he gradually realized the church’s responsibility to the heathen. He wrote a classic booklet of 87 pages concerning the church’s responsibility for missions. When he presented the idea to the Baptists, Dr. Ryland told him to sit down. His statement was: When God wants the heathen evangelized, he would do it without your help or mine. This is the classic Reformed theology of salvation of the elect that opposed Carey’s ideas. Carey preached a classic sermon in which he stated: Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.53

After a Baptist society was formed, he offered to accompany Dr. John Thomas, whom they had appointed to go to India, where Thomas had been before. Both his wife and his family were strongly opposed. His wife was pregnant with their fourth child, and refused to go. Initially he was to go with Thomas and his family, but there was a delay for Thomas to settle some debts before leaving. In the meantime, Dorothy agreed to go on the condition that her sister Kitty would accompany them. They arrived in India in 1793. Because of pressure from the East India trading company, they moved to a swampy area. Mr. Short from the company assisted them, and later married Kitty. Carey moved 300 miles north to Malda, and became the foreman of an indigo plant.

After the death of their five year old son, his wife became frankly paranoid, and accused him of adultery and tried to kill him a number of times. He was depressed, but started both a church and translation. However, there was no convert during his seven years at Malda. He then moved to Serempore, where he remained for 34 years. He was joined by two other missionaries, Ward and Marshman, as well as Marshman’s wife. They worked well as a team. He translated the entire Bible into three different languages, Bengali, Sanscrit and Marathi, although some needed later revision. The quality did not always match the quantity. The New Testament in Bengali was revised eight times. He translated the New Testament into a number of different languages. During this time, he neglected his family, but others helped. Marshman also translated the Bible into Chinese. Marshman’s translation was the first into Chinese, though that of another missionary was more idiomatic.

Carey’s wife Dorothy died age 51. Six months later he remarried Lady Charlotte Rumohr, whom he had led to the Lord and baptized. At first, the announced marriage led to an uproar among the missionaries, but they later accepted it. She had been generous to the mission, and was a brilliant linguist. This marriage was happy over a 13 year period, and Charlotte proved a real mother to his boys as Carey was not a good disciplinarian.

One of the key events was founding the Serampore College in 1819 to train indigenous church planters and evangelists. Carey also became Professor of Oriental Languages at Fort William College in Calcutta. His work as professor provided both income for the mission and better standing with the British East India Company. Another key event was a disastrous fire in 1812, destroying much of the translation work. However, Carey was able to resume the work with enthusiasm and with more support from overseas and was able to rebuild his large printing operation. After her death, he married again at age 62. His wife, Grace Hughes, was 45 at the time. More missionaries came, but there was considerable tension between the older missionaries and the new arrivals. This finally culminated in the younger missionaries leaving and setting up another station a few miles away. The Baptist missionary society was insisting on trying to run the mission station from England. Serempore left the society, but came back when finances became a major problem. Carey always lived modestly and supported other missionaries.

William Carey started training nationals. He wanted an indigenous church in an indigenous culture. However he opposed suttee, the burning of widows on their husband’s funeral pyre, and through his influence that practice was stopped. In addition to his other accomplishments, he was an expert botanist. He was an expert in Indian languages, and professor of oriental languages in a university. His impact on missions was tremendous. His methods were similar to those of Plutschau: 1. Preach the gosple widely by every means possible. 2. Distribute the Bible widely in the language of the people. 3. Establish a church as soon as possible. 4. Understand the background and life of non-Christian people. 5. Train at the earliest possible moment for an indigenous ministry.

William Carey’s life and ministry is an incredible challenge. He was a poor boy from a poor home but a brilliant linguist and God developed a unique burden for missions in his heart. He was willing to leave home despite the opposition of his family. He had many problems on his arrival in India. He had to relocate because of opposition from the powerful British East India Company. His wife became deranged and accused him of adultery, and even tried to kill him. Yet he persisted. When his printing plant burned, and his translation with it, he persisted. He was blessed with two happy marriages after the death of his first wife. He succeeded in many translations, and in establishing national training and an indigenous church. He was able to stop suttee. Even his reputation as a botanist was recognized. He was able to work as a team member, and God gave two additional great missionaries to the team. Truly he attempted great things for God, and God greatly used him.

When they settled at Serempore, Willam Ward was the first pastor of their church. Ward wrote a book on the customs and manners of the Hindus. Marshman succeeded Carey after his death. Four of Carey’s sons became missionaries, and both Ward and Marshman were recognized as outstanding missionaries in their own right. The British took over India during the time of William Carey, and replaced the autocratic power of the East India Company. The British sent a number of effective Anglican bishops to organize the work in India, including Middleton, Heber, and Wilson.

The Mar Thoma churches in India under the pope did not want to be under the pope or under the Portuguese who were in power. There was a brief attempt to bring in a bishop from Syria. When the Anglicans arrived, there was rejection of both the first group and a split with the second group. Finally the Mar Thoma church was established. Rhenius organized the church around schools with a teacher-catechist as the central role. This was succcessful. Prominent Indians in the church invited a missionary named Rigeltaube, who baptized about 1000 converts. The first American missionary was actually George Lisle, a black man who was a freed slave. He had started two churches in America, but there were attempts to put him back into slavery. He went with his wife and four children to start a church in Jamaica. He proved a successful evangelist and church planter, and received some financial support from England.

Adoniram Judson is usually considered the first American missionary, althugh as we noted above, George Lisle actually preceded him. However, Judson’s remarkable accomplishments make him the most prominent early overseas missionary from America. It is worth noting that several mentors were involved in the missionary movement which began with Adoniram Judson. Jonathan Edwards moved away from rigid Calvinism through the influence of Samuel Hopkins and Joseph Bellamy. Jonathan Edwards influenced Edward D. Griffen, who was a top graduate from Yale. Samuel Mills was converted under Griffen’s preaching, especially of his missionary sermon: “The Kingdom of Christ.” Mills distributed copies of the sermon at Williams College, which stimulated the famous “haystack meeting.” Mills started a group of “Brethren” with the idea of starting a missions group, and was instrumental in starting the American Bible Society.

The haystack meeting began in 1802, when five men at Williams College met together for prayer for a lost world. They were interrupted by a rainstorm, and sought shelter under a haystack. During that meeting they committed themselves to be missionaries. Adoniram Judson later joined them. About this time, Griffen started a new seminary in Andover. Griffen suggested that they start a new mission group among the Congregationalists. Mills remained in the USA, and traveled to the frontier. There he noted a lack of Bibles, and asked Griffen to start a Bible society. Later, Timothy Dwight, who is Edwards’ grandson, saw revival come to Yale University while he was president.

Adoniram Judson is usually considered the first American missionary, though as noted above, he was actually preceded by George Lisle. Judson was absolutely brilliant, and graduated from Brown University as valedictorian at age 19. Although his father was a strong believer, he was heavily influenced by a young deist, James Eames, and left school to seek success as a playwrite in New York. He was unsuccessful, and traveled back in the direction of home. Stopping at an inn, he heard the terrified and horrible death groans of a man in the next room. The man died that night. The following morning he was shocked to learn that the man was his atheistic friend, James Eames.

When he returned home, he started attending Andover seminary, which his father and others had started. He began as a special student because he could give no testimony of salvation, but was soon saved. After hearing a British minister preach, he vowed to become a missionary. He went to England to get support under the London Missionary Society, but they did not want to support an American missionary. He returned from England when he heard that the American board had received a substantial inheritance. He married Ann Nancy Hasseltine, who was also called to missions.

Thirteen days later, they headed for India. En route, he made an extensive study of baptism and concluded that the Baptist position was correct. He had gone out under a Congregational board, but he and his wife were baptized by William Ward in Serempore, the location of William Carey’s mission. The Congregational board was upset, but the Baptists started a board then and supported them. It is remarkable that Luther Rice, another of the key men forming the Congregational board, came to the same conclusion. He resigned from the Congregational board and raised support for Judson by forming a Baptist mission board.

Judson was opposed by the East India Company, and finally went to Burma, where Judson had wanted to go originally. Felix Carey, William Carey’s son, had just gone to Burma as well and had started a Bible translation. Ann miscarried during the voyage. Felix Carey and his wife soon left Burma. At first the Judsons struggled with the language, and saw little fruit. Adoniram and his wife spent up to 12 hours a day learning the language. Ann learned the spoken language quickly, but Adoniram struggled with the written language. Life in Burma was difficult. The Burmese practiced Theravada Buddhism, the most difficult form, and the king was a despot. Furthermore, the war with Britain made their position precarious. Added to this was the tropical weather and absence of any European colony.

After five years, they built a zayat, a place for men to sit and discuss topics like religion. Finally after seven years of work, he baptized his first convert. Ten persons were baptized and they began a church. Ann went back first to India with her husband, and then on to the USA for two years because of her health after their baby Roger died. Judson’s health was bad, and he went to get reinforcements at Chittagong, but the ship never arrived. He returned 8 months later. He was opposed by the viceroy and initially by the emperor in Ava, Burma.

When Adoniram returned to Burma, he worked on his translation in Ava. He was arrested along with Dr. Price and charged as a spy during the Burmese war with Britain. He was sentenced to death. He spent 1 ½ years in a prison in Ava. Conditions were atrocious. The prisoners were tied to a long pole at night, which was raised so that just their shoulders and heads rested on the ground. Ann made many trips to plead for his release as well as providing food for him. She also had hid his precious translation in a pillow which she took to him. He was also force- marched north as the British advanced during the war, and nearly died. During that time, Ann, who was pregnant just before his arrest, gave birth to baby Maria. He was eventually released, and negotiated the peace agreement between the British and the Burmese government which dragged on for months. However, at that time both Ann and baby Maria died.

After Ann’s death, Adoniram became profoundly depressed. He dug a grave, built a hut, and lived like a recluse sitting contemplating death. After two years, he recovered from his depression, and began evangelizing, this time with much greater results. He continued his Bible translation which he completed after 14 years. His translation was so accurate that it is still used today.

At age 46, he remarried Sarah Boardman. Sarah’s husband had worked with the Karen tribe in the interior, but died three years before, and she had continued the tribal work. Sarah was 30 at her marriage to Adoniram, and in the following 10 years, she had 8 children. She died after her last birth while en route to the USA. He accompanied her back with three children. When arriving in the USA, he was a celebrity.

While Adoniram Judson was back in the USA, he met a young secular writer, Emily Chubbock, who wrote secular novels. He suggested that she write a book on Sarah Boardman Judson. A month later he proposed, and six months later they were married. Despite their age difference, they had a very happy marriage, and she proved a good helpmate for Adoniram. He left his three children in the care of two families. They returned to Burma for three years where he had left three other children, and had one child by Emily. His health deteriorated, and he died three years later on a sea voyage for his health. His wife died three years later at age 36. However, his ministry continued on for many generations.54 At his death there were 7000 converts, 63 churches, and 163 missionaries and native pastors. Despite his many trials, he was noted for saying: The future is as bright as the promises of God.

Judson suffered greatly. He could have succeeded in the USA without a doubt, but went overseas. He lost two wives, several children, and nearly died from his imprisonment. He went seven years without a convert. And yet he persisted. He took time to make a superb translation of the Bible. He established a solid base for churches. A number of his children and grandchildren also served the Lord. Yes, he suffered greatly. He served greatly. God used him greatly.

I will now go back briefly to the story of Sarah Boardman Judson’s first husband. George Boardman had been greatly moved by the death of another missionary who had been working with Judson. He surrendered to go to Burma. His future wife Sarah had written a poem about the same man who died. He met her, and they married. They arrived in Burma just after the completion of the British-Burma war. They did pioneer work among the tribal people in the interior, the Karen. One of their converts, Ko Tha Byu, was a former murderer of at least 30 people. He was so effective that a people’s movement started with 10,000 conversions. Ko Tha Byu was baptized, trained, and became a faithful pastor until his death. He had personally seen over 1000 saved. George Boardman’s health deteriorated, but he saw many saved. After five years in Burma, George died of tuberculosis. His wife Sarah started a girl’s school, also caring for her two year old son, who was later sent to the USA and eventually became a pastor. Three years later she married Adoniram Judson. Her ability in language helped him in translation, hymns and other materials. Ten years after marrying Adoniram Judson, she died while en route to the USA at age 40. Henry Martyn was a brilliant student at Cambridge University in England. He received top honors in mathematics, and had plenty of opportunities for future employment. He was also an excellent linguist. He had been influenced by the diary of David Brainerd. He went to India as a missionary, but came officially as a chaplain for the East India Company. In addition to his regulary chaplain duties, he translated the New Testament into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic although he was overseas only seven years. His translation into Urdu is still used today as the basis of translation into the New Testament. Because he was in poor health, he went to Persia, but continued in poor health and started for England. He was hoping to see Lydia, a young lady who had captured his heart, but he died en route in Armenia at age 32.55

Alexander Duff, the first Scottish overseas missionary, came to India with a plan to reach the intellectuals through education. En route to India, he endured 2 shipwrecks and the loss of his personal library. With the support of both missionary William Carey and the Brahmin Ram Mohum Roy, he started an education for the high class Indians in the English language, including Bible study. His schools were a success, with many attending, averaging 800 students within 10 years. Only 33 students made professions. Duff was a brilliant scholar, but did not reckon with the Hindu culture and the need to reach the heart as well as the head. He saw several gifted men renounce Hinduism and accept Christianity. However, because of their educational advantages, his converts had a major impact as ministers and missionaries. However, his school may have stimulated reformed Hinduism. Duff started Scottish Church College and was instrumental in beginning Calcutta University.

On a sadder note, when he left for overseas with his wife, he left four children in Scotland, and even on his return to Scotland, had little time for them. He was, however, hailed as a missionary statesman for his controversial innovation in teaching. He was a leader in the Free Church movement, and helped in many other countries in later years. He was an eloquent orator and gave a great missionary impulse to the churches both in Great Britain and the United States.56 A number of other missionaries imitated the methods which Duff had developed.

Perhaps the most productive mission in India had a very tenuous beginning. The Lone Star mission at Ongole had so little fruit with much missionary effort that the mission considered closing it. At that time, John Clough was on site there, and willing to stay until he was buried. After years of prayer, finally it appeared that a breakthrough had occurred. Some high class Brahmans were interested in having their children come to school, and were willing to give their support of the mission effort. However, at that time a group of Telegus arrived and requested baptism. With their baptism, the Brahmans were revolted and withdrew their children and their support. Clough prayed about what to do, and was struck by a passage in I Corinthians 1 demonstrating that not many rich or wealthy are called. His wife was struck by the same passage during her devotions. They decided to work with the Telegus. There was a famine in 1877, and John Clough was prominent in helping in relief work. Revival came after much prayer, now some 13 years after Clough had arrived. On a single day, they baptized 2222 converts, and 10,000 within a single year. Clough concentrated on the villages, using native evangelists and native structure for the churches. An estimated 1,000,000 persons were converted over the next several years.57 Two of his five children followed him onto the mission field.

James Thoburn, a Methodist bishop, came to India with his wife accompanied by his sister Isabella, who was an educator. They noticed a major problem in India was the caste structure and no desire to educate women. First they taught women in a regular school. Later they opened the first woman’s college, Isabella Thoburn College for Women in Lucknow, India. Their work finally expanded into Burma, Singapore, and the Philippine Islands.

19th century missions in sub-Sahara Africa:

The work in sub-Sahara Africa has had great success. Perhaps 50% of sub-Sahara Africa is now Christian. But the cost was also incredibly high. Africa was called the white man’s grave. Some missionaries traveled with their casket as their trunk for holding goods. First missionaries traveled to South Africa, and then along the coasts of east and west Africa. Much of the missionary movement was tied with commercial enterprise. There was also colonial expansion and the desire to bring European civilization to the African natives. However, in addition to trade and exploration, there was exploitation by the European colonists. Many missionaries opposed misuse of the Africans.

Many colonists and even missionaries lacked appreciation of the African culture. Some viewed the Africans as sub-human. They tied Christianity with colonialism and western culture. It is true that there were many aspects of the culture that needed to be changed. Headhunting, cannibalism, and a great deal of witchcraft and trial by ordeal were common. They killed twins, feeling that this was a curse. Many Africans were taken as slaves by the whites, by the Arabs, and often by their own people. But many aspects of western culture were also anti-Christian, including materialism, exploitation of the native population, and slavery. On the other hand, the missionaries brought with them many benefits. The Word of God was translated into African languages. The missionaries brought education - in fact, many of today’s leaders were educated in mission schools. The missionaries also brought modern medicine, improvement in sanitation and agriculture to the people. Translation of the Bible into the native languages also was a great help.

Initial works were in Sierra Leone, Ghana and in Nigeria both at Lagos and later in Ibadan. One successful Methodist missionary was Thomas Freeman, son of an African father and English mother who was raised in England. He survived tropical weather and disease to have an effective ministry in Ghana and Nigeria. He had a difficult beginning, arriving sick and suddenly his wife died. He returned to England to acclaim, and returned with a second wife and 8 missionaries. His second wife died. He finally married an African wife. He persisted and was able to work among the Ashanti tribes. Unfortunately he was falsely accused of mishandling finances, but this was later disproved. He died a missionary statesman.58

Mungo Park was also a missionary who explored the Niger River. He had been well trained as a physician and was of Calvinist persuasion. He made two attempts to trace the Niger River. On the first attempt, he nearly died, but was successful in reaching the river and traveling to the coast. He returned to England, married, and worked as a physician. He was eventually commissioned to explore the Niger River, which he thought might be the same as the Congo. The trip was disastrous. He went with a group of 35 men, virtually all of whom died, including his brother-in-law. After he found the Niger River again and started down the river in a large canoe which he had built, the group was attacked repeatedly by various tribes along the river. The group actually shot and killed a number of attacking Africans in canoes. He made a major error in failing to placate a chief with presents. A group waited for him in a narrow area which made him vulnerable, and the remainder of the group with the exception of one or two were killed. Mungo Park himself tried to swim away to escape, but drown.59

One of the early pioneers in Africa was a Congregational missionary, John Phillip, who worked for the LMS. He was instrumental in securing the rights of the blacks in South Africa, and his position guaranteed the enmity of many, especially the Boers who left for the Transvaal rather than remain under British rule.60 Other early missionaries included John Phillip, a supporter of the rights of the black man, who also had strong supporters in England. Dr. John Theodore Vanderkamp was a Dutch physician who worked with the Hottentots about 1800. He married an African wife. He was opposed by the whites.

Robert Moffat of South Africa was an evangelist, a translator, an educator, diplomat and an explorer. He was born to poor Scottish parents in 1795, and raised as a Presbyterian. At age 14, he ran away to sea, and then learned to be a gardener. Without much education, he was originally turned down by the London Missionary Society. However, he worked as a gardener for the director, and took lessons from him. At age 21, he went to South Africa with three other missionaries. Mary joined him three years later as his wife. Finally he received permission to travel several hundred miles north into the interior. He returned with Africaner, a Hottentot who had terrorized many, but was now a Christian. He then started a mission station at Kuruman.

Over the following 16 years, the mission grew to 700, and 500 acres were under cultivation. They tried to reach the Bechuana tribe, which was resistent to the gospel. However, Moffat proved a good diplomat in negotiating peace with other tribes. Another problem slowing growth was polygamy. Moffat took years before learning the language, but then worked slowly on a translation over 29 years. When printers refused to print the Bible in an African language, he learned to print it himself. As he taught and preached, many were saved. He had a notable meeting with a greatly feared chief called Moselakatse. Moffat had 10 children. Seven survived. Five were missionaries in Africa. After 53 years in Africa, they returned to England. Mary died a few months later, but Robert lived an additional 13 years. He actually participated in the burial of his famous son-in-law David Livingstone. He raised funds for building a seminary at Kuruman.

David Livingstone is perhaps the best known of the African missionaries. As a young lad, he had to work 14 hours a day in a textile mill. He still found time to go to evening classes, studying Greek, theology and medicine until midnight. He loved science. His family left the Anglican church for an independent chapel. He developed a background in theology and science. He was accepted by the London Missionary Society and hoped to go to China. The opium war stopped his departure.

He met Robert Moffat, and decided to go to Africa. He joined Moffat’s ministry at Kuruman, but was unimpressed by the missionaries, who spent much time arguing. He spent much time over three years traveling. He then went with a couple, Roger Edwards and his wife, who moved to a new station at Mabosta. The Edwards had been ten years at Kuruman. During this time, he was attacked and mauled by a lion, but saved by a faithful servant. He married Mary Moffat, and then moved twice over the following 2-3 years.

Living with David Livingstone was not easy. Mary suffered temporary paralysis after the death of their fourth child. When Livingstone took Mary on another trip with her fifth child, her parents were incensed. Finally Livingstone left his wife and family in England. They lived there for five years in near poverty. Over the following years, he became world famous exploring the Zambesi River. He discovered Victoria Falls. He arrived on the east coast in May 1856. After exploring the Zambesi River, Livingstone found that it was not navigable. After many speaking engagements, he left the London Missionary Society and was hired by the British Government. His wife and youngest son returned with him. Mary spent time with her parents at Kuruman. She was separated from her husband for four years. Their youngest son and baby daughter were taken back to Scotland.

Livingstone encouraged a missionary group to come to the Shire River off the east coast. That mission proved a disaster. The leader, Mackenzie, died, and also a number of other missionaries died, including Livingstone’s wife Mary. When she was buried under a Baobab tree in the lower Zambezi River. Livingstone was 49 and had been married 18 years, but spent less than half of the time with his wife. His third trip started in 1865 to find the source of the Nile River. As he traveled, he witnessed for the Lord. He was greatly distressed about the slave trade, which he vigorously opposed. He was often sick. His supplies were stolen. It was reported that he had died. Finally a reporter, Henry Stanley, found him. About a year after meeting with Stanley, his workers found him dead on his knees in prayer. His heart was buried under a tree in Africa. His body was dried and transported 1500 miles to the coast. He was eventually buried in Westminister Abbey with his father-in-law, 78 year old Robert Moffat, standing in front of the body during the funeral.61 Henry Stanley, the reporter who found Livingstone, had a rough upbringing. He ran away from home, traveled to the USA, and was adopted by a wealthy man and took his name. At the time of the civil war, he went to several places. He was wounded and imprisoned. Later he was captured by pirates. As a reporter, he determined to see if Livingstone was still living, and sought and found him in Africa. He traveled with Livingstone for approximately a year, and presumably was saved during that time. He attempted to explore from Mombasa to the mouth of the Congo River, but most of those accompanying him also died. He had two disastrous trips, one for the Belgian king, and one to “rescue” the Emin Pasha. His reputation was tarnished by the atrocious conduct of the men accompanying him. After 1890, he settled in England, married and was involved in politics. He was made a knight of the order of Bath for his service to the British, and eventually died and was buried in England.

Stanley had described pygmies while on his trips in central Africa. There were real doubts as to their existence. A CMS missionary Albert Lloyd became sick in Uganda. He decided to travel west rather than east to the African coast. This required him to travel through the pygmy forest. After six days in the deep jungle, he saw several, and called out the usual greeting in the Toro language. To his amazement, one answered in the same language, and approached. He found that the pygmies had been watching them during their entire travel, but decided that Lloyd’s group were not creating problems and so left them alone. Lloyd was able to describe the pygmies and show that they too needed Christ.62 We will see below that Dr. Carl Becker spent a good bit of his career serving them.

Frederick Arnot was a Scotsman growing up close to David Livingstone’s home, and had considered Livingstone as his hero. He arrived in Africa at age 23, and traveled like Livingstone without a huge group of men and supplies. He covered vast areas of the middle of Africa, finding the origin of both the Congo and Zambezi Rivers. He explored much of Angola, Zambia, and Eastern Congo. His greatest contact was with the powerful chief Msidi, who was king of the Gareganze region of what was later eastern Congo. He was greatly disturbed by the slave trade, and how Msidi would arbitrarily sacrifice persons to guarantee success of any endeavor he undertook. Msidi was eventually killed in a clash with soldiers. King Leopold exploited the area of Congo and annexed it. Frederick Arnot married Harriet Fisher but because of ill health settled in Angola. He returned to England with his family in 1892 and spent his time shipping goods to Africa. He died age 56 in 1914.63

A French Hugenot missionary from France also had a major impact in central Africa. Francois Coillard started in South Africa but moved north to the huge region between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers in the area of Zambia. He traveled by ox cart with hs wife and 18 year old niece and some native catechists. They had a number of harrowing experiences with a number of African chiefs, including Masonda and Logengula. He finally turned back to the area of a friendly Christian chief, Khama, who helped him to go to the country of Lewanika, king of the Barotse on the upper Zambezi River. This king would execute many and use trial by ordeal. He traveled further and nearly died at the hands of Kakenge, another king.64

It is probably worthwhile to mention the tremendous impact of Khama III or Khama the great had on the history of his country. He had a very stormy beginning. After going through the usual initiation ceremonies, he later converted to Christianity. This brought him in conflict with his father, the chief, who tried twice to assassinate him, and also a brother, who also tried to kill him. He won both situations, briefly reinstated his father as chief, and then later after problems came with his father, he became chief himself, and held that position for nearly 50 years. He did away with the original ceremonies for becoming a man. He banned alcohol in his kingdom, and eliminated polygamy, a very controversial move. When the Germans, the South Africans, and Cecil Rhodes all tried to take over his territory, he was able to appeal to the Queen of England for protection with success. His country is now Botswana, and his grandson became the first president.65

George Grenfell traveled to the Cameroons in Africa at age 25. Two years later, he returned, married, and then came back with his wife. She died in Africa one year later. He remarried a West Indian lady. He had worked as a mechanic early in life. When he made an offer on a steamship, he assembled it in England, tested it, and broke it into several hundred pieces weighing 65 pounds. He reassembled the boat, named it Peace, and traveled on the Congo River. Three engineers sent from England to help assemble the boat died. He went through many trials. Many missionaries died, including his own oldest daughter who came as a teenager to help with the work. Four of his children were buried in Congo. Twenty times his party had to run away to escape cannibals. The Congolese were often underfed and sometimes whipped. He was given a position with the government, but when he found out how the Belgian Government abused the natives, he resigned. The Belgian government demanded his maps for their own use as well. The government refused him new sites for mission stations, and told him to turn his school children over to the Catholics. Eventually at his own mission station at Bolobo, he saw much success with revival there before dying of fever in 1906.66 Grenfille did extensive exploration of the Congo River basin as well as some mountains, and was awarded a medal by the Royal Geographic Society before his death.

William Shepherd was a black American missionary. He had received a good education as a Presbyterian and was paired with a white missionary, Mr. Lapsey, when the work started. Lapsey died shortly after they started working. He was very personable, and the Africans received him as a dignitary. He revealed atrocities committed by the Belgian government, including “hand collecting” - discipline by cutting off a hand. He was hailed as a hero for opposing King Leopold. He was also an explorer, and greatly appreciated African art. Unfortunately, he had adulterous affairs and fathered a child in Africa. However, he repented and was reinstated as a pastor in the USA, where he remained with his family. Krapf was a German Lutheran missionary for 20 years. He began initially in Ethiopia had a stormy beginning after he could not adjust to the old style of Christianity. However, he learned Amharic. Eventually all missionaries were thrown out of Ethiopia, and he went to Kenya. He and another fellow missionary Rebmann saw Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. At first, people could hardly believe that a mountain in the tropics could have snow on the top. He lost his wife and a child to malaria in Mombasa, where he started a new station. He moved to a higher climate Krapf was a brilliant linguist and translated portions of the Bible into several languages as well as producing a number of dictionaries.

Alexander Mackay was a well-educated engineer from Scotland. He initially built on the work of Johann Krapf. Within the first two years after his arrival in East Africa, four of eight missionaries died. Two were murdered and two died of malaria. Two returned home broken in health. He built a 230 mile road to Lake Victoria. He then went to Uganda and worked hard on translation. Both the Arabs and the Roman Catholics opposed him and tried to kill him. He successfully translated the Buganda language while under the protection of King Mtesa. Although Mtesa had told Henry Stanley that he wanted missionaries to come, he was an unsavory many who arbitrarily killed many subjects, and also had a huge collection of wives.

There was much rivalry between the Catholic and Protestant natives. Finally the country was divided. The Catholics proved effective under Lavargie. Finally his son the new king, Mwanga replaced King Mtesa and expelled Mackay. Mwanga was also a homosexual, and executed 30 young men who refused to participate in homosexual activities. Mackay was a skilled engineer, and went to Tanganyika on Lake Victoria. . He died of malaria at age 40. However, the work did not end with Mackay. He was replaced by a godly and successful Angican bishop, Alfred R. Tucker, who believed in racial equality. By this time, there were 65,000 believers. One of his African workers, Apolo Kivebulaya, was extremely effective. He was also exceptional in not seeking power.

Bishop James Hannington was initially a poor student in school, but applied himself after the death of his mother. He became the pastor of a small church. He volunteered to go to Uganda, but on his first trip, he had to return for health reasons. He was named bishop, and decided to go to Uganda approaching from the east. Unfortunately, there was a tradition that an invader would come from that direction. He was arrested and then killed by Mwanga’s men. As he was being speared to death, he told the killers to give a message to the king. “Tell the king that I have purchased the road to Uganda with my own blood.” The chiefs or kings of various African kingdoms often determined what happened in missions. As we have seen above, there was a great difference in the reception of different kings. Most kings were despotic, and their word was law. Some would kill for any excuse, or make human sacrifices before any undertaking. On the other hand, Kwama III the great was a true Christian statesman as chief of Buchanaland, and helped the Christian faith in that area. His grandson is now president of Botswana.

A prominent woman missionary from Scotland, Mary Slessor, was born in poverty. Her father was an alcoholic, and as the second of seven children, she worked to support her mother and family. She became active in the Presbyterian church and worked on street missions in her 20's. She had the courage to stand up to street gangs. Eventually she went to Calabar as a single woman missionary at age 27. She worked initially in Duke Town on the coast teaching in the mission. After three years and a furlough, she moved to Old Town, three miles in the interior. She lived simply in a mud hut, ate African food, and sent most of her salary home to support her family. She taught school, cared for children, and opposed witchcraft and the killing of twins. She rescued twins and their mothers, sometimes at the risk of her own life.

On her second furlough, she brought an African baby Jamie home with her. She was sick, but after recovery three years later, she departed for Africa. A short time later, her mother and sister died, followed by another sister. She was very lonely, but started to go further into the interior to Okoyong with the assistance of King Eyo. She was such an outstanding peacemaker that she was made a vice-consul for Britain. A much younger man, Charles Morrison, proposed marriage. She accepted on the provision that he would move to be with her in Okoyong. Because his health would not permit this move, they were not married. She continued with the Okoyong tribe 25 years. Finally, with some of her adopted children (she opposed killing twins), she moved among the Ibo people. She had great success with them until her death at age 66.67

As we summarize the situation in sub-Sahara Africa, there were many problems and wicked practices among the native Africans. These included burials at which wives and slaves were killed to accompany the dead, cannibalism, killing twins, trial by ordeal, slavery, and witchcraft. There was success, but the cost in terms of missionaries was high. Some were murdered, some were killed by wild animals, but many more succumbed to malaria and other tropical diseases. Initial progress was slow, but gradually many were saved. Now over 50% of the population is Christian.

Although the ministry of Robert Moffat is best known in South Africa, another missionary in the early 19th century also had a huge impact.68 Barnabas Shaw and his wife traveled to South Africa in 1815. He was denied the right to preach by the governor, who stated that they had enough preachers for the Dutch and English settlers, and many slaveowners were opposed to reaching the blacks. After prayer and with the encouragement of Rev. Schmlen, missionary with the LMS, they decided to travel into the interior north of the Orange River. They traveled via oxcart for 27 days, with temperatures of 110 degree in the shade. As they were about to camp, they encountered another group of Hottentots heading in the opposite direction, traveling to Cape Town to ask for a missionary to come to teach them! Both groups were delighted, and Shaw traveled with them to begin his ministry. They learned the language, slept in a hut on a mat, and lived among the people. They were able to build themselves a house, and eventually not only a church but a school. The people were taught agriculture. Many were saved. One in particular, Jakob Links, who originally translated, learned both Dutch and English, and eventually was an associate missionary. Over the ensuing years, additional missionary help came, and multiple missions were opened reaching many villages and chiefs. Links went with another English missionary to another area to start a mission. He and the missionary were killed by a man who offered to be their guide. However, the mission continued to grow. Although Shaw’s wife’s health was not the best on arrival, he was able to spend 45 years in South Africa, and was followed by a son, and accompanied in the mission work by a brother.

Far East Missions:

Missions to the far east were much less successful, with the exception of Korea. Japan, China and Korea were all isolationists. They resented western missionaries. Their own cultures were 4000 years old. They had ancestor worship. They later organized with Confucianism and Taoism. There was also great national pride.

We have already briefly discussed far eastern missions in the first centuries after Christ. The Nestorians penetrated from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries despite fierce opposition. Although they differed concerning the nature of Christ, they were otherwise orthodox Christians, and established a broad base in China. The Roman Catholics arrived in the 13th century with Friar John. However, his work was destroyed by persecution. In the 16th century, Francis Xavier and other Jesuits came and persisted. They focused on infant baptism.

A sad example of western imperialism was the opium wars. Opium was produced in India, and then sold for huge profits in China by the East India Company. Seeing the problems with opium addiction, the emperor banned all imports to halt the smuggling. This precipitated the opium war with England. The first war with Britain resulted in a British victory and opened five ports. After a second war, opium was legalized. At that time, missions came as well.

An early American missionary was Robert Morrison. The youngest of eight children, he wanted to be a missionary. He promised his mother that he would not leave before her death. She died when he was 20 years old. However, permission to get into China was difficult. He spent five years, and finally went to Canton with a letter from the Secretary of State, James Madison. He was officially working for the East India Company. At that time, it was forbidden to teach a foreigner Chinese. However, at the same time, he was secretly compiling a dictionary. He met his wife and married; he would stay with her six months of the year at Macao. They had two children. THis wife went to England for a long time, returned, and died. Morrison completed a New Testament translation, and was nearly fired when the East India Company found out. He completed the New Testament translation in 1814, and the Old Testament in 1818. He only saw 10 Chinese baptized. Morrison also founded the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca in 1818. Fifteen were eventually baptized. Unfortunately, there was also some competition between Marshman and Morrison as to translation of the Bible. Marshman finished first, but Morrison made the better translation. Morrison went to England to recruit missionaries, including ladies. He remarried and returned with wife Elizabeth and two children. He fathered five more children with his second wife. He had to send his family back to England in 1832. His time in China was difficult. The Chinese made it a capital crime to publish Christian books in Chinese - directed against his translation. He was opposed also by the Roman Catholics. The opium war was beginning. Still he labored on. During the next war, he was involved in the negotiations, but died in 1834, the same year that William Carey also died.

A national pastor/printer who was very influential was Liang Afa. He was born in 1789. He was raised as a Buddhist, and trained as a printer. He was sent to help a man named Milne, and was converted and baptized in 1817. His wife was also converted and baptized. Despite the fact that he was repeatedly beaten and imprisoned, he continued to preach and print. The literature he printed had impact on many persons.

William Burns went to China, having already been a successful evangelist in both England and Canada. He spent a number of years in China, learning the language well. He also translated Pilgrim’s Progress into the language. He had an exceptional devotional life. He also adopted Chinese clothing, and worked in the interior for a while with Hudson Taylor.

Karl F. A. Gutzlaff went to Indonesia under a Dutch board. He tried to reach the Chinese. He moved to Bangkok, Thailand, and adopted eastern customs, but his wife and daughter died there. Then he traveled along the Chinese coast with literature until the Opium War occurred. He set up a training institute to send national workers into China. His workers tricked him, reselling his own literature back to him for reprinting. They falsely reported baptisms. They used their profits for opium smuggling. He was apparently partially aware of the situation, but did not bring the truth to light because of pride. Gutzlaff also interpreted for some opium smugglers. It was difficult to sort out his ministry and other involvement. He had wanted to contextualize the gospel, and also to encourage the Chinese to reach Chinese. Eventually he died in China. One particular blessing, however, was the enthuisiastic way that Gutzlaff had presented China missions in England. He was key to influencing Hudson Taylor to go to China. Another major contribution was his revision of the Chinese Bible translation of Robert Morrison.69

Another American missionary also worked with Robert Morrison. Elijah Coleman Bridgeman worked 30 years on the Chinese Bible. A second American missionary that served faithfully for 40 years was Matthew Yates. A Welchman, Griffen John, worked over 50 years in China. He made a translation of the Chinese Bible into the more common Mandarin tongue instead of the more scholarly previous translations.70

J. Hudson Taylor was truly a missionary giant. He was raised in a poor family. His father was a lay preacher. As a child, he loved missions, especially in China. However, he was not saved until age 17. He decided to learn medicine to minister more effectively to the Chinese. Early in school, he disciplined himself in poverty and prayer. He often visited the poor. He mentioned a struggle once when he gave his last money to save a poor woman’s health. The following day he received four times the money in the mail. He determined to move men by prayer alone. During this time, he was twice engaged to a young lady, but she was not interested in missions.

He joined the London Missionary Society, and was sent to China at age 21. He initially struggled with the language. He was also unhappy in the international community. The first time that he tried to live alone, he did not succeed. After a year, he traveled into the interior, where people looked at him as an oddity. He decided to wear Chinese clothing and develop a queue. He worked with the famous Scottish and English evangelist, William Burns, who had been greatly used in the British Isles. This was against the movement of the times, and he was rejected by other missionaries. He resigned from the CES after five years. He was turned down in marriage on two separate occasions by Elizabeth Sisson, but became interested in Mary Dyer.

Mary Dyer had grown up in England and returned to China to teach. She was interested in Hudson Taylor, but Miss Aldersey, who had responsibility for her, strongly disapproved, as did Pastor Russell. They became engaged secretly, and awaited permission. When an uncle gave permission a few months later, they were married. Hudson Taylor was made head of Ningpo Hospital for three years. The task was beyond his training, and he returned to England for more training.

He also revised the Chinese New Testament, and then started a model faith mission, the China Inland Mission. This mission got support primarily from the working class. The missionaries did not request money, and were supported by free-will offerings. When the mission started, there was initially great tension between the first 15 missionaries who accompanied the Taylors. There was virtually a split and rebellion with petty jealousy and arguments about the use of Chinese clothing. Following the death of his eight year old daughter and the resignation of one couple and two single women, the mission became unified.

The Taylors were attacked at Yangchow, creating an international incident. Some of the support from England was lost. Hudson became depressed. But then he learned the Spirit-filled life, and there was a dramatic change in his life.71 In 1860, Hudson Taylor sent three children back to England with a lady called Emily after the death of his son Samuel. The following summer, his wife died at age 33 following the death of another baby. Emily expected to take her place, but when Hudson Taylor returned to England, he took Jennie Spaulding as his second wife. The mission grew. The China Inland Mission set several rules: No debt. No guaranteed income. No solicitation. Dependence on God alone. Unfortunately, there was a lot of secrecy in the China Inland Mission, as well as internal strife.

Hudson Taylor’s goal was to spread the knowledge of the gospel. By now he had 650 missionaries, with missionaries in every province. He placed heavy emphasis on evangelism, but not on church planting and the necessity of developing national leadership. The mission was hurt substantially by the Boxer Rebellion. China ordered the death of all missionaries, and the eradication of Christianity. In the rebellion, 135 missionaries and 53 children were killed. Hudson Taylor remained as head of the mission until 1902. After his resignation within the next two years his wife Jennie died, followed by his death. However, the mission continued to grow. It peaked in 1934 with 1368 missionaries. Most were in the interior, and many were single women. There was no special emphasis on education. The name was later changed from China Inland Mission to Overseas Mission Fellowship.

Another missionary, Timothy Richard (1845-1914) followed Hudson Taylor. However, he emphasized the use of native evangelists and the use of technology. He was an extremely effective writer, and spent 45 years in China. He wanted to appreciate the best of Chinese culture. He wished to reach all by beginning with the intelligentia. He was a supporter of educational progress. Many groups were started at the university level, although the total number were small.

Jonathan Goforth was an outstanding evangelist in China. There was frequent revival during his ministry. Jonathan grew up on a farm, and actually took over one farm for his father at age 15. When he decided to go to Knox College, he was first ridiculed and ostracized by his fellow students. However, over years, he gained the other students respect, and they became staunch supporters later. In addition to his studies, he worked among the poor. He met Rosaline Smith, an art student. They were soon married. In 1888, the arrived in China. Over the ensuing years, they had 11 children, five of whom died. Initially he had great difficulty with the Chinese language. A missionary friend quickly learned. But after an intensive prayer meeting from his supporters, the language “clicked” and he was very easy to understand.

In the interior, they felt it important to open their home to the Chinese. They preached as much as 8 hours a day. They also went on further itinerate ministry in the interior. When the Boxer Rebellion broke out, they had a harrowing escape. Jonathan was attacked and injured. He was saved by a horse falling down and protecting him, and he was able to escape. After help from friendly Chinese, he was able to continue and traveled 1000 miles to escape.72

On their return, he traveled. They would set up housekeeping, and he would preach to the men while his wife would address the ladies. There was powerful evidence of the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of Jonathan, as outlined in his book By My Spirit.73 Rosaline had previously had major problems dealing with the Chinese, especially those helping her. She also learned theSpirit-filled life. She outlines this in her book Climbing.74 Goforth saw great revivals among both nationals and missionaries. Many times hours were spent confessing sins and getting right with the Lord. His revivals were in Korea and Manchuria as well as China until 1918. He conflicted with the Presbytery when he felt that the Holy Spirit was guiding him. He was also greatly disturbed by the influx of modernistic missionaries. Thus he preached with more fire and conviction. He finally returned to Canada for the last time at age 74. At this time he was blind, but continued to preach another 18 months until his death.

Both Jonathan Goforth and Hudson Taylor had dramatically changed lives when they learned the secret of allowing the Holy Spirit to control them. Goforth’s revivals were unbelievable. Many were saved and restored. Proud Chinese who would rather die than lose face would openly confess horrible sins. Missionaries who were skeptical and resistant were broken by the power of the Spirit. Proud and hypocritical Chinese students became serious Christians. I would strongly recommend reading the lives of both men.

About the same time, James ministered widely in Mongolia. He was able to totally adapt to the Mongolian clothing, food and customs. He became so accustomed to riding horseback that he could ride backwards. He became fluent in the language and witnessed widely to the Mongolians.

Another unsung hero was Dr. A. Macdonald Westwater, a Scottish Presbyterian medical missionary who was a very skilled surgeon. He was caught in the struggles of the Boxer Rebellion and also the war between Russia and China. He gave free care to all sides in the battles. When it appeared that there would be a slaughter in the city of Liao-Yang, he actually rode into the city and arranged for the city to surrender with no loss of life and no raping. He assisted the Russian general also in surgery.

Three middle aged women, Mildred Cable and two French sisters, proved remarkable in far interior China. Mildred went to China in 1902 and met Eva French, and then her sister. They ran a girls school for 200 girls as well as a place for opium addicts to rehabilitate. They then moved far into the interior to the “City of Prodigals.” They were involved in church planting during the winter, and spent 8 months per year traveling by ox car over the trade routes of Central Asia evangelizing and distributing literature. They traveled in the Gobi desert. These women worked in China from right after the Boxer Rebellion, from 1901-1936, at which time missionaries were ordered out of the interior.75 Mildren “retired” to be active for many more years in the British and Foreign Bible Society until her death in 1952.

James O. Frazer (1886-1938) proved a very effective missionary among the Lisu people of the mountains. Although the work was slow beginning, it is estimated that perhaps 60,000 Lisu accepted the Lord. Frazer also learned to walk in the Spirit, and saw the power of the Holy Spirit in his ministry.76 Frazer came from a large family, and his mother had prayed that one child would become a missionary. He was bright and talented, trained as an engineer, but also a talented linguist and was a classic pianist. He volunteered to go overseas with China Inland Mission, and at age 22 was already one of their most capable speakers of Chinese. Frazer developed a burden for the Lisu people and worked with them for a number of years without much visible results. He married, and his wife helped with the Lisu Bible translation. He developed an alphabet which is still used officially for the Lisu language, and translated the Bible. He went through much soul-searching and depression. He learned to place great reliance on resisting the devil in prayer, and also developed a powerful prayer team in England. He also worked with the Lisu to come independent financially. Eventually thousands of Lisu were saved. It is estimated that as many as 90% of the Lisu are Christians, and represent one of the largest tribal groups of Christians in the world.

What is especially interesting in Frazer’s story is a contention of Don Richardson in his book Eternity in Their Hearts that the Lisu had a tradition that a whitefaced teacher would bring them a holy book that they must listen to. If so, God had prepared their hearts. Also Frazer is a tremendous example of what can be accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit and through prayer.

Dr. George Lesley Mackay was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary dentist who worked in Formosa. He worked with both the headhunters of Malay background and the Chinese. He may have extracted as many as 40,000 teeth. He used his dentistry skills to get a hearing, and trained national helpers to extract teeth as well. He started a number of schools and 60 stations using national helpers.

I will mention briefly the Catholics in China. They regrouped in the mid-19th century and began training Chinese priests. During the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the century, about 40 Catholic foreigners were killed, but perhaps 30,000 nationals were killed. During the following decades, they were able to expand to approximately 1,700,000 with over 800 Chinese priests. However, there was no Chinese bishop.

In Japan, there were a few Catholics found after 1860 who had maintained belief despite persecution. Eventually about 10,000 returned to the Roman Catholic church, and perhaps 10,000 were in independent churches, with continued slow growth till the present. In Indochina, there was heavy persecution on two separate occasions during the 19th century, with 115 priests and as many as 300,000 nationals killed. The French were directly involved in the situation, and this was resented by the Indochinese.

There were also some distinguished missionaries of the Orthodox church. Makary Glucharev was a distinguished young linguist called to the Altai range in Russia. After laboring many years, he baptized 675 people. He focued on preaching the gospel and seeing people clearly saved. He left behind a church, three schools, and several Christian villages. Another distinguished missionary was John Viniamonov. He was initially placed in the Aleutian Islands, and was very successful training people. He had to build his own home and train people “from scratch.” His work gradually expanded to include both northern Siberia and Japan. He “retired” at age 70, but was made the metropolital of Moscow for another 11 years.

Nikolai Kasatkin was a very successful Orthodox priest in Japan. He wanted a truly Japanese and not a Russian church. Thus he trained nationals, and left behind 35 Japanese priests, 266 congregations, and 33,000 converts.

The Pacific Islands:

There are three main groups, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. The total population scattered over many islands is about 2,000,000. The first to arrive were the Roman Catholics. There was a great rivalry between the French and the Spanish Catholics. The French arrived at the time of Magellan. They apparently killed Magellan who tried to make them serve the king of Spain. The later Catholics were French. The Protestant missionaries did not arrive until after Captain Cook had made his famous explorations of the area.

The key approach was to use mission ships with missionaries coordinating with native evangelists. Missionaries faced many problems. Many missionaries were killed by animists, who wee afraid that the foreigners would anger their evil spirits if they accepted them. Indeed, there is a possibility that this was the reason Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii. Another problem was the constant temptation to fall into sexual sin because of the loose morals of the women. In addition to immorality, a number of travesties had been committed by some European traders, giving the missionaries a bad name by reputation when the natives associated them with the European traders. Despite the problems, there were a number of people movements through family and tribal units with many saved.

The London Missionary Society sent a large group of missionaries to the South Sea Islands. There were 30 men, 6 wives, and three children. They originally settled in three places, one of which was abandoned within a year after the two missionaries had left the island. Thus missionaries were only on Tahiti and Tongo. And on Tongo, three missionaries were killed in a civil war, and another succumbed to the native women. He joined several unsaved Europeans and had several wives, living as a native. But he repented and returned to England and asked pardon. Six missionaries hid during the civil war and were rescued by a passing ship. Later John Thomas, a Wesleyan Methodist, came and had a successful ministry for 25 years. There were no further incidents when he arrived with a fellow missionary, and soon had the assistance of fine native evangelists trained in Tahiti and Figi as well as Tongo. The natives initially used a Tahitian Bible in their work.77 Thomas was especially successful after baptizing Taufa’ahau, who became king of the Tongo group and established Christian laws there. In Tahiti, there were initially a number of missionaries, but most left, eleven at one time. Three missionaries “went native”. In 1808 the house of Henry Nott, one of the missionaries, was destroyed as well as their printing press. Their ship, the Duff, was captured by the French and they had no supplies from home. For a time, they had to live on wild berries and fruit in the mountains. Only Henry Nott remained through all the trials. He persisted 22 years before his first convert. He had influence on the chiefs of the island.

Pomare I was a treacherous man who had killed (and probably eaten) 2000 men. His son, Pomare II, made a profession of Christianity after receiving guns to defend himself against rebels. During the rebellion, only Henry Nott remained. He had married a native wife, as had other single missionaries. The London Missionary Society sent four “godly young women” from Australia, and he annulled his marriage to the native woman by common consent. Unfortunately, his “godly wife” was an alcoholic, abused her husband, and was obnoxious and opposed the work of the missionaries until her death several months later. Nott admonished Pomare II to leave his life of drunkenness, polygamy, and immorality. He had been a homosexual, and he continued in immorality even after his victory over the rebels in 1815. However, many of his subjects were truly saved, baptized, and gave evidence of a changed life. They sent 12 idols of Pomare II back to London for display. Pomare II was finally baptized several years later with 5000 persons looking on. He built a huge chapel with three preaching tables. The Royal Mission Chapel was 712 feet long and 54 feet wide. Henry Nott preached there at least twice weekly. With the coming of Christianity, they saw three major scourges pretty much eliminated: infanticide, cannibalism, and incessant warfare. Nott was also a gifted linguist and worked on translation of the Bible. In 1838, the Bible was translated into Tahitian. He returned to England only twice in his 47 years on the mission field.78 During this period, Samoa also had many saved and a solid Christian church was opened.

Personally I find the story of Henry Nott very challenging. He was a bricklayer, and had many problems during his missionary life. Not only did he face many problems with lack of supplies and loss of property, but had to survive the temptations of immorality to which a number of missionaries succumbed. He also remained through times of uncertainty and warfare. God eventually rewarded his persistence with spiritual fruit. We see through his life also how it may be very difficult to predict which missionaries will succeed and which will not. We also see the problem of trying by human wisdom to avoid the problems of immorality by supplying women for the men. In the case of Nott, the woman they sent was a total disaster. Again I am impressed at how often a real spiritual breakthrough seems to be tied to the translation of the Word of God into the national language.

The ministry in Hawaii was probably started by Captain James Cook, although he was killed there on his second visit. Later, a Hawaiian young man called Obookiah was crying at Yale because he wanted to learn. A student helped his study, but Obokiah died. His story sparked interest in Hawaii, and soon they sent missionaries. The mission society was well aware of the problem of single male missionaries, and encouraged the young men to find a wife promptly and marry. The initial group was 6 couples and a single missionary. Most of the couples were just married. They met, were married two weeks later, and two weeks after that left for Hawaii. Hiram Bingham and his wife took the leadership and led for many years. The biggest problem they encountered was with European sailors. They had been able to find native women cheaply for a few trinkets, but now that was difficult. On one occasion, a group of sailors tried to kill Bingham, but he was rescued by the natives. The missionaries tried to counteract the immorality by teaching the native women to wear clothing. Actually when the women started wearing clothing, the clothing itself created a problem in luring the men, who were accustomed to naked women. And some missionaries got sidetracked with materialism and commercial ventures. Furthermore, when they tried to teach about adultery, they found that there were 20 different names of ways to commit adultery. Hiram Bingham translated some of the Bible. His son-in- law was Titus Coan, a fervent evangelist. His son was a missionary to the Gilbert Islands and also a translator. One grandson was also an explorer.

Nevertheless, the mission saw immediate success. Schools were started and churches begun. Sybil Bingham taught a number of prominent women. The most notable success was Queen Kapiolani. She had been afraid of the god Pele, who lived in a volcano. She publically professed Christ, climbed up the volcano, and descended into the crater. She then threw sacred berries into the molten lava there, and climbed out again. This had a tremendous impact on the people.

Titus Coan preached fervently and frequently throughout the islands, and revival broke out. Twenty thousand were added to the churches. The Catholics also came, including the famous Father Damien, who worked with lepers. He eventually caught the disease himself and died four years later, but had had a world-wide impact through his ministry. Eventually the materialism of the missionaries and the departure of the Binghams due to Sybil’s health led to a decline in the churches to about 5000 members.

John Williams was saved as a teenager while learning to work as a blacksmith. He started attending church. His life changed, and he felt called to missions. Although his formal training was minimal, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society. After marrying, he moved close to Tahiti. His second move was to Raiatea, the home of the god Oro, the center of human sacrifice where he lived for 13 years. He worked to improve also their civilization, building a fine home as an example to the nationals. He also build a ship, and then a much better one, Endeavor. By sailing commercially, he made a 18,000 pound (British) profit. His third ship was called Messenger of Peace. In spite of somewhat limited training, the native evangelists he trained did an excellent job. Over 18 years, the Williams visited every island within 2000 miles of Tahiti. They also had 10 children. Seven of the 10 died in infancy. He also translated the Bible into the Raretongo language. John returned to England for four years. He raised funds for a much larger ship, and returned with his son and daughter-in-law. He faced a number of problems. The natives became weary of the demands of the missionaries. He had strife between the Wesleyan Methodists and others, as well as trying to counteract the influence of Catholics. He finally tried to extend the ministry to New Hebrides. There were clues of danger as he approached shore at Erromango. There were no women on the shore. He failed to send natives in before him. After reaching shore, he was attacked. He tried to outswim the natives, but failed and was clubbed to death. Then he and a companion were eaten. Although there were some failures in his ministry, the nationals did an outstanding job, and the churches grew better under native leadership than under the missionaries.79 For example, Williams left 8 national teachers in Samoa. When other missionaries arrived, they found 2000 believers, and the believers were in the majority within a generation.

John Geddie was raised a Presbyterian in Nova Scotia. After schooling, he was a pastor for a number of years and pressed for developing missions programs. He was eventually sent with his wife to the South Sea Islands. He came to Aneityum with his wife, and remained 24 years. They were shocked at the primitive immoral lives of the natives. There he translated, planted churches, evangelized, and trained native workers. He was attacked a number of times but not killed. His native evangelists evangelized widely despite suffering many trials. Many died as martyrs. His work was extremely successful. There was an inscription in one of the churches he had started which reads as follows: “When he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872, there were no heathen.”80

John G. Paton was also a Scottish Presbyterian born in 1824. He was raised in poverty and began working at age 12, but studied Greek and Latin. Converted at age 17, he worked first in the Glasgow City Ministry. He studied theology and medicine. He was aggressive and unafraid. He worked for 10 years in Glasgow, and then married and left for Tanna. Before he arrived, he had a famous quote from elderly Mr. Dickson, who feared that he would be eaten by cannibals. Paton responded that he could see that in the not too distant future, Mr. Dickson would die, and his body would be eaten with worms. If he was eaten by cannibals, he told Mr. Dickson that his body would arise as fair as Mr. Dickson in the resurrection from the dead. On arrival on the island of Tanna, they had a major culture shock. The natives were basically naked. Apparently native evangelists working with John Geddie lived a different lifestyle, living as true Christians. Some of the natives became incensed at this threat to their own lifestyle, and threatened to kill Paton after killing one of the native evangelists. His wife and infant son died within a year. Then a measles epidemic struck, and 1/3 of the population died as well as 13 native workers. The natives sought to kill him, especially those on the coast. Once he hid four days. His equipment was stolen. He barely escaped death on many occasions. Once he slid off a high rock to the shore of the ocean below. Fortunately the tide was out, and he hit dry sand and was able to get back to his home. He escaped Tanna by ship, returning to Australia. He remarried and toured Australia, raising money for his first boat, Dayspring.

He then moved to Aniwa, and saw a major breakthrough with the people there over their 24 years of ministry. They started a church, a school, an orphanage, and developed 300 native evangelists. He was later joined by 12 missionaries. His final years were as a missionary statesman and translator into the local language. He died age 73 in 1907.

As we review the life of John G. Paton, he owed a tremedous debt to his godly parents, especially his father. Also he had an unswerving confidence in God’s protection. He was convinced that he would not die until God’s work for him was done, despite being threatened by clubs, muskets and spears on man occasions. Furthermore, he was convinced that God could save anyone. His faithful helper, Abraham, was a tremendous encouragement to him. Abraham had been converted from cannibalism by John Geddie. Yet other missionaries, like Williams, Chalmers, and the Gordons who were betrayed and killed on Erromanga, did not survive. However, later, a great harvest came to fruition.

James Chalmers was also a Scottish Presbyterian. He was saved as a teenager and committed himself to missionary service. He worked for 10 years in Rarotonga, and then moved on to New Guinea. He loved the people, was loved by them, and worked freely among them. He worked on a translation of the Bible. He was called Tamate (the natives could not pronounce Chalmers). He remarried after the death of his first wife. He had many narrow escapes from death by cannibals. Then his second wife became sick and died. He bought a better boat to be able to extend the work to the Fly River although warned of the dangers of cannibalism there. He and another missionary were clubbed to death and eaten on April 8, 1901.81

John Coleridge Patteson was born into a wealthy family. In his mid-twenties, after hearing a message challenging for the South Pacific, he went to New Zeeland and worked among the Maori. The Anglicans moved John Coleridge Patteson from New Zeeland, where he had 22 mission stations and 50,000 adherents. They had expanded the work there after translating the Bible into the Maori language. With the influx of Europeans in New Zeeland, there was trouble over ownership of the land. Many Maori turned back from Christianity.

After becoming the Anglican bishop of Melanesia, he learned 20 different Melanesian languages. With his former contacts in New Zeeland, he brought native boys to New Zeeland to be educated and return as evangelists. At one time, he had more than 50 students. However, his plan was thwarted by a European method called “blackbirding” in which they captured slaves and carried them away. Natives began to suspect that he was guilty of doing this. Some of the slavers even used his name and had someone dress in dark clothes with a large book and say that he was on their boat. Then the unsuspecting boys were placed in the hold as slaves. He went ashore for a routine stop on a trip through Melanesia. When he did not return, those who followed him were driven back by arrows. Later they found his body pushed out in a canoe. It was marked with 5 wounds for five men who had ben “blackbirded.” The natives had a custom that we also have among the Bush Negros of Suriname. If someone is guilty of a crime, but you cannot find him, then you take a relative and punish the relative in his place. In this situation, many of the slavers were Europeans, and he would be considered “family.” However, his death helped stop the practice of capturing slaves for sugar and cotton plantations, and raised up other missionaries.

When John and Mary Calvert, missionaries to Fiji, arrived, their first task was to bury the bones of 80 persons recently consumed in a cannibal feast. Fiji was an island paradise, but also a site of great degradation. Before any event, people were killed. When they built the house of the chief, they compelled men to stand in a deep hole where the supporting poles were placed and hold them while they were buried alive. Cannibal feasts were routine, especially at the arrival of an important guest. When a chief or important man died, a number of his wives were strangled and buried with him. War canoes were rolled over human bodies to ensure victory. The king Tanoa was bloodthirsty.

One of the first breakthroughs was when John was away. Fourteen women were seized while fishing to be killed and eaten. Mary and another lady raced to the chief, who was astonished at their boldness. Five women were already dead, but they released the other nine. On the death of Tanoa, they succeeded in limiting the death of wives to five. Tanoa’s son Thakombau was eventually saved, and 17 years later deeded Fiji Islands to Queen Victoria. About 1300 churches were eventually started.82 Furthermore, John Calvert translated the Bible into the language of Fiji.

Florence Young was the sister of plantation owners. She was well trained as a Plymouth Brethren. She worked with the slaves and taught them Sundays and evenings with great success. Many plantations participated as the work expanded. She started the Queensland Kanaka Church. At its peak, they had 17 missionaries and over 100 workers in 11 locations, with thousands of members. She went to China for 10 years under China Inland Mission and then returned. Blackbirding had become illegal. Many of her family members started working in a mission to the South Seas in church planting. At least 10 other members joined the work over the next number of years. Their mission in 1907 was called the South Sea Evangelical Mission.

Samuel Marsden was a missionary to New Zealand for 40 years. He was initially sent to New South Wales to minister to the criminals who had been sent to Australia. He was apparently effective although a severe disciplinarian. One of his initial actions was to set up a house for women criminals there. He became interested in the Maori, a cannibalistic tribe in New Zealand. They were so notoriously fierce that no captain wished to venture to shore or to sail in the area. They had killed and eaten many sailors. When on furlough, Marsden was able to raise funds for his own ship, the Active, and also introduced horses, cows, and sheep into the area. One of the keys to his success was befriending a young Maori who returned to his land. Marsden was greeted by a welcome with his friend present. Over the years, Marsden made 7 trips to the Maori, once spending more than a year there. He brought back promising youth to Australia for training. He was greatly honored on his last trip there in his 70's.83

Ludwig Nommelson was born in an area disputed between Germany and Denmark. He was injured at age 13, and told the Lord that if he recovered, he would be a missionary. He spent 56 years as a German Lutheran missionary under the Rhemish society to the Batak people of Sumatra. These people were cannibals, and the work began slowly until the conversion of several chiefs. Eventually a people movement began with approximately 100,000 persons converted. Nommelson trained and empowered national teachers and preachers. He completed translating the New Testament into Batak in 1878. There is a strong Batak church now numbering 500,000 who manage their own affairs.84

In summary, we can see that the work in the South Seas was quite successful, but at a high cost in missionary lives. Not only did some succumb to immorality, but others fell prey to cannibalism. The natives, whose lives were sometimes portrayed in idyllic terms, were really being destroyed with idolatry, murder, cannibalism, incredible cruelty and infanticide. After taking root, Christianity dramatically changed the situation in these islands. The cost was high. The price was worth paying.

Muslim Evangelism:

Muslim evangelism was difficult and is still difficult, but possible. The original method used by such men as Raymond Lull and Henry Martyn was basically confrontational. Later a more positive form of friendship was used by such men as Samuel Zwemmer. There are a number of reasons that Muslims are difficult to reach. First, there are basic differences in theology. The Muslim will reject trinitarianism directly. He will deny that Jesus Christ is God, or God’s son. He is only a prophet. The Muslim denies that man is made in the image of God. He denies that we have an innate sin nature and cannot save ourselves. He believes that man is weak and forgetful, but that he can live to please God in his own strength. The Muslim has no assurance of salvation except dying as a martyr in a holy war (jihad).

Further, the Islam belief is closely tied to the culture and political structure. There is no such thing as separation of religion and the state. Your religion is not just your private business, but has major impact on your family, community and nation. The family ties are closer than in the west. Unfortunately, there is also the identification of Christianity with western civilization, despite how decadent the western culture may become. The price to pay for conversion is high. At the least, there may be rejection by the family, loss of income, loss of a job, and isolation from the community. It is not rare that you might pay with your life. We will cover more details in the section on world religions, but these are enough to demonstrate that conversion is not easy. We already mentioned Raymond Lull and Henry Martyn. Another well known Muslim missionary was Samuel Zwemmer. The 13th of 15 children in the home of a reformed pastor, he was raised in Holland, Michigan and attended Hope College. He surrendered to missions, and joined with James Castine to start a new mission board. They raised support for each other. Overseas, in 1895, he courted Ann Wiles, a missionary under a different mission. When they were married, he was required to pay for her transportation costs. Over the following years, they had four stations going by 1905. During that time, he had the tragic loss of two daughters within eight days.

He returned to the USA, and became the traveling secretary of the Stuedent Volunteer Movement, and the field secretary of the Reformed Church foreign missions. Later he relocated in Cairo where he had much contact with students and faculty. There was a very interesting story of his time in Cairo. He was accused of distributing tracts to students, and an irate professor tore a tract into pieces before his students. One student was curious as to why the professor would be so incensed by a small piece of paper. He pieced the tract together, read it, and later became a Christian. During his time in Cairo, William Borden worked with him until his untimely death four month later of meningitis.

Finally he taught as professor at Princeton Seminary from 1929 to 1937, and then retired to teach missions in New York City for an additional 23 years from 1937-1950. It is significant that Zwemmer saw no more than 12 converts in his time overseas. However, he was successful in demonstrating to the west the necessity of attempting to reach the Muslims. He also edited Muslim World for more than 40 years.

Temple Gairdner was a brilliant student at Oxford. Many rejected him in his desire to reach the Muslims. He did see some saved, but he saw others revert back and reject Christ. He and his wife were both gifted musicians. They lived in Cairo. He was both an evangelist and an apologist. He wrote dramas although his mission board disapproved. He became deluged with administrative work, but worked to bring peace among the missionaries. He also had a good relationship with the Coptic Christians. Once he had a rebellion among Muslim converts. He died at age 55 with lung problems.

Constance Padwick was initially turned down as a missionary because of health problems. Ironically, she served 40 years in Muslim lands. Her strength was in writing, and she worked with Temple Gairdner. She wrote a biography of Henry Martyn. She wrote literature for Muslims about Christianity, but also she wrote about Muslim beliefs for Christians. She emphasized the importance of loving personal relationships in reaching the Muslims. Some of those she wrote about include: Lyman MacCallum, who bridged the gap as a true friend of the Muslims; Lilias Trotter, who gave up her love of art to minister to Muslims, and did see some saved; and Lillian Trasher, who broke an engagement for marriage so that she could serve Muslims until death.

Maude Cary was born in Kansas in 1878. Her mother was both a talented musician and Bible Instructor. She was strong-willed and independent. She went to Morocco in 1901 under Gospel Mission Union. She learned to put aside her pride and competitiveness. For six years, she was engaged to George Reed. George eventually left for the Sudan unmarried. At age 47, Maude then returned to the USA for her first furlough to care for her elderly parents until their deaths. Following their deaths, she returned to the field. During World War II, she and three other missionary ladies kept three stations open. Then at age 71, she was assigned to open a new area. She began a Bible Institute with the assistance of a young lady. Gospel Mission Union received more recruits there, and the work continued to flourish after France left Morocco. Then in 1967, the government stopped all foreign missionaries. The same year, she went home to be with the Lord.

There was some good work also done in Syria and Lebanon. The Bible was translated into modern Arabic in 1832. A university was started which eventually developed into the famous American University in Beirut.

Missions to Korea and Japan:

In Korea, the Catholics did begin work but with great opposition. After persecution resulted in the deaths of believers including French Catholic priests, the French military retaliated. The Protestants began in 1880, and have enjoyed more success in Korea than anywhere else in the far east. One of the fortunate things was their choice of a Korean word for God, rather than importing a Chinese term as the Catholics had done.

Dr. Horace Allen came to Korea as a missionary MD. He opened a hospital successfully after having successfully treated the king’s nephew. He became a diplomat for Korea, and helped set commercial interests in Korea. He later worked directly for the United States government, but clashed with President Theodore Roosevelt. After he was dismissed from the United States government position, he entered private practice. However, he remained a strong supporter of Korean independence.

Henry Appenzellar had an interesting background. Raised in the Reformed tradition, he became a Methodist, and then married a Baptist wife. Although he very much advocated western culture, he also was a strong advocate of Korean independence. He was a very busy man, starting a school, pastoring, and doing much supervision and administration for the mission. At that time, the Presbyterians and the Methodists decided to divide the country as far as their efforts were concerned, except that they worked together on Bible translation. In 17 years, they had started 47 churches. There was opposition from the government. Henry died early at age 44 when he tried to save a Korean collegue after his ship crashed into another.

Other missionaries included Ann Ellers, who was considered the queen’s “doctor”, though she was a nurse. She was followed by Lillias Horton, who was an M.D. Dr. Horton married Horace Underwood, a very formal missionary who was very aware of competition between the Presbyterians and the Methodists. He opened an orphanage, and began translation work. Later, four men traveled 200 miles so that he would baptize them.

John L. Nevius had a major impact on Korea, although he was only in Korea a total of two weeks as an evangelist. His father died when he was young. He was raised in the Dutch Reformed tradition, became a serious believer, and attended Princeton Seminary. He arrived in China in 1853, and remained 40 years. He developed a plan to train itinerant evangelists. The previous method had been to find advanced natives. They were trained as Bible agents, evangelists, colporteurs (men who sold Bibles and other religious books), and even heads of stations. But the Neviius method was to leave them in their normal homes and employments while in training.

Some of the characteristics of the Nevius method are as follows. First, have widespread evangelization through wide itineration. Secondly, the emphasis was on self-propagation. Each believer could learn from someone more fitted, and be the teacher of another. They were to have self-government, with each group under their own unpaid leaders. All the chapels were to be provided by believers. There was systematic Bible study for every believer under his group leader and circuit leader. The circuit leaders, who were paid, would become pastors. There was strict discipline with enforced Biblical penalties. Other procedures included cooperation and union with other groups, and not to interfere in lawsuits. They were to help the economic lives of the people whenever possible. And under Samuel Moffat and others, the church grew despite persecutions.

A prominent Japanese pastor was Kanzo Uchimura. His conversion came at an agricultural school started by William Smith Clark, who saw 16 boys accept Christ. Kanzo had a father who was a samurai as well as a Confucian scholar. He was trained as a Confucian, but turned of by sectarian churches, he began an independent church. He had great pride in Japan. He felt that America had many talents, but not talent in religion, believing that they focused too much on numbers and money. He also wrote a 22 volume commentary.

Charles and Lettie Cowman left their affluent lifestyle in the USA to become missionaries under A.B. Simpson in the Holiness movement. They were very tightly organized, and used crusade methods. They attempted to present the gospel in every home. Charles died of a heart attack in 1924. During Charles’ illness, his wife wrote a famous devotional, Streams in the Desert. They had founded Oriental Mission Society, and eventually Lettie became president for seven years. She eventually wrote nine books. She continued the work to present the gospel to all nations from 1936 until her own death in 1949 at age 90. A woman received the highest honor given by the Japanese to a foreigner. The recipient was Mabel Francis. After the death of her fiancé, she began preaching and at age 19, felt called to missions. 85 She joined the Christian and Missionary Alliance at age 29, and went to Japan. She was joined by her brother. They started 22 churches. Later a widowed sister joined her. The sister taught and she preached. When World War II occurred, she was placed in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. After release, she did humanitarian work. She was grieved that the United States missed a wonderful opportunity. Japan had opened the door to 1000 missionaries, but they could not find them. At age 83, she was given the highest award given to a foreigner.

Missions in South America:

William Brett was an early missionary to British Guinea who worked with several Indian tribes. Earlier, these tribes were on the coast and would travel to the West Indies. Now they have been pushed further into the interior. He worked particularly with the Caribs, the Warooans, and the Arawaks. Eventually one witchdoctor of the Arawaks was saved, followed by five others, and eventually 5000 Arawaks accepted the Lord. Brett was able to learn 4 Indian languages, work on the language structure of them, and translate portions of the New Testament into all 4 languages which he had learned.86

The Patagonian Indians of Tierra del Fuego were an especially fierce Indian tribe - apparently Charles Darwin thought that they were impossible to see become at all civilized. Allen Gardiner was a successful Naval officer who was saved, and initially was a missionary first in Africa and then in Paraguay. However, he had a burden for these Indians in this remote location at the tip of South America. His first attempt to contact them was unsuccessful. On the second attempt, accompanied by a doctor and several other men, they were attacked by war canoes, who kept a distance for fear of their guns. The ship was eventually destroyed and they lost some of their supplies in relocating in a second location. Scurvy broke out. The supporters from England were unable to secure another boat to venture to their location within the six months of their food supply, and they slowly starved to death.87 Their dead bodies were found months later, with notes testifying to their faith.

Three years later, there was a third attempt to reach Tierra del Fuego. This time, a new boat was purchased and christened the Allen Gardiner. The missionaries began a school in the nearby Falkland Islands on Keppel Island. A few boys were brought to the school. However, on a trip the captain and ship did not return, and all aboard had been murdered. Thus far the cost had been 14 lives. Mr. Bridges and Mr. Bartlett persisted teaching the boys 3 years and learning the language. Then another group led by Mr Stirling were better received, and 19 years after the death of Gardiner, a mission was established on Tierra del Fuego itself. A chapel was built and 36 native evangelists trained. Now there is a thriving church with thousands of believers.88

A successful missionary, Barbrooke Grubb worked among the Lengua Indians of Paraguay in 1889.89 It was 17 years before he baptized his first convert. His trips were incredible. Sometimes the temperature in the Chaco region soared above 100; other times he was drenched with tropical rain. Much of the travel was through swamps, sometimes waist-deep in water. Often he had to sleep in wet clothing. He gradually won the trust of the Indians, and had to learn 4 languages. He slowly saw villages begin, gardens planted, and a dramatic drop in drunkenness and cursing. There is a dramatic story of his miraculous survival of an attempted murder. He was with an Indian who had helped him much. The Indian took him by a lonely path away from the others who were helping, and after an excuse stayed behind him. He shot an arrow at full force into his back from just a few feet away. The arrow lodged in a rib. Grubb was able to escape him, and with great difficulty walked 70 miles until he found another Indian who would help. In the meantime, the murderer had claimed that Grubb was killed by a jaguar, and stole all his equipment. Grubb survived, and when the truth was known, his own village tried the man and executed him. Following this event there was a great spiritual awakening.

As we summarize the main features of the 19th century and the earliest 20th century until World War I, we see that colonialism opened some countries which had otherwise remained unreached. Some countries had enlightened colonialism, witrh development of law and order. But there were many bad features. Commercial motives were backed with the gun. There was exploitation of the native population. The worst example was requiring China to participate in the opium trade to the great detriment of her population. This left a smoldering resentment of western civilization and Christianity in the heart of the nationals.

The missionaries were also of mixed motives. Many missionaries had accepted postmillenialism, and viewed part of Christianization was to submit the population to accept western civilization. However, others found many aspects of western civilization repugnant. Some missionaries also believed in the “white man’s burden” and his “manifest destiny.” Since missionaries were often tied together with colonialism in the minds of the nationals, this created major problems.

Missions in the 20th century:

The beginning of the 20th century saw the rise of nationalism, as imperialism and colonialism were coming to an end. Marxism also arose. World War I and II showed the moral weakness of the west. Missionaries, and white men in general were seen in the dual role of deliverer and destroyer. Women’s rights and women in professions caused marked changes. Mainline denominations were invaded by liberalism and the social gospel - not only in the sending churches, but also on the mission field. The number of single women volunteering as missionaries radically increased. Neo-orthodoxy became prominent both in Europe and the USA.

Bible Institutes opened with a desire to keep the faith pure. They opposed modernism, which was embracing the scientific method, rationalism, and attacking the deity of Christ. The first to open were Nyack in 1882 and Moody in 1886. Other schools such as Columbia Bible School and Prairie Baptist followed. Moody put over 5000 students onto the mission field; once over 5% of all missionaries were from Moody.90 Missions was emphasized from the very beginning.

Faith missions were started and grew, evangelizing Europe and Latin America. And the base of missions shifted from Europe to North America, and especially the USA. Specialized missions started in medicine, education, radio, translation, and agriculture. There was a pause in missions during World War II, but then missions surged ahead. These missions have shown great endurance. No mission over 100 years old has folded. By policy, the faith missions do not go into debt. The two largest groups are probably Wycliffe with about 4200 members, and Campus Crusade with 6000 members in 150 countries. The majority have been evangelical and some fundamental. There has been considerable specialization now in contrast to the 19th century, which was the time of the evangelist and church planters. The majority of missionaries have come from Bible Institutes. The denominational missions have been steadily declining since the 1920s.

Single lady missionaries:

Single lady missionaries were not common in the 19th century. Roman Catholic Ann Marie Javouhey started a group of nuns in Africa. The Sisters of St. Joseph grew to about 900 before her death. They were especially successful in Senegal. She ended up with over 1000 sisters scattered in 140 locations.

A black lady went to Hawaii as the servant of a missionary couple, but she herself also taught in the 1820s. And a woman named Cynthia Farrar worked for 34 years in Bombay, India during the 1860s. In the 20th century, more opportunities opened up as alternatives to ministry at home. They saw rapid growth in many areas over 40 years, with many opportunities in hospitals and schools. Many women sensed a call from God and the chance to make a difference.

One of the early single woman missionaries originally went overseas to marry. Adele Fields (1839-1916) nearly died of sickness on shipboard, and arrived in Hong Kong only to find that her groom died of typhoid fever seven months earlier, 10 days after she sailed. She went to Thailand but had conflicts with the director over several issues including personal separation. She left and was befriended by missionaries in China. She became effective in China, teaching Bible women thoroughly and then sending them out to evangelize. A few weeks later, she would teach them more Bible stories. She wrote the stories about many women. Her stories had enormous appeal. She trained other women to take over her tasks, especially training the Bible women, and spent her last years lecturing and in science.

Lottie Moon came from a well educated family. She was cultured. Although her mother was a widow, she had a brother and sister who were both doctors. During the civil war, she ran a plantation. She was brilliant as a student, especially in languages. Then she followed her younger sister to China as a missionary at age 32 after teaching school for some years. Her initial years in China were difficult. She was frustrated, lonely and bored. She also turned down a suitor because of his liberal theological stance. He went on to teach at Harvard Seminary. She moved to Pingu in the interior, and worked alone. One situation which she found very frustrating was not having an equal opportunity to vote as the male missionaries. Finally she was able to see some men saved. A church was started by a Chinese pastor, who baptized over 1000 converts.

During the years 1890-1912, she did evangelistic work part time, and trained new missionaries. She also counseled Chinese women. She adopted Chinese dress and customs. However, her greatest effectiveness was writing. She raised up funds for missions, as well as women to become missionaries. During mass starvation in 1911, she organized some funds for relief. However, she became increasingly depressed and stopped eating. It was realized that she was starving herself to death, and arrangements were made for her to go home to the USA. However, she died en route at age 72. Even after her death, they continued until now to raise funds from the USA in her name, and also her work of recruiting women has persisted. Each year the Southern Baptist Convention raises millions of dollars in a special Christmas offering in her name.

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) was born into a family which was initially wealthy. However her father died leaving a big debt when she was 18 and the oldest of the children. She then worked in a city mission in Belfast, Ireland. She was heavily influenced by the Keswick movement. Her initial time as a missionary began at age 24. She went for 15 months to Japan, then to Ceylon, and then returned home. She returned to India. She founded Dohnavur to rescue “temple children” - young girls sold into temple prostitution. She worked with widows and orphans together in the ministry. She formed the Sisters of the Common life, who forsook family and marriage. She also wanted those associated with her to remain apart from other missionaries. Her lifestyle was very Victorian. She had contempt for non-Christian practices. She had a bad fall which left her an invalid for the last 20 years of her life. She believed that she had a divine mission from God. She remained single and worked with other women for over 50 years as a missionary in India, finally dying at age 83.

Joanna Veenstra was an example of many sacrificial lady missionaries. Her mother was widowed when she was two years old. She went to a Christian school, and became a secretary at age 14. She went then to Calvin College, was trained as a midwife, and went as a missionary to Africa. There she developed a school for young men to become evangelists. She believed that she must remain in control in a maternalistic manner. She was much appreciated for both her medical work and her teaching, but died after routine surgery at age 39. Gladys Aylward was a most remarkable woman who was originally turned down by the LMS because she had difficulties learning. She was born in London. She had difficulty learning, and began working as a domestic at age 14. She dreamed of becoming a missionary, but was turned down at age 27. She decided to go independently. She saved enough money to go by rail across Siberia to assist missionary Jenny Lawson in China. The trip was harrowing. Once the train stopped in a war zone, and she had to walk back in the snow to catch another train. Eventually she reached Japan and then China. She assisted Jennie and together they opened an inn to reach muleteers. She learned the language and worked hard. Eventually Jennie died but she stayed on. At one point, she was made the official foot inspector to oppose the practice of foot-binding girls’ feet. She became very effective in learning the language, and became a Chinese citizen. She was able to quell a prison riot. She was even an effective spy and fell in love with a Chinese soldier, Linnen, but never married. She took responsibility for a group of orphaned children, and in 1940 she made a harrowing journey with 100 children away from the Japanese across the border to Siam. When she finally returned to England, she was famous. However, she lived humbly until her death.

Faith missions:

The first faith mission begun was China Inland Mission, started by J. Hudson Taylor in 1865. This started a movement with a number of boards started over the next 40 years. The faith missions were conservative and evangelical in contrast to the denominational boards, who were affected by liberalism and the social gospel. Most missionaries were Bible Institute or Bible College graduates, although later four year study programs developed. Moody Bible Institute was especially prominent. In addition to the focus on evangelism, there was also a focus on using new technology. Radio, aviation, gospel recordings, and other technology were among the methods of spreading the gospel. Medicine was also used.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance was begun by A.B. Simpson. He was born in 1843, and baptized in Prince Edward Island by John Geddie. He was much influenced by the death of John Williams (missionary to the South Seas who was killed and eaten by cannibals), and he planned to become a missionary. He was a great preacher, and planned to go overseas as a missionary. However, after attending Knox College, he took over Knox Church which quickly added 750 members.

When he moved to the USA, he became a very serious soulwinner at the Chestnut Street Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He had a vision to reach China, but his wife was opposed to going there as a missionary, and at this point they had six children. He moved to New York City in 1879 to the 13th Street Presbyterian Church. He resigned his initial pastorate after the church suggested he find another church after he had reached out to 100 Italians. He began his own church to minister to the indigent who needed salvation. Over eight years, the church grew and he build Gospel Tabernacle. Then he began a training school for missionaries which developed into Nyack Missionary College. He emphasized Christ as savior, sanctifier, healer and coming King. He had great influence on the Assembly of God and Four Square Gospel churches. He wrote over 100 books and many hymns. Following the institution of the college, he began the Christian and Missionary Alliance. They had 150 missionaries in 15 countries. The initial situation in Africa was difficult, where there were more graves than living missionaries. Also in China, they lost 35 missionaries during the Boxer Rebellion. The mission continues today with many more members overseas than in the USA.

Fredrik Franson was also influenced by both J. Hudson Taylor and A.B. Simpson to evangelize the world. He was originally trained by D. L. Moody and worked in the Chicago area. He moved to Utah and wrked with Scandanavians there. Then he returned to Europe and started agencies for several other countryes. The Scandanavian Alliance Mission later became TEAM mission and in two years had 91 missionaries scattered in different countries. He also provided open doors for women to work in his mission.

The African Interior Mission (AIM) was begun by Peter Scott. Peter Scott turned away from a career in opera, and went to A.B. Simpson’s school, and then to Africa. Shortly after arrival there, he had to bury his own brother. He returned to the USA, and then back to Africa. He had a vision of starting works stretching from the east coast of Africa to Lake Chad. He returned with a group of 8 persons, later expanded to 15, In about 14 months, he was making progress in the language and had started four works in Kenya beginning at Mombasa. Several members of his family decided to come to help. After only 14 months in Africa, he died of blackwater fever. Within a few years, they had only one living missionary. C. E. Hurlburt was President of Philadelphia Bible College, and had headed the council sending the group to Africa. He took over the mission after he moved to Africa with his five children. Later, all five children joined AIM. Theodore Roosevelt assisted Hurlburt in getting into Congo. Hurlburt also opened Rift Valley Academy, where the missionary children would be in school for three months, and then home for a month. One major crisis in AIM was the question of female circumcision, which was eventually placed in the hands of the African church. The MauMau rebellion resulted in the churches being turned over pretty much completely to the Africans.

The Central American Mission was begun by C.I. Scofield. Scofield served in the civil war, was then trained as a lawyer. He was an alcoholic but then became saved and became a Bible student. He became a Congregational pastor for 13 years. He had several personal problems. He divorced his first wife, and remained estranged from his daughters. He also was convicted of forgery and fraud and spent six months in prison. His divorce occurred after salvation, but nevertheless he pastored two large churches in Dallas, and also pastored Moody’s old church. Following that, he became president of Philadelphia College of the Bible. He was a student of dispensationalism, and wrote his famous notes in the Scofield Bible.

When he learned of the problems of Costa Rica, he began a new mission. Within four months after he formed Central American Mission, he had a man in the country. The mission grew steadily to 25 missionaries in five countries, and at this time to 300 missionaries in six countries.

The Sudan Interior Mission was begun by Roland Bingham. He was born in England and saved there. He came to Canada and joined the Salvation Army. He began the Sudan Interior Mission with Walter Gowans, a Canadian from Scotland, and they were accompanied by a third man, Kent. Soon after their arrival in Africa, Gowans and Kent died, and Bingham returned sick with malaria. Seven years later he and a new wife returned with a group of missionaries. One missionary died, two returned from the field, and he returned sick with malaria. His third attempt, however, was successful although only one of the four missionaries was able to stay. One died, and two returned. However, they began with a few converts, but the mission took root. Mrs. Gowans proved a great prayer warrior for their mission.

In the years to come, they saw blatant satanism. However, they were successful working with lepers. The work expanded to Ethiopia, where Dr. Thomas Lambie began working. By this time they had only 17 baptized believers, and World War II was looming and Ethiopia was at war with Italy. The missionaries were able to stay an additional two years despite the danger. When the 19 adult missionaries and seven children left, there were 48 believers left behind. There was tremendous persecution between 1937 and 1941. A number of pastors were whipped with 100 to 400 lashes. Three died under the whipping. Most were unable to lie on their backs for a month. But the church grew from 48 believers to 10,000 with 100 churches. The love of the believers drew others to them. The missionaries returned in 1948, but were thrown out by the Muslim government in 1964. The Marxist government and Islam killed at least 500,000 Christians, but there were 2500 churches and many Bible schools. In the 1970s there were still problems with a Marxist government in Ethiopia. However, there are still Christian schools and perhaps 2500 churches in the area.

One of the most dramatic missionary stories was that of Operation Auca, with five young missionaries from three different boards working to reach the Auca Indians. The oldest, Nate Saint, had been Ecuador seven years. They were well aware of the tragedy which occurred in Bolivia a decade earlier with New Tribes Mission when a group of American missionaries were killed by hostile Indians. The group together made contact with the Indians using information from a young woman was able to translate into that language. They worked for months in 1955 making contact with this fierce tribe. These Indians were well known to kill outsiders. especially missionaries. The initial contacts were quite successful over a three month interval. The men knew little of the language. However when the five men landed on a beach, they did not report back the to mission station. A few days later, their bodies were found floating in the river having been killed by spears from the Auca Indians. The news reached the world. Many new missionaries rose up to replace them. Later, Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of Jim Elliot, and Rachel Saint, the sister of the deceased pilot, were able to live in the tribe and see many get saved. It appears that the Auca Indians are territorial and view all foreigners as a threat which must be eliminated. However, many of the tribe are now true Christians.

In reflecting on the tragedy, the young missionaries made a number of mistakes. They did not consult Frank Drown, a missionary with much experience dealing with the Jivaros, who were headhunters. He actually led the expedition to find the missionaries’ bodies. They did not inform their leadership and spoke of their project in code. They had not learned much of the language before attempting contact. However, God overruled the mistakes in terms of progress in missions. Their deaths spurred great interest in missions and many new missionaries surrendered to take their places.

Eliza David George was a woman missionary from the United States who lived to be 102 years old. This black lady from Texas was finally allowed to go as a missionary to Liberia under the Southern Baptist convention. She immediately had great success with 1000 professions of faith and 50 preacher boys in training within the first two years. She later married, and worked together with their husband for 20 years, although the marriage was difficult. She then went independent and developed support clubs in the United States. She saw the work expand and continue to work in Liberia until 90 years of age, and then turned it over to the Liberian national leaders. She was successful in starting eight schools and 100 churches in the country of Liberia prior to her death.

New Tribes Mission was begun in 1942 by Paul Fleming. Their stated goals are to reach the lost, focusing on those who have not been reached with the gospel. They have developed an intensive 4 year training program, including 2 years of Bible, followed by 2 years of linguistics, survival training, and cultural anthropology. They initially had a number of setbacks. Five missionaries were killed by the Ayore Indians of Brazil. Their fate was not known for years. They found only some of the articles they had had a year or so later. Missionary Joe Moreno made contact with the Indians a number of years later and established the death of the five men. Twice their airplanes have crashed killing 15 and 21 persons , including the death of their founder. They have had several missionaries captured by rebels and killed. In another incident, 14 students died in a forest fire. Despite the problems, New Tribes Mission has grown to 3300 missionaries scattered in tribes throughout the world.91

Bible translation is done word for word, and not with dynamic equivalence. The individuals are first to learn the language and culture, and reduce the language to writing. Then translation is possible. The training uses the chronological method advocated by Trevor McIlwain, who has produced detailed material explaining the program. Because there is an emphasis on Bible translation, his method is a bit more expository than the oral methods used by some to develop an “oral Bible.” The goal is to develop self-sustaining national churches. Recently NTM has been accused of working with the CIA and living in luxury at the expense of the nationals. They were thrown out of Venezuela by Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela. Student volunteer movement:

The student volunteer movement consisted mostly of highly educated, young, and often married students. The majority went to China or India. Over a period of 50 years, a total of 20,000 missionaries were sent out through this method. The student volunteers were very committed. However, liberalism and ecumenical system crept in to the movement, which lost momentum and then stopped. In 1890 all seminaries except Harvard were evangelical. In 1920 all denominational seminaries were liberal. That same year was the peak for the student volunteer mission. After that they slowly deteriorated because of infiltration with liberalism.

Worldwide Evangelistic Crusade (WEC): C. T. Studd was rich and athletic. His father was wealthy, raising horses, but got saved and gave up horse racing. His children were saved as well. After the death of his father and the near-death of his brother six years later, Studd went to a D. L. Moody campaign and was converted along with six others. At that time, he was England’s best cricket player. He married and went to China as a missionary for 10 years. Before going, he gave away a sizable inheritance to Mueller, D.L. Moody and others. His family with four daughters returned to England, where he worked another six years. He was very successful recruiting student volunteers, and then went for six years to India. But bad health forced him to return again to England.

At age 50, he was still sick, but felt called to Africa. His wife Priscilla was also sick and did not go. He went to Africa with an assistant for six years, coming back for his first and only furlough. His wife had recovered in the meantime, and worked extremely well at the home office. However, in Africa, he was domineering and demanded an 18 hour days for all missionaries. He did not respect African Christians, and had problems with his own missionaries. He even had problems with his own family; two daughters and son laws were with him. He did not believe in eternal security, and felt that those who are lazy by his standards were lost. He had medicial problems, including asthma and gall stones. Sadly, he became a morphine addict. He wrote a pamphlet showing extremely poor judgment. He dismissed his own son-in-law and daughter from the mission. After the death of CT Studd, his son-in-law Norman Grubb took over and restore the mission, which by then was in shambles. He renamed it the worldwide evangelistic crusade (WEC). The mission continued to grow over the years.

Perhaps the most important person in the Student Volunteer Mission was John R. Mott. His father was wealthy. He went to college at age 16, and a few years later, he was influenced by CT Studd’s brother as well as D. L. Moody. He was one of the initial starters of the Student Volunteer Movement begun by D. L. Moody. After a month of training, he was one of the 100 persons who pledged to become a foreign missionary. Robert Wilder asked John Mott to take over as leader. John Mott also worked with the YMCA, and was their general secretary for 16 years. He tied groups together and created the World Student Christian Fellowship. He also organized the first international mission conference in Edinburgh in 1910, which was instrumental in beginning the ecumenical movement.

John R. Mott traveled extensively for both the Student Volunteer Movement and the YMCA. He had excellent results in China on two different occasions in the early 1900s. On one occasion, over 3500 persons attended his meeting. He was caught in the movement for the social gospel. Mott recognized the importance of the social needs of the individual, but placed primary emphasis on the necessity of evangelism. However he was considered a liberal by the new fundamentalists, and many stopped going to the SVM. He and Robert Speer were targeted by fundamentalists. He took part in the World Council of Churches. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 as well as numerous other intenational awards. He continued to be continued to travel accompanied by his wife. She died when he was 86. At age 88 he remarried, and died two years later at age 89.

Robert E. Speer (1867 2-1947) was the secretary of foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church with much missionary zeal. He was also secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement for one year. He then took the position in the Presbyterian Church. He strongly rejected the liberal movement, and emphasized the necessity of salvation, but he stayed in the Presbyterian Church USA after the conservatives left leaving the church clearly in the hands of liberals. . Robert E. Speer was accused of deliberately allowing unorthodox missionaries, but he was acquitted by the General Assembly. He also supported women on the mission field.

Fletcher Brockman was a well-educated Methodist who was sent to China by the YMCA just before the Boxer Rebellion. Pitkin, a fellow missionary was murdered. There was a revival 13 years later after they preached about his death. Fletcher Brockman studied and appreciated Oriental religious beliefs. He brought in the scientific intellectual C.H. Robinson to teach in China. He set up the YMCA, but this was later changed to the Young Men’s Buddhist Association. He turned down the offer to be president of Peking University. He spent his last years unhappily trying to hold up the YMCA in the United States.

E. Stanley Jones (1907-1973) was very influential as an evangelist in India and China. However, he was very ecumenical, and he had a weak view of the church. He felt his job was to introduce people to Christ, but not to the institutional church. His first sermon, he blanked out in the beginning of the sermon and could not go further. He stopped preaching in embarrassment. After this sermon, he began to witness for Christ , and had the joy of leading a young man to the Lord. This young man later became a pastor, and the pastor’s daughter became a missionary to Africa. He began his work in India in the city of Lucknow. He was a Methodist preacher there, and worked at first with outcasts. Then he worked with intellectuals. After about eight years of struggling, he had a spiritual experience with spiritual victory. He felt that Indian beliefs should be interpreted by the Indians in their own culture, and not by the worldview of Western civilization. He presented only Christ and not Christianity. He avoided difficult Old Testament passages. He took a generous view of other world religious systems, and was accused of syncretism. He used roundtable conferences with other intellectuals called Ashrams. He was also influential as an evangelist in Japan. He wored together with F. D. Roosevelt to try to avoid involvement in World War II with Japan. He was also a personal friend of Mohatma Gandhi and wrote a biography of his life. Specialized missions:

After World War I and World War II, veterans pushed the missions movement forward. They were mostly evangelical, not liberal. They used new technology. The rise of communism also encouraged new ways to reach behind the Iron Curtain. Radio and literature were often used. The Bible schools broadened their curriculum and many became liberal arts colleges. New technology included translation, medicine, aviation, radio, and agriculture.

Missionary medicine had a tremendous impact for good. There was often competition with the local witch doctors and medicine men. There were also clashes with culture and prejudices. One of the first doctors was John Thomas who came to India with William Carey. Other doctors were part-time like David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor. One of the most famous doctors was Albert Schweitzer. He was a liberal and it is not certain if he was truly saved. Famous medical missions in the late 19th century included John Scudder and Clara Swain in India. The first missionary nurse went to Shanghai in 1884.

After World War II, there have been many changes. The movement for nationalization has resulted in the government taking over many hospitals. Education progressed to the point that many national physicians and nurses were being trained. As the demand for western medical care by western physicians has declined, areas that are now more open include public health prevention and education. Medical Assistance Programs gives millions of dollars of drugs equipment and other items. Education is often an open door. It is important to realize as a physician that you are not there to build your own empire or play boss, but serve the nationals and train them. On a personal note, my personal contribution for five years (1971-1976) in Liberia West Africa was as head of Internal Medicine in a new medical school. I trained doctors not only from Liberia but also from other African countries. My goal there was to set up a self- sustaining training program through residency in Internal Medicine. Two disastrous civil wars over 30 years in Liberia essentially destroyed the training program.

Wilfred Grenfell was converted in a Moody meeting. Initially he worked as a physician on a ship in the North Sea. He saw the needs in Labrador. He had opposition from the Anglican Church which was doing little for the population but did not want to lose converts. Dr. Grenville also help the economy, to the opposition of some local merchants, who lost some of their profits. He often risked his life. He had problems with being totally independent, and also lack of concern for the doctrinal stance of others. However, he was concerned for the work of the Lord. One program backfired. He introduced reindeer to help the population. The reindeer brought a parasite which not only killed many of them but infected the local caribou herds. Dr. Grenfell was made a knight by King George V in thanks for his tireless work in Labrador.

Ida Scudder was a missionary for many years to India. Her father John went to Ceylon for 36 years. His father had 13 children, nine of whom lived. Seven of the nine became missionaries. In four generations, there were 42 missionaries in this family. Ida was born in 1870, and was well acquainted with missionary life. She went to the United States as a teenager, and attended Moody’s Bible Institute. However, she rejected any thoughts of being a missionary. She returned to India to care for her sick mother. She stayed as a teacher, but was called to assist in difficult deliveries of three women. They refused to call her father, because a male doctor was forbidden by their culture. When she could not help, all three ladies died. Her attitude toward missions changed after that night. She returned to United States and went to medical school. She returned to start a hospital. Her father died, and at first people did not trust her care. She started a nursing school for women, which was a radical change in thought. It ranked very high in government score. She ran a hospital, an orphanage, and taught a Bible school as well. Her mother died at age 86. She began a medical school for women. At first, they thought that the women would not be able to compete with men, but their candidates scored very highly in competition. When her school was forced to integrate with men, there was a great controversy in the board of her school, as they had been committed to having a womans school. However they eventually agreed. The hospital or resulting from this was an incredible success. To this day, the Vellore Hospital remains a top medical school in India. Dr. Ida Scudder retired at age 75, but continued to serve in India for another decade.92

Viggo Olson was converted after he was a doctor. He turned down lucrative offers to become a top surgeon in the United States, and started a hospital in Bangladesh. He opened and ran Memorial Hospital during a time of tremendous political upheaval, when Pakistan was divided in two until Bangladesh was given independence. He was a successful both as a physician and as a witness for Christ.93 He was also successful as a diplomat and translated the Bible into a dialect of Bengalese. He was greatly loved by the people of Bangladesh.

Carl Becker was a very bright young doctor who left his profitable practice in the United States. After high school, he worked for 5 years to support his mother. It seemed impossible to complete college and medical school. He promised to give everything to God if he finished. However, he seemed to forget his promise as his practice in a small town in Pennsylvania flourished. He was contacted twice by African Inland Mission, and finally decided to go to Africa with his wife and children. He went as a missionary doctor to three different places in Belgian Congo. The last location was in Oicha to work with the pygmies.

He was very innovative, especially with leprosy and with psychiatric patients. He was one of the first doctors in Africa to use modern shock therapy in psychiatry. He developed some research in leprosy which others had never been able to do, especially developing a way to culture the lepra bacillus. He had 4000 leprosy patients in a 1100 acre compound. He was so successful that experts came from all over the world. He was incredibly productive, caring for 2000 patients daily and doing about 3000 operations per year!

He was forced to leave being targeted for execution in the Simba revolution at age 70. He continued for 13 years after his escape before returning to the United States at age 83. He then retired but continued to work to develop a hospital training center for Africans until his death.94 On a personal note, one of my collegues, Dr. Herbert Atkinson, was a young doctor assisting Dr. Becker when they had a harrowing escape across the Ugandan border in front of the Simbas. Dr. Atkinson mentioned that driving a vehicle (I think he was in the lead), he was pulled out of the car at gunpoint as they crossed the border. He thought that he would soon be with the Lord. When the head of the unit at the crossing site recognized Dr. Becker and the group, they were soon giving them some of their army decorations in thanks for their ministry, as Dr. Becker had apparently cared for some family member previously. (The details are a bit fuzzy now, but that was the gist of the situation).

The doctors which I have mentioned are just a small sample of the sacrificial group of physicians who have sacrificed career and money to serve the Lord in various locations throughout the world. Many others could be mentioned, like my former partner Dr. Bob Schindler for 13 years in Liberia, or Dr. Paul Carson, shot escaping from being imprisoned by the Simbas, Dr. Paul Getty working in Liberia with leprosy patients, Dr Dennis Burkitt, who described Burkitt’s lymphoma, Dr. John Dreisbach of Central Africa, who developed innovative tendon transfers as well as effective witness to Muslim populatons, and many others. May their memory continue, and their tribe increase!

Translations:

Early in the history of Christianity, men sacrificed to make the Bible available in the language of the people. The Italia and the Peshitta translations were done in the mid-second century. Other early translations were made into Gothic and Armenian, and other translations throughout the centuries. Since the 17th century, a number of translations of the Bible have been completed. John Eliott translated into the Algonquin language. William Carey translated multiple languages in India. Other famous translators included Robert Morrison, Adoniram Judson, Roberts Moffat, and Henry Martyn, as mentioned previously. In the 19th-century, there were roughly 500 translations of the New Testament or parts of the Bible available. Since then there has been much progress with computers and also the use of trained national helpers.

Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics: William Townsend was born in 1896 and went after college to sell Bibles in Guatemala. He joined the Central American Mission. During the next 13 years he learned Catchiquel, an Indian language. He reduced it to writing and translated the Scriptures. Townsend had major differences with the Central American Mission, and left after his wife’s death. His primary interest was in translation, but the mission wanted evangelism. He proved a very effective translator himself, but was quite ecumenical in his beliefs and practice. Thompson began the Wycliff Bible Translators. Some disagreed about his honesty in presenting himself to go into countries as a translator. He also wanted to take Roman Catholics into his organization, and accepted Pentecostal workers as well with a slight revision in their faith. He supported the use of all races, and allowed even women translators to live alone. Interesting, two ladies went to work with the headhunting group called Shapras. The chief said that he would have killed men but not women. The chief eventually became a Christian. Wycliffe ended up with 4500 workers and Townsend himself worked as a translator for more than 50 years. Although he had begun the Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL, he placed himself under board of directors, and he was simply a member of the mission. He remarried after his first wife died. His wife and four children lived in Peru for 17 years. After his death, Townsend was followed by a number of men, the most prominent being Kenneth Pike. Pike was quiet as a young man, and initially he had great difficulty in translation. He was turned down by every mission to which he applied except Wycliffe. Even there, they despaired initially. He learned Mixtec and was transformed into a linguist of great ability. He eventually was president of SIL.He proved a true missionary as well as a true evangelist. He was very polished in academic circles as well it was both an effective and practical teacher. One of his most effective presentations was showing how a linguist could work without an interpreter. He would meet an individual he had never met before who was speaking a language which he did not know. He used only a few props. In a short time, the two were communicating in the new language. He was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan for 30 years.

On the personal side, I saw a similar demonstration at Bob Jones University by Grace Collins, now married. She brought in a student from a remote tribe, I believe from Thailand. Grace spoke to the woman only in a Philippine language which she had learned on the mission field. She had only a stick as a prop. It was fascinating to see how she went after nouns and verbs, and then adjectives and adverbs, and within the 40 minute class time was speaking in complete sentences. It was one of the most dramatic classes I have ever seen.

I would add a personal note. I spent a month learning linguistics at Bob Jones University before going to Suriname in 1986. Our linguistics teacher gave a similar demonstration. She met a young lady from Thailand who spoke in her dialect. The teacher only spoke in a language she learned from a tribe in the Philippines. In an hour, she had begun to communicate surprisingly well - having found subjects, verbs, singular and plural, and some adjectives. It was the single most interesting hour class of the thousands of hours I have had in school.

I would also add a brief note about translation of the Bible into Sranantongo. I began this seven year project with seven national helpers in 1991. After its completion, we were able to use the material not only in church planting and Bible classes, but also in our radio and TV broadcasts and in our two Bible Institutes. It has been a great blessing. Incidentally, that Bible is the most sold Bible in Suriname at present although the official language of Suriname is Dutch. There is much more detail about our experience in translating the Bible into Sranantongo in the section on translation.

Another translator was Rachel Saint. After her brother and Nate was killed by the Auca Indians, she and Elizabeth Elliot went to live with the Indians. They had already been working on the language with an Auca Indian named Dayuma. After the death of her brother, she took this young lady to the United States for a tour, and then returned. She and Elizabeth Elliot lived with the Indians and eventually saw many saved.

Radio ministry:

There are many advantages to radio ministry. It can be used for pre-evangelism, for building churches to be stronger, and for strengthening believers. Radio can go where people cannot go. And where there are small groups, tape recordings may provide a solution. I can speak from personal experience. In 1991, after being in Suriname for five years, I began a 15 minute lesson five days a week in Sranantongo. The lessons proved very effective and quite popular. Not only did the unsaved listen, but also people from a wide variety of church backgrounds. At our peak, we had 22 broadcasts per week on 4 different stations. We recently dropped one station because of the high cost of its broadcasts, but still have 19 broadcasts weekly. Over a number of years, I completed over 2000 lessons on the entire Bible sequentially, followed by over 260 broadcasts using the chronological method. By using digital recording methods, it has been possible to continue to rotate the broadcasts effectively with minimal effort, as we have a supply that will last 6 years even when broadcast daily.

There are a number of very effective radio broadcast stations. Among these is HCJB, which was started in 1930 by Clarence Jones. Clarence Jones endured ridicule even in his home church. He had a Salvation Army background, was converted, and went to Moody Bible Institute, where he graduated valedictorian. He was an expert trombonist, and he worked with evangelist Paul Rader in evangelistic meetings and then at Chicago Gospel Tabernacle. When he had tried to start radio broadcasts overseas, he was so rebuffed in a number of countries in South America including Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Cuba that he became quite discouraged. Then Reuben and Grace Larsen helped him start a work in Ecuador after meeting him at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle. They obtained a 25 year contract although normally this is quite difficult to obtain.

To their surprise Ecuador was an ideal place to broadcast. They started broadcasting on Christmas December 25, 1931 with only 250 watts power. They were very careful to cooperate with the government. They had educational programs, and were careful not to directly attack the Roman Catholics but presented the gospel in a positive light. They emphasized patriotism, and as radios became more prevalent, more people listened to HCJB. Finances were difficult. Both the bank in the USA and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, which supported the radio work, went bankrupt. They received a loan from a friend and a mortgage on a transmitter and survived. They gradually increased their power to 10,000 watts. The president of Ecuador threw the switch to celebrate the greater power. To their surprise, they could be heard across the continents to Russia, Germany, Japan and New Zeeland. The location actually proved ideal. Jones demanded top-quality for the broadcast. During this time they had two disasters accidents. The first severely injured Jones and his wife, and the second one resulted in the death of their only son. The ministry has expanded to two hospitals, mobile clinics, a printing press and to sister broadcasting stations one in Panama and one in Texas. They have changed their name to HCJB global, with emphasis on the internet and in helping others set up radio stations.

I would like to add a personal note. The hospital is unique. Some of my own colleagues from Southwestern Medical Clinic in Berrien Springs, Michigan have taught at HCJB for years. They have developed a training program that is one of the top in Ecuador. It is highly competitive to get into their program, and they get top students. They have seen most of the doctors who were coming for training receive Jesus Christ as savior. They usually hold small group or personal Bible studies with the physicians, although they do not require them to participate, but have developed a strong prayer base and most doctors do indeed take part. In fact, they now have two Ecuadorian physicians who not only were saved but are now missionaries serving elsewhere.

A second extremely effective broadcasting company is the Far East Broadcasting Company. John Broger had been in the military and the Far East during World War II. He and two friends pooled their funds and raised $1000. After advertisements, they found an additional $10,000 and began broadcasting. After many problems, in 1948 they were able to set up a broadcast station in Manila in the Philippines. They received permission to use unlimited power. However finances were a great problem. They have had great success in receiving letters and other indications of impact. By 1970, they had 21 stations broadcasting between 1000 watts and 250,000 watts, broadcasting 1400 different programs per week. In 1979, after the situation in China was relaxed a bit, they received 10,000 letters from China in a single 12 month period indicating interest in more information about Christianity.95 Of course, with success also came trials. In 1992, three of their workers were murdered by Muslim extremists. They currently broadcast 650 hours per day in 149 languages.96 They currently transmit from 129 locations.97

Trans World Radio has access to 5,000,000 W of power and can reach 80% of the world. Paul Freed had been raised as a missionary kid in the middle east. His father returned to Canada and was teaching in a Bible school. After training, he worked for youth for Christ and felt a burden for Spain. He sold his house to finance the radio broadcasts. Paul Freed started the ministry in 1954 and he was joined by his father who turned down the presidency of Western Canada Bible Institute. When Morocco nationalized the radio, they relocated in Monte Carlo with God supplying the money in various miraculous ways. He had a heart attack, but still opened a second station in Bonaire. He now has additional stations in Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, and Guam. The outreach is to 160 countries in over 200 languages.98 Joy Ridderhof was a missionary who became sick during her initial missionary work and was not able to stay on the field. However she caught the vision of making simple recordings in different languages. These could be played on simple recorders. God has enabled her and Gospel Recordings to make recordings in 5875 languages with full-time, part-time and volunteer staff. They use the technique of Bible storying (Bible storying is using stories to teach and disciple illiterates in the Bible. This is described in detail in the section on translation), often coupled with illustrations such as flip-charts.99

Aviation:

Aviation has had a major impact in reaching into the remote areas of the interior of many countries. Missionary Aviation Fellowship has had great expertise and equipment for jungle flights. Later Wycliffe (JAARS), New Tribes Missions, Sudan Interior Mission, African Inland Mission and undoubtably others have developed their own programs. Some have developed helicopters to avoid having to build airstrips. However helicopters are very expensive to maintain.

Betty Green was the first missionary pilot to fly with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). She was trained in World War II flying B-17 bombers. She was invited to join Jim Truxton to form Missionary Aviation Fellowship. She was their first pilot to fly first in Mexico for the mission and then in multiple other locations. She flew in Peru, flying across the Andes Mountains. She went Nigeria and Sudan, and for two years she flew in Irian Jaya. She was an expert flyer who ended up being a representative for the Missionary Aviation Fellowship.

The best known MAF pilot was Nate Saint. Nate Saint was trained in World War II as an expert repairman. Nate’s daring created led to a crash and himself in a full body cast on one occasion. Saint was also very inventive. He developed an alternate fuel system which was later patented, and he also developed a system called the bucket drop. He died with four additional missionaries at the hands of the Auca Indians (see above).

JAARS developed after Cameron Townsend was injured along with his family in a plane flown by an inexperienced Mexican pilot. They have had an exceptional flight record. They did have one tragedy which occurred when the mechanic failed to fasten the fuel line securely with a wrench. Seven passengers died the next day. Another missionary who was able to expand his ministry was Mark Poole. This missionary doctor to the Congo was able to fly his own Piper Cub which a church donated and thus greatly expanded his mission ministry.

Aviation is also a great help in the Arctic. However the risks are much higher with low temperatures and high winds. The planes are used to reach the Eskimo scattered broadly in the Arctic. Gleason Ledyard became a pilot and began the Eskimo Gospel Crusade he was very successful both in evangelism and in rescuing people from the severe cold. A number of aviation schools developed in Moody Bible Institute, Piedmont Bible Institute, and LeTourneau College. Claire McCombs was an excellent pilot trained in World War II. He was saved and went to Grand Rapids school of Bible and Music. They asked him to start a program in pilot training which he did. He was joined by his wife who also became an expert pilot. These programs

Nationalization:

The Third World is now taking leadership positions in both the national churches and in cross- cultural evangelization. There are many changes in the economy, particularly from revolutions and the discovery of oil resources. One of the big changes in nationalization has been Theology by Extension. The biggest increases in numbers of Christians have been through the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement. Nationalization is also leading to problems for western missionaries who are sometimes viewed as imperial colonialists.

Many missionary martyrs have died especially because missionaries were lumped together with other western persons and identified as imperialists. Many died in the Boxer Rebellion as we’ve seen above. For example, a missionary doctor in China called Dr. Chestnut built a hospital with her own funds. She loved the Chinese people and was loved by them. On one occasion, she needed a skin graft for a coolie who was having an amputation. She used a local anesthetic, and remove the graft from her own skin. People could not believe she has such a love for the people. During an uprising, she escaped the mob of angry Chinese. However, she returned to rescue four missionaries, and was captured. She saw a sick child with a wound, and tore a piece of her own dress to help bandage the sick child just before she was killed.

During World War II, a number of missionaries were captured by the Japanese army and executed in Panay, Philippine Islands in December 1943. Furthermore, many additional problems came with the development of leftist revolutionaries. They opposed by those who did not espouse Marxist philosophy and thus were targeted for execution. Many others were placed in concentration camps. My wife’s family was chased out of south China where her father and mother served as a missionary doctor and nurse. They escaped the advancing Japanese troups and were evacuated “over the hump” to Burma, then Australia and then the United States. My own parents and myself were captured in the Philippine Islands in December 1941 and interned there until General MacArthur released us from Bilibid Prison in Manila in January 1945.

There was much turmoil in China between the Communists and Chang Kai-shek. John and Betty Stam had met and were in love. Betty Stam went to China despite her love for John. The director of China Inland Mission, Mr. Hoste asked for 200 volunteers. John finished school, and re-met Betty, who had come to Shanghai for health reasons. The following year they were married and studied the Chinese language. John was extremely adept at the Chinese language, and rapidly became fluent. They were sent to what was supposed to be a safe place in a small town in the interior of China. Communist bandits captured them within two weeks and held them for ransom, which was not forthcoming. At that time they had a 3 month old baby. The night before their death, the bandits spoke about killing their baby. When another prisoner protested, he was hacked to pieces. Betty hid the baby in a sleeping bag with money. John and Betty Stam were publically paraded and executed by the Communists. When they were led for execution, another man protested. They found a Bible in the man’s home, and he was also executed. There was a great outpouring of support for missions following the news. A Christian evangelist brought the baby to another missionary family and the child was eventually raised by a family in the USA.

Another famous martyr was John Birch. This evangelist preached and rescued many for the area of Hangchow during the Japanese invasion of China in World War II. He evacuated as many as 60 persons at a time. He slipped through Japanese lines to preach in villages where others dared not to go. Eventually he was ambushed by communists.100 Eric Liddell, the great Olympic champion who set a new world record in the 440 yard dash, grew up in China and returned there after his Olympic victory. He evacuated his family during World War II. However he remained and was placed in a concentration camp. Prior to the release of those in the camp, he died of a brain tumor.101 His story was portrayed in the famous movie Chariots of Fire.

Graham Staines was a director of leprosy work in the district of Orissa India. He and his two sons were burned to death by radical Hindus while sleeping in a car traveling for his work. Graham was a popular and humble man who had worked with the lepers for 35 years. He was attacked by Hindu radicals because they were seeing Indians becoming Christian and then abandoning their old tribal customs. Graham and his two young boys were surrounded by Hindu radicals when they found him sleeping in the car. They poured gasoline on the van and set it afire, and were armed and waiting outside the van to kill them if they tried to escape. Graham was found dead inside the van embracing his two boys. His wife remained in India with her daughter. She publically forgave the murderers. The perpetrator was finally arrested four years later.

Another martyr who was a medical physician was Paul Carlson. He was killed by the Simbas in 1965. At that time more than 30 other Protestant missionaries and 200 Catholic missionaries were killed. Paul Carlson was born in 1928, was trained as a physician, married a nurse, and had two children. In 1961 there was a request for missionary doctors to go to the Congo. The political situation was quite volatile, but he stayed five months, and felt called to come back permanently. He left his medical practice and came as a missionary to the Ubangi Province. When the Communists came, Paul moved his family to Central African Republic. However when he returned to close down the hospital, he was captured by the Simbas. He was tortured for three months. During a rescue operation, while trying to help another missionary over wall, he was shot to death. Missionary Hector McMillan was also shot dead at the same time. Two boys were shot but they were rescued. Both boys faked that they were dead. His 12 year old son prayed during the time: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They had to leave Hector’s body behind His wife came to peace after reading about Adoniram Judson mourning over his wife’s death.

An Assemblies of God missionary who had been in the country 25 years by the name of Jay Tucker was also tortured and killed about the same time. He had been trying to reach a resistant tribe for years without success. He had felt led to stay in the city where he was instead of trying to escape. When caught, he was tortured for 45 minutes before he finally died, and his screams could be heard far off. The rebels then took his mangled body and dumped it into a nearby river for the crocodiles to eat it. Later one of his converts went to the tribe who had been so resistant, and many were now saved. They had a tradition that they must listen to someone’s message whose blood ran in that river. The national brought the message of salvation in the name of the martyred missionary whose blood had flowed there.

Betty Olsen was a missionary in Vietnam. She had had a difficult childhood as the missionary child raised in Africa. She had been sent boarding school. Her mother died of cancer when she was 17 years old. Her father remarried. Betty took training as a missionary nurse. She returned to Africa to work with her father and stepmother. However relationships with her family were so difficult that she was asked to leave. She became quite depressed at age 29. She went to Vietnam, was captured but escaped. Six years later she was captured again during the the so-called Tet offensive. Many missionaries were killed in leprosarium by the Communists. She and two men were placed on a death march. They were malnourished, they had malaria, and leeches. One man died. She suffered terribly and died of dysentery and malnutrition. However during her time in captivity, she came out of her depression and her resentment of her parents. Her last years were lived loving others. Benge, the only survivor of the three, who survived a total of five years with prison marches three years of mistreatment and torture in the so-called Hanoi Hilton, gave a strong testimony of her witness during her last days on earth. He said that Betty Olson was the most selfless person he ever met, giving her meager food to indigenous Christians as well as coaching him out of his meningitis so that he did not die. It was not just Western missionaries were martyrs. Many others died for the faith. One Chinese man called Chang Sen gave himself over when he heard that 50 Christians would have died in his place. They cremated his body because they were afraid that he would raise up from the dead. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 Christians are martyred yearly, and the vast majority are not western missionaries.

Terrorism and martyrdom:

Terrorists view missionaries as enemies. Often they are considered CIA spies. Of course, Biblical Christianity is at odds with the terrorists beliefs, and undermines their power. Some Catholics were murdered by right-wing groups. In Guatemala, nine priests were killed in nine months. Both left-wing and right-wing terrorists have been active. Wycliffe decided not to yield to the demands of kidnappers. A struggling linguist named Chet Bitterman was grabbed by terrorists when they could not find the head of the mission. He had been in Colombia for about two years with his wife and two children. His wife’s parents were missionaries also in Colombia. His captivity became an international incident. The terrorists held him 48 days, during which he had an opportunity to withess to his captors. He was found executed being shot in the chest and his body left in a bus. In the next year, Wycliffe had 200 volunteers to take his place.102

William Donald McClure was an old-time missionary evangelist, a “doctor” without formal training, and an agriculturalist. He was a church planter and had much opposition from witch doctors, several of whom later were saved. After Haile Selassie was deposed, he was shot to death by guerrillas. He had been a missionary in Ethiopia 50 years.

Increase in third world national missionaries:

Some organizations support strictly national missionaries. Many are doing an outstanding job. Some other organizations support national organizations, which then support national evangelists. For example, Luis Bush started the evangelistic church which grew to 1000 members and seven daughter churches. Later, Bush started Partners International to help fund a national missionaries.

There a number of effective missionaries of Indian origin. Pandita Ramabai was educated about 1960 and began to advocate women’s rights. She allowed the caste rules to continue and allowed people to read the Hindu scriptures along with the Bible. She worked with women. A revival broke out and spread called Mukti Mission revival. She translate the Bible into her native tongue.

V. S. Azariah supported evangelists from India in his own country and elsewhere in Asia. He was trained in the YMCA and later became the first Anglican bishop. Imad-ud-din was a Muslim convert who became a famous author, translator and preacher. Narayan Vaman Tilak was given a New Testament by a stranger. He was converted and baptized, and ordained in the Presbyterian church. He was a great poet and hymn writer.

KP Yohannan was initially very shy, but was encouraged by the leader of Operation Mobilization. He was initially an itenerate evangelist in India. After marriage to a German woman, when they came to the USA, he started a mission organization called Gospel for Asia. He resisted allowing American funds to dictate what the policies of his ministry would be. The funds are all managed by national leaders from India, and place a priority on evangelism, although they do many projects such as drilling wells or mini-loans to help Christians become independent financially. He has thousands of native evangelists and the hundreds of churches. The mission continues to be effective today.103

William Wade Harris was born in Liberia in 1860 of the Grebo tribe. He was arrested when he tried to make Liberia become a British protectorate. He had been trained first as a Methodist and later as an Episcopal. He tried to be like a Westerner, but eventually became a wandering prophet. He often confronted demonic power. He claimed to have had a vision of the angel Gabriel while in prison. He walked barefoot with a simple garmet, a white turban, a Bible, a gourd for baptizing converts, and a rattle. He and his lady assistants would sing, and come into the village and ask the natives to give up their witchcraft. The natives left their fetishes and he baptized them. They claimed that those who did not give up their fetishes found out that they burned anyway. He never condemned polygamy, and three women accompanied him in his travels. His native church associated with different Protestant and Catholic churches. However the church was free of witchcraft. He died a poor man although he never left the church. Another man followed him, and then there were a number of splits off the church, but his church is still one of the four recognized churches in Ivory Coast.

Semisi Nau (1866-1927) is the Polynesian son of a Methodist missionary. He went to college in Tonga. He lost three of his four children. He worked under John Geddie. On one occasion he and another man had to wait three months on a coral reef before they were permitted to come ashore. When he was allowed to come ashore, he had a power encounter showing the Christian God had more power than the heathen idols. He was replaced by an Australian missionary and went elsewhere. He was replaced there by a native missionary. At one point, there was persecution of the Wesleyans by the free church, and he was jailed. He returned home and pastored there until his death at age 70. During his service at home, he did see some men volunteer to go as missionaries.

John Sung (1901-1944) had a minister as a father and a converted mother. He was saved at nine years of age and soon was preaching as a young boy in China. He was offered a scholarship, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Ohio Wesleyan University. He received a PhD in chemistry at Ohio State. He went to Union seminary which was then very liberal. He went through a number of doubts, but regained his faith and sang songs of faith. He felt the power of the Holy Spirit in his life and was transformed. The liberal school felt that he had gone crazy, and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital for 193 days. He witnessed there and read the Bible through 40 times. He returned to China in 1927 after the Chinese embassy arranged his release without graduation from Union Seminary. On arrival in China, he threw all his acacdemic awards into the sea except his doctorate to show his father. He turned down offers to teach science, and preached with great power. The was a fiery preacher who emphasized repentance. He saw 14,000 conversions within six months. He started training others. He was a great prayer warrior, praying 2 to 3 hours per day. He married and had five children. He died of intestinal tuberculosis at age 42. (I think with sadness about the fact that streptomycin became available in the early 1950's and when I graduated from medical school in 1963, they had cloesed most of the tuberculosis sanitaria because better medications made them no longer necessary).

Elka of the Waiwai Indians was a witch doctor from a very young age. He began getting messages from the spirits and practiced healing by witchcraft. When missionaries came, he helped as their translator. He was eventually saved and left his witchcraft. What he did was fascinating. He had a totem relationship with wild pigs and thus could not hunt them or eat them. When he became truly free, he joined in a hunt and killed two pigs. He then carried them to his home, personally slaughtered them, asked his wife to cook them, and then ate. Everyone expected him to die, as he had broken with the spirits. He did not, and demonstrated God’s power. He began witnessing first to his own tribe, and then to tribes which were farther away, becoming a true missionary. The entire tribe began reaching out to the surrounding Indian tribes.104 His story, God’s Witchdoctor, makes fascinating reading.

Newer methods:

The father of H. Kenneth Strachan was a famous evangelist and head of the Latin American Mission. His father had many talents. At his death it seemed unlikely that his son could really take over. He had no talent for mass evangelism. However, he proved an able leader. At the death of both his parents, he allowed intermarriage with Latins. He placed Latins in the leadership, and all business was done in Spanish. While fighting communism, he became more ecumenical toward the World Council of Churches and Roman Catholics. He also pushed evangelism in depth, a new approach to mobilizing the local church in outreach. His innovation of the national leadership and evangelism in depth persisted after his death from Hodgkin’s disease.105

Orlando Costas (1942 - 1987) was saved in a Billy Graham crusade, trained, and eventually return to Puerto Rico. He served with Latin American mission in Costa Rica. Where he taught, there was turmoil over liberation theology. He went to school in Holland, and then taught in England. He returned to Latin America, and then taught missions in the United States. He felt that the United States needed the simple gospel.

Donald McGavran was born of missionary parents in India. He went to Butler University. He was influenced by the Student Volunteer Mission and thus went to India as a missionary. He taught there for 20 years, and became especially interested in church growth and mass movements of evangelism. He started the Institute of Church Growth. He felt that the mission compound separated Christians into isolated groups who had minimal effect on others. As they became segregated, they had difficulty reaching out to the lost. He wanted people movements, and believed that the Western missionary emphasis on individual decisions held these movements back, because they rejected group decisions. He recognized that people have a tendency to group together with others like themselves. He felt that this could be not only accepted, but used to reach out to the lost. However many people disagreed emphasis on homogenous people groups. He was controversial, but stimulated missions throughout his life until his death at age 92 in 1990. Ralph Winter was born in 1924, went to California tech, and received a PhD from Cornell and a degree in theology from Princeton Seminary. He married Roberta Winter, and went to Guatemala as a missionary. He taught at Fuller for 10 years, and then started United States Center for World Mission. It was at great personal risk to leave the security of a teaching position and step out in faith. He and his wife began with only $100, but God allowed them to build a $15 million complex. Many people have gone there to learn see how to reach the 17,000 people groups where churches need to be established. He also started the William Carey Library for publication of missions materials, as well as Theological Education by Extension, Frontier Fellowship, and William Carey International University. He remained active until his death in 2009.106

Lesslie Newbigin was born in England in 1909 converted and involves an open air evangelist first in England and then in India. He became the first bishop of the United Church of South India. He also promoted nationals reaching the Indian nationals, but not confining the church to homogenous units. At age 70, he started the church in Birmingham, reaching Asians in a rough neighborhood. He preached a gospel against the culture of England. His view of election was to focus on God’s goal and responsibility not the reason for God’s choice.

Bob Pierce is the founder of World Vision. As a young man, he had a very stormy work and marriage history. He neglected his wife and his daughters. On a trip for youth in China in 1947, he saw the needs of orphans and started a humanitarian outreach. He was extremely effective in raising money for hospitals and orphanages. However his family life was in shambles, and he resigned from World Vision in a rage. He later founded Samaritan’s Purse, and eventually died of leukemia. The new leader, Stanley Mooneyham, took over and properly organized the relief organization. This organization wanted to combine help with self-help and Christian evangelism. It is still effective particularly in sponsoring children and using micro-loans. The current president is Kevin Jenkins.107 World Vision is now one of the largest relief organizations in the world, with an annual budget of $2.600,000,000.

Bruce Olson left home at age 19 to evangelize an Indian tribe in Colombia. He finally succeeded making contact, learning the language, and seeing the Indians accept the Lord. He translated much of the Bible. He helped them with health and agriculture. He was held by guerrillas were released after nine months captivity.108 Seventy percent of the tribe is now Christian, and they are actively reaching 18 other tribes.

Brother Andrew originally survived the Nazi invasion of Holland. He became a commando in Indonesia and was foolishly brave. He survived after being wounded, started reading his Bible, and joined Worldwide Evangelism Crusade (WEC). He learned English. While visiting East Europe, he found the lack of Bibles and vowed to bring Bibles back to them. He made many trips smuggling Bibles over 15 years, but after his book God’s Smuggler was published talking about his travels, he made no further trips there. He continued to risk smuggling with God’s help, smuggling Bibles into communist countries. His largest attempt was 200 tons of Bibles in China to be distributed to 20,000 Christians. Although several were arrested, the majority of the Bibles were properly distributed. He continues to speak now in his 80s.109 His ministry, Open Doors, ministers particularly to persecuted Christians.

Mother Teresa was born in Albania in 1910. She was the youngest of three children and lived in poverty after the death of her father. She went to India as a nun at age 19. She taught geography and eventually became headmistress. She had a vision to help the poor, and after two years she and three others left in mission. The sisters mixed with the people, not hiding behind doors. Over three decades they grew to over 100 and called themselves the Sisters of Charity. She did not request funds directly, but said people could do something good for God. Soon thousands of sisters began to join their organization and many new places sprang up. She received a Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work prior to her death.

Dr. Helen Roseveare was born in 1925. She grew up in a wealthy family, was well-educated, and received her M.D. from Cambridge. She became an evangelical Christian, joined Worldwide Evangelistic Crusade, and went to Congo in 1953. Within two years, she established a nursing school at a place called Ibambi. She was moved to another location and set up another school. She had problems in her relationships with other missionaries and with the national leadership. The mission placed a male doctor Dr. Harris to “hold her down” and he took over “her” hospital. She wanted to get married, and went back to England for five years, but returned unmarried. On arrival in Congo in 1960, she insisted on remaining during the time missionaries were evacuated. She was captured and brutally raped by Simba soldiers in 1964. She was held captive for five months. After release, she returned between 1966 and 1973. However she had many problems because of the new nationalism within the country. She had lost her authority as a teacher, and clashed with students who resented her high standards. She eventually left in a very disappointing fashion. However, she ended up being a much sought after Christian statesman who lived with great humility and spirituality.

Jackie Pullinger worked with the poor in Hong Kong. She had been originally in England and then worked with the mission and the worst part of the city. She taught English and music. She had strong Pentecostal beliefs, and believe that much of her success was because she spoke in tongues. When she was in Hong Kong, eventually the walled city there was destroyed, and replaced by a park. However her ministry spread effectively elsewhere.

Don Richardson wrote Peace Child and Lords of the Earth. Don was trained in Prairie Bible Institute. He worked with his wife under Regions Beyond Missionary Union. He worked with the Sawi Indians, who were headhunters and cannibals and idealized treachery. For example, when they heard the story of the crucifixion, they were entranced by Judas, who cleverly betrayed Jesus. Language learning was a great challenge to them. He finally saw peace become between three villages when they exchanged children between the two villages. As long as the children were living in the other village, there would be peace. Two families had to be willing to give their children over to the other village. Later he pointed to this event, and showed the Sawi that God had given His child Jesus over to make peace with us as sinners. He calls this a redemptive analogy. He believed that this type of analogy was present in virtually all cultures. He outlined a number of examples in his book entitled Eternity in Their Hearts. 110 I have mentioned one example (Bai Pasi) which I have noted here in Suriname and described elsewhere.

Nationalism since World War II.

The rise of nationalism since the second world war has hastened the indigenous church movement. We see now that the missionary has become a coworker and a servant of the church rather than the big boss. This is exposed to tension between national workers and a missionary. The genuineness of the national churches was tested. Christianity is no longer a religion of western civilization alone. During this time the Communists took over Eastern Europe, China, and a good portion of southeast Asia. The Communists have generally tried to destroy the church, but actually the church may have done better under Communist repression in the East then with government support in the West. In China, the communists released the Chinese from the bonds of ancestor worship. This may have made them more receptive to the Gospel.

At the same time, there is a resurgence of ancient religions. Shinto sects are pushing back. Muslims are much more aggressive. Hindu or Buddhist or also active and aggressive often persecuting Christians. At the same time, there are transitions in Protestantism. The liberals and neo-evangelicals had hijacked the mission movement to become the social gospel. With the loss of evangelism and church planting many liberals have been leaving missions, but unfortunately they also have infected the churches which they started overseas with liberalism. Recent counts have shown that the number of liberal missionaries had dropped from approximately 10,000 to under 2000 missionaries at this time. Furthermore Catholicism has been fragmented. At first they violently opposed the Protestant churches. Now they are infected with evolution and they have developed liberation theology which advocates the violent overthrow the government. This is particularly true in Latin America.

At the present time, we see that Pentecostalism is overflowing into the mainline denominations through the charismatic movement. This is also true of the Roman Catholic Church, and in fact the Roman Catholics may be the largest charismatic group. The Pentecostal and charismatic churches are aggressive in evangelism, they generally meet the practical need where it is. They are the fastest growing group in Latin America and South America.

Recent missionary trends include a postwar surge with 6700 missionaries now in Europe. There are a large number of short-term missionaries as well, with a stable or slowly dropping number of full-time missionaries. Evangelical missionaries have grown to approximately 48,000, while ecumenical missionaries and again to shrunk to less than 2000. Missionary attitudes have changed, allowing the nationals to do much more, and trusting the Holy Spirit to develop the nationals. There is a divided attitude in the Evangelical missionaries concerning the Pentecostal movement.

There is a huge growth in the so-called two thirds world missionaries. There are now 10 times as many missionaries in this group as in 1960, with about 16,000 missionaries coming particularly from Korea, India, and Nigeria. We anticipate that they will overtake the West and sending out missionaries in future days.

Summary:

As we look back on the history of missions, we can see that God’s desire has been to reach all people with the Gospel. We can see that there have been true believers at all times in missions. Even in the dark ages there were some true believers. Even in those dark times, some were reaching out to the lost. We can see that He has used many different types of people in many different types of situations. The word of God has gone forward despite satanic opposition.

We can see also, that the cost of missions has often been very high. That cost is particularly true in terms of human lives and human effort. Sometimes it seems that the highest prices have yielded the highest results. Again the statement that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church seems to be true.

Several recent trends have brought some very important information. Since World War II, it has become increasingly apparent that the so-called white man’s burden is not really appropriate. It is everybody’s responsibility as long as they are Christians to reach the lost. The west has tremendous economic and technical resources, but has been hindered by materialism, and in many ways resembles the church of Laodicea. There are tremendous resources in the third world countries which need to be employed effectively. We need to move away from paternalism. Many third world nationals are now ready to pay the price to see the Gospel go forth into all the world. They are anxious to partner with the West. It is most important that we do not impose Western culture, but allow them to permit the Holy Spirit to direct them as He wishes.

God uses his people in His way. He uses the individual in unique ways. God is the God of many surprises. He loves individuality. He is a creative God. And He will use the missionary in many creative ways. The challenge to us is to be available for Him to use as He pleases.

When we scan the history of missions, we realize that we are barely scratching the surface of the material. For every missionary mentioned, there are dozens or hundreds of faithful missionaries who have worked faithfully for the Savior, some of whose names will be famous in heaven although unknown here on earth. There are martyrs whose lives were given over before their ministry seemed to begin, and yet their sacrifice opened doors for others. This is especially true in recent times, as this survey focuses more on European and American missionaries than those from the “third world”, but we know that many have had tremendous impact, and many have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the work of the Lord they love. My hope is that we will be challenged to greater commitment, and to be encouraged to see the multitude of ways the Lord works in the lives of His people. May we commit ourselves totally to Him. May we walk in the total control of the Holy Spirit.

1. Allen, Roland The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1962, 1997

2. Beals, Paul A., A People for His Name, William Carey Library, Pasadena, Ca., 1995, p.23

3. Thieleman van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, date and publisher n.a.

4. Kirk, Pastor Wayne, History of Missions, unpublished but copywritten notes for Ambassador Baptist College course, 1996, p. 12

5. van Braght, op cit.

6. Dearmore, Roy, Biblical Missions, Rogers Baptist Church, 1997, p. 48

7. van Braght, op cit.

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandina

9. Tucker, Ruth, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, 2nd Edition, Zondervan, 2004, pp. 32-34

10. Kirk, Pastor Wayne, op. cit. p. 12

11. Dearmore, op. cit, p. 54

12. Olson, C. Gordon; What in the World is God Doing? 5th edition, Global Gospel Publishers, 2003; p. 94

13. Dearmore, op. cit., pp. 67-68

14. Dearmore, op. cit. pp. 57 ff.

15. Dearmore, op. cit. pp. 63-64

16. Dearmore, op. cit., pp. 81-82

17. Dearmore, op. cit., pp. 85-87 18. Dearmore, op. cit., p. 75

19. Dearmore, op. cit. p. 103

20. Tucker, op. cit. pp. 34-36

21. Tucker, op. cit. pp 37-40k

22. Kirk, op. cit. p. 16

23. Kirk, op. cit. P. 17

24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

25. Dearmore, op. cit pp.76-77

26. Tucker, op. cit. pp 45 ff.

27. http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/FR91303.htm

28. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Willibrord

29. Kirk, op. cit. p. 18

30. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_of_Pepin

31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne#Rise_to_power

32. Dearmore, op. cit., pp 104-105

33. Dearmore, op. cit pp. 109-110

34. http://www.worthynews.com/644-christian-persecution-in-chiapas-goes-on; http:// www.worthynews.com/1261-mexico-persecution-of-christians-in-chiapas-accelerates

35. Kirk, op. cit. p. 52

36. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=saint+Peter +Clavier&view=detail&id=33AB12FC74DEBC182B2B7164E442120D24478772&first= 1&FORM=IDFRIR#

37. Tucker, op. cit. p. 70

38. Olson et. al, op. cit. p. 108

39. Kirk, op. cit., p. 56

40. Olson et. al, op. cit. p. 109 41. Carroll, Jim The Trail of Blood Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, Lexington, Ky. 1931; n.b. This booklet outlines the course of persecution of true believers, and has considerable information about the pre-reformation believers. The Martyr’s Mirror also refers to a number of such individuals.

42. Olson et al, op. cit. p. 115

43. Kirk, op. cit., p. 62

44. Kirk, op. cit, p. 63

45. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html? res=9D05E6DD1038E533A25753C1A9649C94699FD7CF

46. There is a short but quite detailed and helpful summary of the history of the Moravian Church in Murray, Andrew, The Key to the Missionary Problem, CLC, 1979, Chapter 3

47. Kirk, op. cit. p. 68

48. Tucker, op. cit, pp. 104-109

49. Tucker, op. cit., pp. 110-113

50. www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-eliot.htm

51. Kirk, op. cit. p. 77

52. Edwards, Jonathan The Life and Diary of David Brainerd Baker Book House 1949 This classic book influenced Carey and Martyn as well as others to a greater devotion to God, as well as to missions

53. Wellman, Sam William Carey Barbour Books 2000. There are a number of biographies of William Carey giving the outline of his life and work.

54. Anderson, Courtney To the Golden Shore Judson Press 1987 This excellent biography gives a great deal of detail about the entire life of Adoniram Judson

55. Sargent, John The Life and Letters of Henry Martyn The Banner of Truth Trust 1862

56. Kirk, op. cit. p. 89

57. Gordon, A. J. The Holy Spirit in Missions, Christian Publications, Inc. Harrisburg, Pa. 17101, reprint 1968, pp. 73-75

58. www.seekinggod.org.uk/Main/preacher/method3.htm

59. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_Park_%28explorer%29 60. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philip_(missionary)

61. Worcester, Mrs. J. H. David Livingstone Moody Press 1987

62. Lambert, op. cit. pp. 164 ff.

63. Lambert, op. cit., pp. 145 ff.

64. Lambert, op. cit. pp. 133 ff.

65. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khama_III

66. Kirk, op. cit. pp. 126-127

67. Wellman, Sam Mary Slessor Barbour Publishers 1998

68. http://www.path2prayer.com/article.php?id=926

69. Horn, Dr. Sam, Bring... the books; Frontline Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 5, p. 5

70. Horn, op. cit., p. 5

71. Taylor, Dr. & Mrs Howard. Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret Moody Press. 1989

72. Goforth, Rosalind Goforth of China Dimension Books 1937

73. Goforth, Jonathan. By My Spirit. Bethel Publishing. 1983

74. Goforth, Rosalind Climbing Bethel Publishing n.d.

75. Tucker, op. cit. pp. 205-206

76. Crossman, Eileen Fraser Mountain Rain OMF Books 1982

77. http://www.csuchico.edu/~curbanowicz/Pub_Papers/John_Thomas.html

78. Harrison, Eugene Myers Giants of the Missionary Trail Fairfax Baptist Church n.d.

79. Kirk, op. cit., pp 132-134

80. Harrison, Eugene Myers, op cit.

81. Harrison, Eugene Myers, op cit.

82. Lambert, John C., The Adventure of Missionary Heroism, The Vision Forum, Inc., 2005, pp. 329 ff

83. http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/giants/biomarsden.html 84. http://www.missionstclare.com/english/people/may23.html

85. A number of different missions organizations have permitted women to function as preachers. I believe that this is not Biblical. God has used women who have preached, but I believe that this is despite the fact that this is not biblical, not because God wants women preachers.

86. Lambert, op. cit., pp 235 ff

87. Lambert, op. cit., pp. 253 ff.

88. Lambert, op. cit., pp. 273 ff.

89. http://anglicanhistory.org/sa/young1905/11.html

90. Kirk, op. cit., p. 168

91. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Tribes_Mission

92. Benge, Janet & Geoff Ida Scudder, YWAM Publishers, 2003

93. Olsen, Viggo, Daktar, Diplomat in Bangladesh, Moody Press, 1973

94. Peterson, William J. Another Hand on Mine; the story of Carl K. Becker of African Inland Mission, McGraw Hill, 1967

95. Tucker, op. cit., pp. 384-385

96. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_East_Broadcasting_Company

97. http://www.febc.org/about/index.html

98. http://www.twr.org/about/

99. www.gospelrecordings.com/

100. Kirk, op. cit. p. 151

101. Benge, Janet & Geoff Eric Liddell, Something Greater Than Gold, YWAM Publishers, 2003

102. Estes, Steve, Called to Die; the Story of American Linguist Chet Bitterman Slain by Terrorists; Zondervan, 1986

103. Yohannan, K. P. Revolution in World Missions, Gospel for Asia, 2004

104. Dowdy, Homer. Christ’s Witchdoctor. Zondervan. 1973 105. http://www.lam.org/about/history/

106. http://www.uscwm.org/

107. http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/maindocs

108. Olson, Bruce, Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe, Charisma House 2006

109. Brother Andrew. God’s Smuggler, Spire Books, 1977

110. Richardson, Don Eternity in Their Hearts Regal Books. 1981 Elsewhere in this book, I mention our own experience with redemptive analogies among the Bush Negroes of Suriname. Richardson has a considerable list from different cultures.