The role of missionaries in Christianity has evolved dramatically since the Apostle Paul’s journeys, but the mission remains unchanged.
While missionary jobs once entailed sailing overseas to remote villages for lifelong service, the role of missionaries today is more diverse than ever!
As a Christian missionary, you could do bivocational ministry in a foreign country, or even international student ministry in your home city.
And those are only a few of the many missional opportunities available!
In this blog, you’ll discover the role of missionaries across the centuries and learn the:
- Definition of missionaries and what they do for mission work
- History of Christian missions from the New Testament to today
- Strategy of reaching the people who have yet to hear about Jesus
First, let’s start with some basics about Christian missionaries and global mission work.
What Are Missionaries?
Christian missionaries are followers of Jesus who God calls to share the Good News of Jesus with people groups around the world.
The Great Commission—Jesus’s command to His followers in Matthew 28:18-20 to “go and make disciples of all nations” inspires their mission.
You may be wondering what do missionaries do on the mission field?
Although the role of missionaries varies depending on location and needs, based on the Word of God, most Christian missionaries work to accomplish 3 tasks:
- Evangelism – Engaging in spiritual conversations and sharing the Gospel message with non believers
- Discipleship – Teaching new Christians how to do Bible study and obey the commands of Jesus Christ
- Church planting – Working with indigenous Christians to establish local churches for worship
Cross cultural missionary work can be done in a foreign country, or even in your home country among diaspora peoples (those living outside their homeland).
Missionaries study the worldview and cultural practices of the people they serve, seeking to share the Christian faith with respect and cultural sensitivity.
Missionaries in the Bible
In the New Testament, we see the first Christian missionaries among the early Christians were mostly Jesus’ original group of disciples.
Acts 1:8 records Jesus prophesying their missionary efforts, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Book of Acts recounts the stories of the Apostles. After the first Apostle’s martyrdom, Acts focuses primarily on the story of Saul. Saul, a persecutor of early Christians, experienced a dramatic conversion to Christianity and call to missions. After that experience, God renamed him Paul.
Sometimes Paul relied on financial support by sharing his needs with local communities. Other times, he engaged in tentmaking to sustain his missionary activity.
Related: How Do Missionaries Raise Support?
Paul served with other missionaries including Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy. These early missionaries engaged in evangelism, discipleship of believers, and local church planting in each region they visited.
Role of Missionaries in Christianity
Since the Apostles first set out on their missions, missionary efforts have been spreading the Gospel message for more than 2000 years. This missionary history includes Catholic missionaries from religious orders like the Franciscans and Dominicans, as well as Protestant missionaries.
Many consider William Carey to be the “father” of the modern Evangelical missions era.¹ Carey was from the United Kingdom, but spent over 4 decades doing mission work in India. His legacy as a Christian missionary also includes significant roles as a social reformer, professor, author, and Bible translator.²
As Carey’s legacy demonstrates, missionary work has traditionally been and continues to be multi faceted.
In addition to sharing the Gospel, here are other valuable contributions Christian missionaries have made around the globe.
Education
Christian missionaries have a long tradition of establishing schools to provide education for indigenous peoples. William Carey, for example, founded a university in India.³
Another notable example is Hudson Taylor, Christian missionary to China. Taylor established 125 schools in China.⁴
Missionaries throughout the centuries have traditionally taught the Christian faith using lessons from the Bible. Around the world, missionaries have helped promote literacy, as well as English language acquisition.
Related: English Conversation Groups
Healthcare
A medical missionary (a trained medical professional) establishes medical clinics in remote areas in order to share the Gospel. Likewise, some missionaries provide humanitarian aid in regions plagued by war and natural disasters, especially in developing countries.
Related: Medical Mission Trips
Social Reform
Christian missionaries have often championed reform to improve the lives of people they serve. Missionaries have often ministered to marginalized groups in their countries of service, giving new opportunities and assistance to women and to the poor.⁵
In the 1800s, David Livingstone gained recognition for advocating against slavery in Africa.⁶ Amy Carmichael rescued child (temple) prostitutes in India.⁷ John Macgowan campaigned against the destructive practice of female footbinding in China.⁸
These Christian missionaries influenced and informed the missionary work we do today.
So, what is the strategic role of missionaries in the 21st century? Read on to find out!
What Does Missions Look Like Now?
In Romans 15:20, Paul expressed his desire to be an evangelist in new places. He said, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”
Paul’s words still guide Christian missionaries today. His ambition is the inspiration behind strategically ministering to Unreached People Groups (UPGs).
Unreached people are ethnolinguistic groups where less than 2% of the population actively follows Jesus. We consider a people group unreached when there is no indigenous community of Jesus’ followers able to engage this people group with church planting.
UPGs represent the greatest need in world missions because most have yet to hear about the hope of salvation through Jesus.
Because Jesus said the Gospel must be preached to all nations (Matthew 24:14), we believe that evangelical missions organizations and mission boards ought to focus on getting the Gospel to UPGs.
Where Are UPGs?
The 10/40 Window is home to the majority of UPGs in the world. Look on a world map to see the area that forms a rectangle between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude.⁹
This region encompasses the Middle East and North Africa. It also includes most of Asia—countries like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Thailand, the Philippines.
Although most UPGs originate in the 10/40 region, unreached people can be found throughout the world.
Did you know countries like Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, or even Ukraine, are also home to many UPGs?¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹² ¹³
What about Closed Countries?
Although there are still countries that welcome Christian missionaries to freely share the Gospel, there are many who do not.
A number of countries have severely restricted proselytization or even banned Christianity. Some prohibit evangelism or even the religious conversion of their people.
So, how are missionaries able to spread the message of Jesus to UPGs from these closed countries?
At International Project, we focus on diaspora missions—doing evangelism and discipleship with UPGs that live outside their homelands.
Many UPGs have migrated to North American and European cities for educational and work opportunities. With freedom of religion, these unreached people can hear and respond to the Gospel message in their new home countries!
Our long term missionaries minister to cross cultural communities in major cities like New York, Dallas, and Rome.
We also facilitate short term mission trips to these cities so more UPGs can hear the Gospel.
At International Project, we train you to do cross cultural ministry with UPGs to engage people of different cultures, ethnicities, and faiths by:
- Initiating spiritual conversations through broad sowing evangelism
- Facilitating Discovery Bible Studies to introduce the Gospel to households and communities
- Training up indigenous believers to plant churches with cultural sensitivity
Even after 2000 years, the role of Christian missionaries is as important as ever. There are still over 3 million UPGs who have yet to hear about salvation through Jesus!¹⁴
And just think: You could be the missionary who shares the Gospel with someone for the very first time!
What’s Your Role in the Great Commission?
Is God calling you to be a missionary? Whether you’ve already been on mission trips or you’re just starting to explore missional opportunities, we can help!
Our 10 month Equip Missionary Training Program is the perfect place to learn cross cultural ministry skills. When you join Equip, you’ll live and serve in New York City—all within diverse neighborhoods home to over 50 UPGs!¹⁵
You’ll develop reproducible evangelism and discipleship skills while receiving personalized mentoring from experienced missionaries.
This isn’t classroom theory—it’s an opportunity to see the role of missionaries in person, and to live it out!
If you’re ready to find your unique role in the Great Commission, fill out the form below to start the conversation about how to become a missionary in NYC!
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Sources
1 Piper, J. (2009). Let the nations be glad! In R. D. Winter & S. C. Hawthorne (Eds.), Perspectives on the world Christian movement (4th ed., pp. 65–71). William Carey Publishing.
2 https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Carey
3 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-14547355
4 Gee, N. G. (Ed.). (1905). The educational directory for China: An account of the various schools and colleges connected with Protestant missions (2nd ed.). Educational Association of China. p 43.
5 https://www.historyjournal.net/article/507/7-9-4-783.pdf
6 https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Livingstone
7 https://web.archive.org/web/20110501194533/http://atgsociety.com/2010/03/amy-carmichael-rescuer-of-children/
8 https://www.breakpoint.org/how-christians-ended-foot-binding-in-china/
9 https://joshuaproject.net/resources/articles/10_40_window
10 https://joshuaproject.net/countries/TZ
11 https://joshuaproject.net/countries/PP
12 https://joshuaproject.net/countries/SF
13 https://joshuaproject.net/countries/UP
14 https://joshuaproject.net/filter?10_40Window=Y&LeastReached=Y
15 UPG North America. (2024). Unreached Peoples by Population: New York. Tableau Public. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/bud.houston/viz/PriorityScorebyPeopleGroup/PeoplesandPlaceswordcloud. “New York > Choose a format to download > data > show fields > people groups > download.” Accessed September 23, 2024.
