Modern Missionary Movement

A history of Christian missions

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This course examines 2,000 years of Christianity's worldwide expansion. It will include an in-depth look at the last four hundred years, beginning with groups like the Moravians in the 1600s and then contributions of people like William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Cameron Townsend, Donald McGavran, and Ralph Winter.

"God does not bless us so that we can hoard our blessing and bask in our abundance." -- Cassandra W., Northwest Nazarene University student

Resources for studying world evangelism through the centuries

I like Ralph Winter's easy-to-remember, over-simplified 400-year eras of missions history. Here's how he breaks down the history of world evangelism over the last 2,000 years:

  • 0-400 AD Winning the Romans: Evangelizing the empire of the Caesars
  • 400-800 AD Evangelization of the Barbarians
  • 800-1200 AD Evangelization of the Vikings
  • 1200-1600 AD Evangelization of the Saracens / Muslims
  • 1600-present day Evangelization of the Ends of the Earth

    • Researcher David Barrett also divided that same period into five periods or eras of global outreach. Approaching it from a statistical point of view, his epochs of missions history are a little different from those of Ralph Winter (and a little harder to remember since the periods are not all the same length):

    1. 30-500 AD The Apostolic Era (Luke and Paul)
    2. 500-1750 AD The Ecclesiastical Era (Cosmas Indicopleustes and Francis Xavier)
    3. 1750-1900 AD The Church Growth era
    4. 1900-1990 AD The Global Mission era (John R. Mott and Kenneth Grubb)
    5. 1990 - present: The Global Discipling Era

    from "Five Statistical Eras of Global Mission" by David Barrett, published in Missiology, January 1984

    Sample assignment

    Missionary biography resources

    Haystack prayer meeting

    A small prayer meeting in 1806 involving a few college students marked the beginning of American involvement in world missions. Though only about five people were present, what happened as a result shaped American involvement in world evangelism. The prayer time by a few college students has become known as "the haystack prayer meeting."

    Zinzendorf's World Outreach Prayer

    German Count von Zinzendorf pushed the Moravians into becoming a major world missions force in the 1700s. John Wesley translated some of Zinzendorf's written prayers from German into English. Here is one with a world evangelism flavor:

    "My dearest Savior! We beg of you this same blessed look, this same irresistible look, which you always fix on the souls who like to look upon you, who like to receive you, who are ready to share your wounds, and who are even prepared to die for you.

    "May all souls on earth, high and low, rich and poor, yearn for your look. And let us on our part testify amongst those we meet to your sacrificial love, that the number of those who succumb to your look may grow and grow. Indeed, we promise that we shall not rest until we are able to look upon you and say: 'Lord, we have filled every place in heaven by bringing every soul on earth under the bright light of your love.'"

     

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