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This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most important missionary outreach events.

A more general timeline of Christianity and History of Christianity is also available.

Apostolic Age

Earliest dates must all be considered approximate

Early Christianity

  • 100 - First Christians are reported in Monacomarker, Algeriamarker and Sri Lankamarker; a missionary goes to Arbela, old sacred city of the Assyrians
  • 110 - Ignatius of Antioch writes to the Smyrnaeans that the Christian church is katholikos ("universal")
  • 112 - Pliny the Younger reports rapid growth of Christianity in Bithynia
  • 140 - Hermas writes: "The Son of God . . . has been preached to the ends of the earth"
  • 150 - Gospel reaches Portugalmarker and Moroccomarker
  • 166 - Bishop Soter writes that the number of Christians has surpassed the Jews
  • 167 - At the request of Lucius of Britain, missionaries Fuganus (or Phagan) and Duvianus (or Deruvian) were sent by Pope Eleuterus to convert the Britons to Christianity
  • 174 - First Christians reported in Austriamarker
  • 177 - Churches in Lyonmarker and Viennemarker (southern France) report being persecuted
  • 190 - Pataenus of Alexandria goes to India in response to an appeal for Christian teachers
  • 196 - Bar Daisan writes of Christians among the Parthians, Bactrians (Kushans), and other peoples in the Persian Empire
  • 197 - Tertullian writes that Christianity had penetrated all ranks of society in North Africa
  • 200 - First Christians are reported in Switzerlandmarker and Belgiummarker
  • 202 - Roman Emperor Severus issues an edict forbidding conversion to Christianity
  • 206 - Abgar, King of Edessa, embraces the Christian faith
  • 208 - Tertullian writes that Christ has followers on the far side of the Roman wall in Britainmarker where Roman legions have not yet penetrated
  • 241 - Mani begins to preach in Seleucia-Ctesiphonmarker in what is now Iraqmarker
  • 250 - Denis (or Denys or Dionysius) is sent from Romemarker along with six other missionaries to establish the church in Parismarker
  • 270 - Death of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Christian leader in Pontus. It was said that when Gregory became "bishop" there were only 17 Christians in Pontus while at his death thirty years later there were only 17 non-Christians.
  • 280 - First rural churches emerge in northern Italy; Christianity is no longer exclusively in urban areas
  • 287 - Maurice from Egyptmarker is killed at Agauno, Switzerlandmarker for refusing to sacrifice to pagan divinities
  • 300 - First Christians reported in Greater Khorasan; an estimated 10% of the world's population is now Christian; parts of the Bible are available in 10 different languages




Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

  • 327 - Georgianmarker King Mirian III of Iberia converted by Nino
  • 330 - Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion
  • 332 - Two young Roman Christians, Frumentius and Aedesius, are the sole survivors of a ship destroyed in the Red Seamarker due to tensions between Rome and Aksum. They are taken as slaves to the Ethiopianmarker capital of Axummarker to serve in the royal court.
  • 334 - The first bishop is ordained for Mervmarker / Transoxiana (area of modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and southwest Kazakhstan)
  • 337 - Emperor Constantine baptized shortly before his death
  • 341 - Ulfilas begins work with the Goths in present-day Romaniamarker
  • 350 - Bible is translated into Saidic, an Egyptian language
  • 354 - Theophilus "the Indian" reports visiting Christians in India; Philostorgius mentions a community of Christians on the Socotramarker islands, south of Yemen in the Arabian Seamarker
  • 364 - Conversion of Vandals to Christianity begins during reign of Emperor Valens
  • 370 - Wulfila translates the Bible into Gothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes
  • 378 - Jerome writes, "From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ"
  • 380 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion
  • 382 - Jerome is commissioned to translate the Gospels (and subsequently the whole Bible) into Latin (Price, p. 78
  • 386 - Augustine of Hippo converted
  • 390 - Nestorian missionary Abdyeshu (or Abdisho) builds a monastery on the island of Bahrainmarker
  • 397 - Ninian evangelizes the Southern Picts of Scotlandmarker; three missionaries sent to the mountaineers in the Trentomarker region of northern Italy are martyred
  • 400 - Hayyan begins proclaiming gospel in Yemenmarker after having been converted in Hirta on the Persian border; in starting a school for native Gothic evangelists, John Chrysostom writes, "'Go and make disciples of all nations' was not said for the Apostles onlyu, but for us also"


  • 410 - New Testament translated into Armenian
  • 420 - An Arabian Bedouin tribe under sheikh Peter-Aspebet is converted
  • 425 - The first bishops are ordained for Heratmarker (Afghanistan) and Samarkandmarker (Uzbekistan)
  • 432 - Patrick goes to Irelandmarker as missionary
  • 450 - First Christians reported in Liechtensteinmarker
  • 496 - Conversion of Clovis I, king of Franks in Gaul, along with 3,000 warriors
  • 499 - Persian king Kavadh I, fleeing his country, meets a group of Christian missionaries going to Central Asia to preach to the Turks
  • 500 - First Christians reported in North Yemenmarker; Nairam becomes Christian center








Middle Ages





1000 to 1499

  • 1000 - Leif the Lucky introduces the Gospel to Greenlandmarker, possibly Vinland (Newfoundland)
  • 1003 - The Hungarian king sends evangelists to Transylvania
  • 1008 - Sigfrid (or Sigurd), English missionary, baptizes King Olof of Sweden
  • 1009 - Bruno of Querfurt is beheaded in Prussia where he had gone as a missionary
  • 1015 - Russiamarker is said to have been "comprehensively" converted to the Orthodox faith ; Olaf II Haroldsson becomes the first king of the whole of Norway. Over the next 15 years he would organize Norway's final conversion and its integration into Christian Europe.
  • 1017 - Günther tries to convert the inhabitants of Vorpommern; the mission is not successful.






  • 1303 - Arnold of Cologne arrives in China to assist Giovanni di Monte Corvino
  • 1321 - Jordanus, a Dominican monk, arrives in India as the first resident Roman Catholic missionary
  • 1322 - Odoric of Pordenone, a Franciscan monk from Italymarker, arrives in China
  • 1323 - Franciscans make contacts on Sumatramarker, Javamarker, and Borneomarker
  • 1326 - Chaghatayid Khan Ilchigedai grants permission for a church to be built in Samarkandmarker, Uzbekistanmarker
  • 1329 - Nicaeamarker falls to Muslim Ottoman Turks
  • 1334 - Chaghatayid Khan Buzun allows Christians to rebuild churches and permits Franciscans to establish a missionary episcopate in Almaliq, Azerbaijanmarker
  • 1368 - Collapse of the Franciscan mission in China as Ming Dynastymarker abolishes Christianity
  • 1379 - Stephen of Perm travels north toward the White Seamarker and settles as a missionary among the Finno-Ugric speaking Komi peoples living between Pechoramarker and Vychegdamarker Rivers at Ust-Vim
  • 1382 - Bible translated into English from Latin by John Wycliff
  • 1386 - Jogaila (baptized - Wladyslaw II), king of the Lithuanians, is baptized
  • 1389 - Large numbers of Christians march through the streets of Cairo, denouncing Islam and lamenting that they had abandoned the religion of their fathers from fear of pesecution. They were beheaded, both men and women, and a fresh persecution of Christians followed
  • 1400 - Scriptures translated into Icelandic


  • 1408 - Spanish Dominican Vincent Ferrer begins a ministry in Italy in which it is said that thousands of Jews and Muslims were won to faith in Christ
  • 1410 - Bible is translated into Hungarian
  • 1420 - Franciscan missionaries accompany Portuguese expedition to Madeira
  • 1431 - Franciscan missionaries accompany Portuguese expedition to the Azores
  • 1435 - Forced conversion of Jews in Palma de Mallorcamarker, Spainmarker
  • 1445 - First Christians reported in Guinea Bissau
  • 1448 - First Christians reported in Mauritaniamarker
  • 1450 - Franscian missionaries accompany Portuguese expedition to the Cape Verde Islands
  • 1453 - Constantinoplemarker falls to the Muslim Ottoman Turks who make it their capital. An Islamic service of thanksgiving is held in the church of Saint Sophia
  • 1455 - With the bull Romanus Pontifex the patronage of missions in new countries behind Cape Bojadormarker is given to the Portuguese.
  • 1462 - Johannes Gutenberg begins printing the Bible with his movable-type printing process; Pope Pius II assigns the evangelization of the Portuguese Guineamarker Coast of Africa to the Franciscans led by Alfonso de Bolano
  • 1485 - After having come into contact with the Portuguese, the King of Beninmarker requests that a church be planted in his kingdom
  • 1486 - Dominicans become active in West Africa, notably among the Wolof people in Senegambia.
  • 1489 - Baptism of Wolof king Behemoi in Senegalmarker
  • 1491 - The Congo sees its first group of missionaries arrive. Under the ministry of these Franciscan and Dominican priests, the king would soon be baptized and a church built at the royal capital.
  • 1492 - Birth of the church in Angolamarker
  • 1493 - Pope Alexander VI commands Spain to colonize the New World with Catholic missions; Christopher Columbus takes Christian priests with him on his second journey to the New World
  • 1494 - First missionaries arrive in Dominican Republicmarker
  • 1495 - The head of a convent in Seville, Spainmarker, Mercedarian Jorge, makes a trip to the West Indiesmarker.
  • 1496 - First Christian baptisms in the New World take place when Guaticaba along with other members of his household are baptized on the island of Hispaniolamarker
  • 1497 - Forced conversion of Jews in Portugal
  • 1498 - First Christians are reported in Kenyamarker
  • 1499 - Portuguese Augustinian missionaries arrive at Zanzibarmarker. Their mission will end in 1698 due to the Omanmarker-Arab conquest.


1500 to 1599

  • 1500 - Franciscans enter Brazilmarker with Cabral
  • 1501 - Pope Alexander VI grants to the crown of Spainmarker all the newly-discovered countries in the Americas, on condition that provision be made for the religious instruction of the native populations
  • 1502 - Bartolome de Las Casas, who will later become an ardent defender of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, goes to Cubamarker. For his military services there he will be given an encomienda, an estate that included the services of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas living on it.
  • 1503 - Mar Elijah, Patriarch of the East Syrian church, sends three missionaries "to the islands of the sea which are inside Javamarker and to China."
  • 1506 - Mission work begun in Mozambiquemarker
  • 1508 - Franciscans begin evangelizing in Venezuelamarker
  • 1509 - First church building constructed on Puerto Rico
  • 1510 - Dominicans begin work in Haitimarker
  • 1511 - Martin de Valencia came to believe that Psalm 58 prophesied the conversion of all unbelievers. While reflecting on the Scripture passage, he asked, "When will this be? When will this prophecy be filled . . . we are already in the afternoon, at the end of our days, and the world's final era." Later that same week, while reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah, he reportedly saw a vision of vast multitudes being converted and baptised. He began to pray to be chosen to preach and convert all heathen. He would die 20 years later as a missionary to Mexicomarker.
  • 1512 - Dominican missionary Antonio de Montesino returns to Spainmarker to try to convince King Ferdinand that all is not as it should be in the new western colonies. He reported that on the islands of Hispaniolamarker (now Dominican Republicmarker and Haitimarker) and Cubamarker, the indigeneous peoples were rapidly dying out under the system of slavery used by the colonists.
  • 1513 - In Cubamarker, Bartolome de Las Casas is ordained (possibly the first ordination in the New World). Soon thereafter, Las Casas will renounce all claims to his Indian serfs
  • 1514 - Franciscans begin missionary work in California
  • 1515 - Portuguese missionary Francisco Álvares is sent on a diplomatic mission to Dawit II, the Negus or Emperor of Abyssinia (an old name for Ethiopiamarker)
  • 1516 - Three Franciscans are killed by cannibals in northeastern South America, in the area of Colombiamarker and Venezuelamarker
  • 1517 - The Mughal Rulers of Delhimarker opened the door of Bengalmarker to Christian missionaries
  • 1518 - Don Henrique, son of the king of the Congo, is consecrated by Pope Leo X as the first indigenous bishop from sub-Saharan Black Africa
  • 1519 - Two Franciscans accompany Hernán Cortés in his expedition to Mexicomarker
  • 1520 - German missionary Maximilian Uhland, also known as Bernardino de San Jose, goes to Hispaniolamarker with the newly appointed Bishop Alessandro Geraldini.
  • 1521 - Pope Leo X grants Franciscan Francis Quiñones permission and faculties to go as a missionary to the New World together with Juan Clapión
  • 1522 - Portuguese missionaries establish presence on coast of Sri Lankamarker and begin moving inland in the wake of Portuguese military units
  • 1523 - Martin Luther writes a missionary hymn based on Psalm 67, May God Bestow on Us His Grace. It has been called "the first missionary hymn of Protestantism."
  • 1524 - Martin de Valencia goes to New Spain with 12 Franciscan friars
  • 1525 - Italian Franciscan missionary Giulio Zarco is sent to Michoacánmarker on the western coast of Mexicomarker where he will become very proficient in some of the indigeneous languages
  • 1526 - Franciscans enter Floridamarker; Twelve Dominican friars arrive in the Mexican capital
  • 1527 - Martyrs' Synod — organized by Anabaptists, it is the first Protestant missionary conference
  • 1528 - Franciscan missionary Juan de Padilla arrives in Mexicomarker. He will accompany Coronado's expedition searching for the Seven Cities and eventually settle among the Quivira (now called the Wichita
  • 1529 - Franciscan Peter of Ghent writes from Latin America that he and a colleague had baptized 14,000 people on one day
  • 1530 - In his On Translating: An Open Letter, Martin Luther lays out some principles of correct Bible translating
  • 1531 - Franciscan Juan de Padilla begins a series of missionary tours among Indian tribes southeast of Mexico Citymarker
  • 1532 - Evangelization of Perumarker begins when missionaries arrive with Francisco Pizzaro's military expedition
  • 1533 - The Pechenga Monasterymarker is founded in the Extreme North of Russia to preach Gospel to the Sami people; Augustinian order arrives in Mexicomarker; First Christian missionaries arrive in Tonkin, what is now Vietnammarker
  • 1534 - The entire caste of Paravas on the Coromandel Coast are baptized -- perhaps 20,000 people in all
  • 1535 - German Franciscan missionary Maximilian Uhland (also called Bernardino de San Jose) speaks before the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith about the wretched condition of Indigenous peoples of America in the New World
  • 1536 - Northern Italian Anabaptist missionary Hans Oberecker is burned at the stake in Viennamarker, Austria
  • 1537 - Pope Paul III orders that the Indigenous peoples of the Americas of the New World be brought to Christ "by the preaching of the divine word, and with the example of the good life."
  • 1538 - Franciscans enter Paraguaymarker
  • 1539 - The Pueblos of what is now the U.S. Southwest are encountered by Spanish Franciscan missionary Marcos de Niza
  • 1540 - Franciscans arrive in Trinidad and are killed by cannibals
  • 1541 - Franciscans begin establishing missions in Californiamarker
  • 1542 - Francis Xavier goes to Portuguese colony of Goamarker in West India ; Franciscans reach what is now New Mexicomarker
  • 1543 - Anabaptist Menno Simons leaves the Netherlandsmarker and begins planting churches in Germanymarker
  • 1544 - Franciscan Andrés de Olmos, a veteran missionary in Mexicomarker, struck northward into the Texasmarker wilderness. After gathering a group of Indian converts, he will lead them back into Tamaulipasmarker
  • 1545 - Testifying to the power that letters back home from missionaries have had, Antonio Araoz writes about Francis Xavier: "No less fruit has been obtained in Spain and Portugal through his letters than has been obtained in the Indies through his teaching."
  • 1546 - Francis Xavier travels to the Indonesianmarker islands of Morotaimarker, Ambonmarker, and Ternatemarker
  • 1547 - Wealthy Spaniard Juan Fernández becomes a Jesuit. He will wind up in Japanmarker as a missionary.
  • 1548 - Francis Xavier founds the College of the Holy Name of God in Baçaimmarker on the northwest coast of India
  • 1549 - Dominican Luis Cancer, who had worked among the Mayans of Guatemalamarker and Mexicomarker, lands at Tampa Baymarker, Floridamarker with two companions. They are immediately killed by the Calusa within sight of the ship from which they had disembarked.
  • 1550 - Printed Scriptures are available in 28 languages
  • 1551 - Dominican Jerome de Loaysa founds the National University of San Marcosmarker in Limamarker (Peru) as well as a hospital for indigeneous peoples
  • 1552 - Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier dies awaiting admission to China
  • 1553 - Portuguese missionaries build a church in Malacca Townmarker, Malaysiamarker
  • 1554 - 1,500 converts to Christianity are reported in Siam (now called Thailandmarker)
  • 1555 - John Calvin sends Huguenots to Brazilmarker
  • 1556 - Dominican Gaspar da Cruz arrives in Guangzhoumarker, China
  • 1557 - Jesuit bishop André de Oviedo arrives in Ethiopiamarker with five priests to convert the local Ethiopian Christians to Catholicism.
  • 1558 - The Kabardian duke Saltan Idarov converts to Orthodox Christianity
  • 1559 - Missionary Vilela settles in Kyoto, Japan
  • 1560 - Goncalo da Silveira, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, visited the Munhumutapa Empire, where he rapidly made converts
  • 1562 - Diego de Landa burns the libraries of the Maya civilization
  • 1563 - Jesuit missionary Luis Frois, who will later write a history of Jesuit activity in Japan, arrives in that country; Omura Sumitada becomes the first daimyo (feudal landholder) to convert to Christianity
  • 1564 - Legaspi begins Augustinian work in Philippinemarker Islands
  • 1565 - Jesuits arrive in Macaumarker.
  • 1566 - The first Jesuit to enter what is now the United States, Pedro Martinez, is clubbed to death by fearful Indians on the sands of Fort George Island, Floridamarker
  • 1567 - Missionaries Jeronimo da Cruz and Sebastiao da Canto, both Dominicans, arrive at Ayutthaya, Thailandmarker
  • 1568 - In the Philippinesmarker, Diego de Herrera baptizes Chieftain Tupas of Cebumarker and his son
  • 1569 - Jeronimo da Cruz is murdered along with two newly-arrived missionaries
  • 1570 - Ignacio Azevedo and 39 other Jesuit missionaries are killed by pirates near Palma, one of the Canary Islandsmarker, while on their way to Brazilmarker
  • 1571 - Capuchin friars of the 'Strict Observance' arrive on the island of Trinidad with conquistador Don Juan Ponce of Seville.
  • 1572 - Jesuits arrive in Mexicomarker
  • 1573 - Large-scale evangelization of the Floridamarker Indian nations and tribes begins with the arrival of Franciscan friars; Augustinian order enters Ecuadormarker
  • 1574 - Augustinian Guillermo de Santa Maria writes a treatise on the illegitimacy of the war the Spanish government was waging against the Chichimeca in the Mexican state of Michoacánmarker
  • 1575 - Church building constructed in Kyoto. Built in Japanese architectural style, it was popularly called the "temple of the South Barbarians"
  • 1577 - Dominicans enter Mozambiquemarker and penetrate inland, burning Muslim mosques as they go
  • 1578 - King of Spain orders the bishop of Lima not to confer Holy Orders on mestizos
  • 1579 - Jesuit Alessandro Valignano arrives in Japan where, as "Visitor of Missions", he formulates a basic strategy for Catholic proselytism in that country. Valignano's adaptationism attempted to avoid cultural frictions by covering the gap between certain Japanese customs and Roman Catholic values.
  • 1580 - Japanese Daimyo (feudal landholder) Arima Harunobu becomes Christian and takes the name Protasio
  • 1581 - Luis de Valdivia becomes a Jesuit. After finishing his studies, he will be sent to Perumarker
  • 1582 - Jesuits, with Matteo Ricci as the pioneer, begin mission work in China, introduce Western science, mathematics, astronomy
  • 1583 - Five Jesuit missionaries—Rudolph Acquaviva, Peter Berno, Francis Aranha, Alphonsus Pacheco and Anthony Francisco—are murdered near Goamarker (India)
  • 1584 - Matteo Ricci and a Chinese scholar translate a catechism into Chinese under the title Tian Zhu Shi Lu（天主實録） (A True Account of God)
  • 1585 - Carmelite leader Jerome Gracian meets with Martin Ignatius de Loyola, a Franciscan missionary from China. The two sign a vinculo de hermandad misionera -- a bond of missionary brotherhood—by which the two orders would collaborate in missionary work in Ethiopiamarker, China, the Philippinesmarker, and the East and West Indies.
  • 1586 - Portuguese missionary Joao dos Santos reports that locals kill elephants to protect their crops in Sofalamarker, Mozambique.
  • 1587 - All foreigners ordered out of Japan; Manteo becomes the first American Indian to be baptized by the Church of England
  • 1588 - A Dominican missionary arrives in the Philippines
  • 1589 - Francis Solano (or Solanus) goes to Peru as a missionary
  • 1590 - A book by Belgian pastor Hadrian à Saravia has a chapter arguing that the Great Commission is still binding on the church today because the Apostles did not fulfill it completely
  • 1591 - First Roman Catholic church built in Trinidadmarker; First Chinese admitted as members of the Jesuit order
  • 1593 - The Franciscans arrive in Japan and establish St. Anna's hospital in Kyoto
  • 1594 - First Jesuit missionaries arrive in Pakistanmarker
  • 1595 - Dutch East India Company chaplains expand their ministry beyond the European expatriates
  • 1596 - Jesuit missionaries travel across the island of Samarmarker in the Philippines to establish mission centers on the eastern side
  • 1597 - Twenty-six Japanese Christians are crucified for their faith by General Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Nagasaki, Japan. By 1640, thousands of Japanese Christians will have been martyred.
  • 1598 - Spanish missionaries push north from Mexicomarker into what is now the state of New Mexicomarker .
  • 1599 - Jesuit Francisco Fernandez goes to what is now the Jessore Districtmarker of Bangladeshmarker and, with the permission of King Pratapaditya, builds a church there


1600 to 1699

  • 1600 - French missionaries arrive in the area of what is now Sault Ste.marker Marie, Michiganmarker
  • 1601 - First ordination of Japanese priests
  • 1602 - Chinese scientist and translator Xu Guangqi is baptized
  • 1603 - The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan commences publication of a Japanese- Portuguese dictionary
  • 1604 - Jesuit missionary Abbè Jessè Flèchè arrives at Port Royal, Nova Scotiamarker
  • 1605 - Roberto de Nobili goes to India
  • 1606 - Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu bans Christianity
  • 1607 - Missionary Juan Fonte establishes the first Jesuit mission among the Tarahumara in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Northwest Mexicomarker
  • 1608 - A missionary expedition into the Cearámarker area of Brazilmarker fails when the Tacariju kill the Jesuit leader
  • 1609 - Missionary Nicolas Trigault goes to China; he will soon publish Ricci's journals in Europe
  • 1610 - Chinese mathematician and astronomer Li Zhizao is baptized
  • 1611 - Two Jesuits begin work among Mi'kmaq Indians of Nova Scotiamarker
  • 1612 - Jesuits found a mission for the Abenakis in Mainemarker
  • 1613 - Missionary Alvarus de Semedo goes to China
  • 1614 - Anti-Christian edicts issued in Japan] with over 40,000 Christians being massacred
  • 1615 - French missionaries in Canadamarker open schools in Trois-Rivièresmarker and Tadoussacmarker to teach First Nations children with the hopes of converting them
  • 1616 - Nanjing Missionary Case in which the clash between Chinese practice of ancestor worship and Catholic doctrine ends in the deportation of foreign missionaries. Missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell arrives in China
  • 1617 - Portuguese missionary Francisco de Pina arrives in Vietnammarker
  • 1618 - Portuguese Carmelites go from Persia to Pakistanmarker to establish a church in Thattamarker (near Karachimarker)
  • 1619 - Dominican missionaries found the University of St. Tomas in the Philippine islands
  • 1620 - Carmelites enter Goamarker
  • 1621 - The Augustinians establish themselves in Chittagongmarker
  • 1622 - Pope Gregory VI founds the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. This becomes the major Papal agency for coordinating and directing missionary work
  • 1623 - A stone monument (Nestorian Stele) is unearthed in Xi'anmarker (Si-ngan-fu), China. Its inscription, written by a Syrian monk almost a thousand years earlier and in both Chinese characters and Persian script, begins with the words, "Let us praise the Lord that the [Christian] faith has been popular in China"; it told of the arrival of a missionary, A-lo-pen (Abraham), in AD 625. Alvaro Semedo and other Jesuits soon publicize the stele's discovery in Europe.
  • 1624 - Persecution intensifies in Japan with 50 Christians being burned alive in Edo (now called Tokyo)
  • 1625 - Vietnammarker expels missionaries
  • 1626 - After entering Japan in disguise, Jesuit missionary Francis Pacheco is captured and executed at Nagasaki
  • 1627 - Alexander de Rhodes goes to Vietnammarker where in three years of ministry he baptizes 6,700 converts
  • 1628 - Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples established in Romemarker to train "native clergy" from all over the world
  • 1629 - Franciscan missionary Alonzo Benavides founds Santa Clara de Capo on the border of Apache Indian country in what is now New Mexicomarker
  • 1630 - An attempt is made in the El Paso, Texasmarker area to establish a mission among the Mansos Indians
  • 1631 - Dutch missionary Abraham Rogerius (anglicized as Roger), who authored Open Door to the Secrets of Heathendom, begins 10 years of ministry among the Tamil people in the Dutch colony of Pulicatmarker near Madras, India
  • 1632 - Zuni Indians murder a group of Franciscan missionaries who had three years earlier established the first mission to the Zunis at Hawikuh in what is now New Mexicomarker
  • 1633 - Emperor Fasilides expels the Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopiamarker; the German Lutheran Church sends Peter Heyling as the first Protestant missionary to Ethiopia.
  • 1634 - Jesuit missionary Jean de Brèbeuf travels to the Petun nation (in Canada) and baptizes a 40 year old man.
  • 1635 - An expedition of Franciscans leaves Quitomarker, Ecuadormarker, to try to penetrate into Amazonia from the west. Though most of them will be killed along the way, a few will manage to arrive two years later on the Atlantic coast.
  • 1636 - The Dominicans of Manilamarker (the Philippines) organize a missionary expedition to Japan. They are arrested on one of the Okinawa islandsmarker and will be eventually condemned to death by the tribunal of Nagasaki.
  • 1637 - When smallpox kills thousands of Native Americans, tribal medicine men blame European missionaries for the disaster
  • 1638 - Official ban of Christianity in Japan with death penalty; The Fountain Opened, a posthumous work of the influential Puritan writer Richard Sibbes is published, in which he says that the gospel must continue its journey "til it have gone over the whole world."
  • 1639 - The first women to New France as missionaries—three Ursuline Nuns—board the "St. Joseph" and set sail for New France


  • 1640 - Jesuit missionaries arrive on the Caribbeanmarker island of Martiniquemarker
  • 1641 - Jesuit missionary Cristoval de Acuna describes the Amazon River in a written report to the king of Spainmarker
  • 1642 - Catholic missionaries Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil are captured by Mohawk Indians as they return to Huron country from Quebecmarker. Goupil was tomahawked to death while Jogues will be held for a period of time as a slave. He used his slavery as an opportunity for missionary work
  • 1643 - John Campanius, Lutheran missionary to the Indians, arrives in America on the Delaware River; Reformed pastor Johannes Megapolensis begins outreach to Native Americans while pastoring at Albany, New Yorkmarker
  • 1644 - John Eliot begins ministry to Algonquin Indians in North America
  • 1645 - After thirty years of work in Vietnammarker, the Jesuits are expelled from that country
  • 1646 - After being accused of being a sorcerer, Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues is killed by the Iroquois
  • 1647 - The Discalced Carmelites begin work on Madagascarmarker
  • 1648 - Baptism of Helena and other members of the emperial Ming familymarker
  • 1649 - Society for the Propagation of the Gospel In New England formed to reach the Indians of New Englandmarker
  • 1650 - The destruction of Huronia by the Iroquois puts an end to the Jesuits' dream of making the Huron Indians the focal point of their evangelism
  • 1651 - Count Truchsess of Wetzhausen, prominent Lutheran layman, asks the theological faculty of Wittenbergmarker why Lutherans are not sending out missionaries in obedience to the Great Commission
  • 1652 - Jesuit Antonio Vieira returns to Brazilmarker as a missionary where he will champion the cause of exploited indigenous peoples until being expelled by Portuguese colonists
  • 1653 - A Mohawk war party captures Jesuit Joseph Poncet near Montrealmarker. He is tortured and will be finally sent back with a message about peace overtures
  • 1654 - John Eliot publishes a catechism for American Indians
  • 1655 - Jinga or Zinga, princess of Matamba in Angolamarker is converted; later she will write to the Pope urging that more missionaries be sent
  • 1656 - First Quaker missionaries arrive in what is now Boston, Massachusettsmarker
  • 1657 - Thomas Mayhew, Jr., is lost at sea during a voyage to Englandmarker that was to combine an appeal for missionary funds with personal business
  • 1658 - After the flight of the French missionaries from his area, chief Daniel Garakonthie of the Onondaga Indians, examines the customs of the French colonists and the doctrines of the missionaries and openly begins protecting Christians in his part of what is now New Yorkmarker
  • 1659 - Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes establishes the Paris Foreign Missions Society
  • 1660 - Christianity is introduced into Cambodiamarker
  • 1661 - George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) sends 3 missionaries to China (although they never reached the field)
  • 1662 - French Jesuit missionary Julien Garnier sails for Canadamarker
  • 1663 - John Eliot's translation of the Bible into one of the Algonquian languages is published (the New Testament came out two years earlier). This Bible was the first complete Bible to be printed in the New World
  • 1664 - Justinian Von Welz authors three powerful pamphlets on the need for world missions; he will go to Dutch Guinea (now called Surinammarker) where he will die after only three months
  • 1665 - Japanese feudal landholders (called Daimyo) were ordered to follow the shogunate's example and to appoint inquisitors to do a yearly scutiny of Christians
  • 1666 -John Eliot publishes his The Indian Grammar, a book written to assist in conversion work among the Indians. Described as "some bones and ribs preparation for such a work", Eliot intended his Grammar for missionaries wishing to learn the dialect spoken by the Massachusett Indians.
  • 1667 - The first missionary to attempt to reach the Huaorani (or Aucas), Jesuit Pedro Suarez, is slain with spears
  • 1668 - In a letter from his post in Canadamarker, French missionary Jacques Bruyas laments his ignorance of the Oneida language: "What can a man do who does not understand their language, and who is not understood when he speaks. As yet, I do nothing but stammer; nevertheless, in four months I have baptized 60 persons, among whom there are only four adults, baptized in periculo mortis. All the rest are little children."
  • 1669 - Eager to compete with the Jesuits for conversion of the Indian Nations on the western Great Lakesmarker, Sulpilcian missionaries François Dollier de Casson and René Bréhant de Galinée set out from Montrealmarker with twenty-seven men in seven canoes led by two canoes of Seneca Indians
  • 1670 - Jesuits establish missions on the Orinoco River in Venezuelamarker
  • 1671 - Quaker missionaries arrive in the Carolinas
  • 1672 - A chieftain on Guammarker kills Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores and his Visayan assistant, Pedro Calungsod, for having baptized the chief's daughter without his permission (some accounts do say the girl's mother consented to the baptism)
  • 1673 - French trader Louis Jolliet and missionary Jacques Marquette visit what is now the state of Illinoismarker, where the latter establishes a mission for Native Americans
  • 1674 - Vincentian mission to Madagascarmarker collapses after 25 years of abortive effort
  • 1675 - An uprising on the islands of Micronesia leads to the death of three Christian missionaries
  • 1676 - Kateri Tekakwitha, who became known as the Lily of the Mohawks, is baptized by a Jesuit missionary. She, along with many other Native Americans, joins a missionary settlement in Canadamarker where a syncretistic blend of ascetic indigeneous and Catholic beliefs evolves.
  • 1678 -French missionaries Jean La Salle and Louis Hennepin discover Niagara Fallsmarker
  • 1679 - Writing from Changzhoumarker, newly arrived missionary Juan de Yrigoyen describes three Christian congregations flourishing in that Chinese city
  • 1680 - The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexicomarker with the killing of twenty-one Franciscan missionaries
  • 1681 - After arriving in New Spain, Italian Jesuit Eusebio Kino soon becomes what one writer described as "the most picturesque missionary pioneer of all North America." A bundle of evangelistic zeal, Kino was also an explorer, astronomer, cartographer, mission builder, ranchman, cattle king, and defender of the frontier
  • 1682 - 13 missionaries go to "remote cities" in East Siberiamarker
  • 1683 - Missionary Louis Hennepin returns to Francemarker after exploring Minnesotamarker and being held captive by the Dakota to write the first book about Minnesota, Description de la Louisiane
  • 1684 - Louis XIV of France sends Jesuit missionaries to China bearing gifts from the collections of the Louvremarker and the Palace of Versaillesmarker
  • 1685 - Consecration of first Catholic bishop of Chinese origin
  • 1686 - Russian Orthodox monks arrive in China as missionaries
  • 1687 - French activity begins in what is now Côte d'Ivoiremarker when missionaries land at Assiniemarker
  • 1688 - New Testament translated into the Malay language (the first Bible translation into a language of southeast Asia)
  • 1689 - Calusa Indian chief from what is the state of Floridamarker visits Cubamarker to discuss idea of having missionaries come to his people
  • 1690 - First Franciscan missionaries arrive in Texasmarker
  • 1691 - Christian Faith Society for the West Indies was organized with a focus on evangelizing African slaves
  • 1692 - Chinese Kangxi Emperor permits the Jesuits to freely preach Christianity, converting whom they wish
  • 1693 - Jesuit missionary John de Britto is publicly beheaded in India
  • 1694 - Missionary and explorer Eusebio Kino becomes the first European to enter the Tucson, Arizonamarker basin and create a lasting settlement
  • 1695 - China's first Russian Orthodox church building is consecrated
  • 1696 - Jesuit missionary Francois Pinet founds the Mission of the Guardian Angel near what is today Chicago, Illinoismarker. The mission was abandoned in 1700 when missionary efforts seemed fruitless
  • 1697 - To evangelize the English colonies, Thomas Bray, an Anglican preacher who made several missionary trips to North America, begins laying the groundwork for what will be the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
  • 1698 - Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge organized by Anglicans
  • 1699 - Priests of the Quebec Seminary of Foreign Missions establish a mission among the Tamaroa Indians at Cahokiamarker in what is now the state of Illinois


1700 to 1799

  • 1700 - After a Swedish missionary's sermon in Pennsylvaniamarker, one Native American posed such searching questions that the episode was reported in a 1731 history of the Swedish church in America. The interchange is noted in Benjamin Franklin's Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784).
  • 1701 - Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts officially organized
  • 1702 - George Keith, returns to America as a missionary of the newly-organized Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
  • 1703 - The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts expands to the West Indies
  • 1704 - French missionary priests arrive to evangelize the Chitimacha living along the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Louisianamarker
  • 1705- Danish-Halle Mission to India begins with Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau
  • 1706- Irish-born Francis Makemie, who has been an itinerant Presbyterian missionary among the colonists of America since 1683, is finally able to organize the first American presbytery
  • 1707 - Italian Capuchin missionaries reach Kathmandumarker in Nepalmarker. Maillard de Tournon makes public, in Nanjingmarker, the Vatican decisions on rites, including the stipulations against the veneration of ancestors and of Confucius.
  • 1708- Jesuit missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti is arrested in Japan. He is taken to Edo (now called Tokyo) to be interrogated by Arai Hakuseki
  • 1709 - Experience Mayhew, missionary to the Martha's Vineyardmarker Indians, translates the Psalms and the Gospel of John into the Massachusett language. It will be a work considered second only to John Eliot's Indian Bible in terms of significant Indian-language translations in colonial New Englandmarker
  • 1710 - First modern Bible Society founded in Germany by Count Canstein
  • 1711 - Jesuit Eusebio Kino, missionary explorer in southern Arizonamarker and northern Sonora, dies suddenly in northern Mexicomarker. Kino, who has been called "the cowboy missionary", had fought against the exploitation of Indians in Mexican silver mines.
  • 1712- Using a press sent by The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Tranquebar Mission in India begins printing books in the Portuguese language
  • 1713 - Jesuit Ippolito Desideri goes to Tibet as a missionary
  • 1714 - New Testament translated into Tamil (India) ; a missionary training college is established in Copenhagenmarker
  • 1715 - Eastern Orthodox Church missionary outreach is renewed in Manchuria and Northern China
  • 1716 - The establishment of the Alamo Mission in San Antoniomarker is authorized by the viceroy of Mexicomarker. The mission was to be an educational center for Native Americans who converted to Christianity.
  • 1717 - Chen Mao writes to the Chinese Emperor about his concerns over Catholic missionaries and Western traders. He urgently requested an all-out prohibition of Catholic missionaries in the Qing provincesmarker.
  • 1718 - Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg constructs a church building in India that is still in use today
  • 1719 - Isaac Watts writes missionary hymn "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun"
  • 1720- Missionary Johann Ernst Gruendler dies in India. He had arrived there in 1709 with the sponsorship of the Danish Mission Society
  • 1721 - Mission San Juan Bautista Malibat in Baja Californiamarker is abandoned due to the hostility of the Cochimi Indians, as well as to the decimation of the local population by epidemics and a water shortage. Chinese Kangxi Emperor bans Christian missionaries as a result of the Chinese Rites controversy.
  • 1722 - Hans Egede goes to Greenlandmarker
  • 1723 - Robert Millar publishes A History of the Propagation of Christianity and the Overthrow of Paganism advocating prayer as the primary means of converting non-Christians
  • 1724 - Yongzheng Emperor bans missionary activities outside the Beijing area
  • 1725 - Knud Leem arrives as a missionary to the Sami people of Finnmarkmarker (Norwegian Arctic)
  • 1726 - John Wright, a Quaker missionary to the Native Americans, settles in southeastern Pennsylvaniamarker
  • 1728 - Institutum Judaicum founded in Halle as first Protestant mission center for Jewish evangelism
  • 1729 - Roman Catholic missionary Du Poisson becomes the first victim in the Natchez massacre. On his way to New Orleansmarker, he had been asked to stop and say Mass at the Natchezmarker post. He was killed in front of the altar
  • 1730- Lombard, French missionary, founds a Christian village with over 600 Indians at the mouth of Kuru river in French Guianamarker. A Jesuit, Lombard has been called the most successful of all missionaries in converting the Indians of French Guianamarker
  • 1731 - A missionary movement is born when Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf attends the coronation of King Christian VI of Denmark. By the following year, the movement with which Zinzendorf was associated, the Moravian Church, would launch missionary outreach in the Caribbeanmarker.
  • 1732 - Alphonsus Liguori founds the Roman Catholic religious order known as the Redemptorist Fathers with the purpose of doing missionary work among rural people
  • 1733 - Moravians go to Greenlandmarker
  • 1734 - A missionary convinces a Groton, Connecticutmarker church to lend its building to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe for Christian worship services.
  • 1735 - John Wesley goes to Indians in Georgia as missionary with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
  • 1736 - Anti-Christian edicts in China; Moravian missionaries at work among Nenets people of Arkhangelskmarker
  • 1737 - Rev. Pugh, a missionary in Pennsylvania with The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts begins ministering to blacks. He noted that the masters of the slaves were prejudiced against them becoming Christian.
  • 1738 - Moravian missionary George Schmidt settles in Baviaan Kloof (Kloof of the Baboons) in the Riviersonderend valley of South Africa. He begins working with the Khoikhoi people, who were practically on the threshold of extinction.
  • 1739 - The first missionary to the Mahican (Mohegan) Indians, John Sergeant, builds a home in Stockbridge, Massachusettsmarker that is today a museum.
  • 1740 - Moravian David Zeisberger starts work among Creek people of Georgia
  • 1741 - Dutch missionaries start building Christ Church building in Malacca Townmarker, Malaysiamarker. It will take 12 years to complete.
  • 1742 - Moravian Leader Count Zinzendorf visits Shekomekomarker, New York and baptizes six Indians
  • 1743 - David Brainerd starts ministry to North American Indians
  • 1744 - Thomas Thompson resigns his position as dean at the University of Cambridgemarker to become a missionary. He was sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to New Jerseymarker. Taking a special interest in the slave population there, he would later request to begin mission work in Africa. In 1751, Thompson would become the first S.P.G. missionary to the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghanamarker)
  • 1745 - David Brainerd, after preaching to Native Americans in December, wrote about the response: "They soon came in, one after another; with tears in their eyes, to know, what they should do to be saved. . . . It was an amazing season of power among them, and seemed as if God had bowed the heavens and come down ... and that God was about to convert the whole world."
  • 1746 - From Boston a call is issued to the Christians of the New World to enter into a seven-year "Concert of Prayer" for missionary work
  • 1747 - Jonathan Edwards appeals for prayer for world missions
  • 1748 - Roman Catholic Pedro Sanz and four other missionaries are executed, together with 14 Chinese Christians. Prior to his death, Sanz reportedly converted some of his prison guards to Christianity.
  • 1749 - Spanish Franciscan priest Junipero Serra (1713-1784 arrives in Mexico as a missionary. In 1767 he would go north to what is now Californiamarker, zealously building missions and converting Native Americans.
  • 1750 - Jonathan Edwards, preacher of the First Great Awakening, having been banished from his church at Northampton, Massachusettsmarker goes as a missionary to the nearby Housatonic Indians. Christian Frederic Schwartz goes to India with Danish-Halle Mission
  • 1751 - Samuel Cooke arrives in New Jersey as a missionary for the SPGFP
  • 1752 - Thomas Thompson, first Anglican missionary to Africa, arrives in the Gold Coast (now Ghanamarker)
  • 1753 The disappearance of Erhardt and six companions leads to temporary abandonment of Moravian missionary initiatives in Labrador.
  • 1754 - Moravian John Ettwein arrives in America from Germanymarker as a missionary. Preaching to Native Americans and establishing missions, Ettwein will travel as far south as Georgia.
  • 1755 - The Mahican Indian settlement at Gnadenhutten, Pa. is attacked and destroyed. Moravian missionary Johann Jacob Schmick remains with the Mahicans through exile and captivity despite almost constant threats from white neighbors. Schmick will join his Indian congregation as they seek refuge in Bethlehem, follow them as captives to Philadelphia, and remain with them after they settle in Wyalusing, Pennsylvaniamarker.
  • 1756 - Civil unrest forces Gideon Halley away from his missionary work among the Six Nations on the Susquehanna River where he has been working for four years under the supervision of Jonathan Edwards with an appointment from the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians.
  • 1757 - Lutherans begin ministering to Blacks in the Caribbeanmarker
  • 1758- John Wesley baptizes two slaves, thus breaking the skin color barrier for Methodist societies
  • 1759 - Native American Samson Occom, direct descendant of the great Mahican chief Uncas, is ordained by the Presbyterians. Occom became the first American Indian to publish works in English. These included sermons, hymns and a short autobiography.
  • 1760 - Adam Voelker and Christian Butler arrive in Tranquebarmarker as the first Moravian missionaries to India
  • 1761 - The first Moravian missionary in Ohio, Frederick Post, settles on the north side of the Muskingum in what is now Bethlehem township
  • 1762 - Moravian Missionary John Heckewelder confers with Koquethagacton ("White Eyes") at the mouth of the Beaver River marker
  • 1763 - The Presbyterian Synod of New York orders that a collection for missions be taken. In 1767 the Synod asks that this collection be done annually.
  • 1764 - The Moravians make a decision to expand and begin publicizing their missionary activity, particularly in the British colonies; Moravian Jens Haven makes the first of three exploratory missionary journeys to Greenlandmarker
  • 1765 - Surinamemarker Governor General Crommelin convinces three Moravian missionaries to work near the head waters of the Gran Rio. They settle among the Saramaka near the Senthea Creek in Granman Abini's village where they are received with mixed feelings.
  • 1766 - Philip Quaque, a Fetu youth from the Cape Coast area of Ghanamarker who spent twelve years studying in Englandmarker, returns to Africa. Supported as a missionary by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Quaque is first non-European ordained priest in the Church of England
  • 1767 - Spain expels the Jesuits from Spanish colonies in the New World
  • 1768 - Five United Brethren missionaries from Germany, invited by the Danish Guinea Company, arrive in the Gold Coast (now Ghanamarker), to teach in the Cape Coast Castle schools
  • 1769 - Junípero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalámarker, first of the 21 Alta California missions (Habermann, p. 370
  • 1770 - John Marrant, a free black from New York City, begins ministering cross-culturally, preaching to the American Indians. By 1775 he had carried the gospel to the Cherokee and Creek Indians as well as to groups he called the Catawar and Housaw peoples.
  • 1771 - Methodist Francis Asbury arrives in America; David Avery is ordained as missionary to the Oneida tribe
  • 1772 - After visiting Scilly Cove in Newfoundlandmarker, Canada, missionary James Balfour describes it as a "most Barbarous Lawless Place"
  • 1773 - Pope Clement XIV dissolves the Jesuit Order ; two Dominican order missionaries beheaded in Vietnammarker
  • 1775 - John Crook is sent by Liverpool Methodists to the Isle of Manmarker
  • 1776 - Cyril Vasilyevich Suchanov builds first church among Evenks of Transbaikalmarker (or Dauria) in (Siberia); The first baptism of an Eskimo by a Lutheran pastor takes place in Labrador.
  • 1777 - Portuguese missionaries build a church at Hashnabad, Bangladeshmarker
  • 1778 - Theodore Sladich is martyred while doing missionary work to counter Islamic influence in the western Balkans
  • 1780 - August Gottlieb Spangenberg writes An Account of the Manner in Which the Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, Preach the Gospel, and Carry On Their Missions Among the Heathen. Originally written in German, the book will be translated into English in 1788.
  • 1781 - In the midst of the American Revolutionary War, the British so feared Moravian missionary David Zeisberger and his influence among the Lenape (also called Delaware) and other Native Americans that they arrested him and his assistant, John Heckewelder, charging them with treason,
  • 1782 - Freed slave George Lisle goes to Jamaicamarker as missionary
  • 1783 - Moses Baker and George Gibbions, both former slaves, leave the U.S. to become missionaries in the West Indies
  • 1784 - Thomas Coke submits his Plan for the Society for the Establishment of Missions Among the Heathen. Methodist missions among the "heathen" will begin in 1786 when Coke, destined for Nova Scotiamarker, is driven off course by a storm and lands at Antiguamarker in the British West Indies.
  • 1785 - Joseph White's sermon titled "On the Duty of Attempting the Propagation of the Gospel among our Mahometan and Gentoo Subjects in India" is published in the second edition of his book Sermons Containing a View of Christianity and Mahometanism, in their History, their Evidence, and their Effects. The sermon was first preached at the University of Oxfordmarker.
  • 1786 - John Marrant, a free black from New York City, writes in his journal that he preached to "a great number of Indians and white people" at Green's Harbor, Newfoundland. Marrant's cross-cultural ministry led him to take the Gospel to the Cherokee, Creek, Catawba (he called them the Catawar, and Housaw Indians.
  • 1787 - William Carey is ordained in England by the Particular Baptists and soon begins to urge that worldwide missions be undertaken.
  • 1788 - Dutch missionaries begin preaching the Gospel among fishermen in Bangladeshmarker
  • 1789 - The Jesuits establish Georgetown Universitymarker as the first US Catholic college
  • 1790 - Prince Williams, a freed slave from South Carolina, goes to Nassau, Bahamasmarker, where he will start Bethel Meeting House
  • 1791 - One hundred and twenty Korean Christians are tortured and killed for their faith. It began when Paul Yun Ji-Chung, a noble who had become a Christian, decided not to bury his mother according to traditional Confucian custom.
  • 1792 - William Carey writes An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathen and forms the Baptist Missionary Society to support him in establishing missionary work in India
  • 1793 - Stephen Badin ordained in U.S. Although much of Badin's ministry was pastoral work among his own countrymen, he did some outreach among the Potawatomi Indians
  • 1794 - Eight Russian Orthodox missionaries arrive on Kodiak Island in Alaska. Within a few months several thousand people have been baptized
  • 1795 - The London Missionary Society is formed to send missionaries to Tahitimarker
  • 1796 - Scottish and Glasgow Missionary Societies established; In India, Johann Philipp Fabricius' translation of the Bible into Tamil is revised and published
  • 1797 - Netherlands Missionary Society formed; The Duff, carrying 36 lay and pastoral missionaries, sails to three islands of the South Pacific ; The first Christian missionary (from the London Missionary Society) visits Hiva on the Pacific island of Tahuatamarker; he is not well received.
  • 1798 - The Missionary Society of Connecticut is organized by the Congregationalists to take the gospel to the "heathen lands" of Vermont and Ohio. Its missionaries evangelized both European settlers and Native Americans.
  • 1799 - The Church Missionary Society (Church of England) is formed; John Vanderkemp, Dutch physician goes to Cape Colony, Africa


1800 to 1849



1850 to 1899

  • 1850 - On the occasion of Karl Gützlaff's visit to Europe, the Berlin Ladies Association for China is established in conjunction with the Berlin Missionary Association for China. Work in China will commence in 1851 with the arrival of Hermandine Neumann in Hong Kongmarker. Rev. Thomas Valpy French, came to India in 1850, founded St. John's College, Agra, and became first Bishop of Lahoremarker in 1877.
  • 1851 - Allen Gardiner and six missionary colleagues die of exposure and starvation at Patagonia on the southern tip of South America because a re-supply ship from England arrives six months late.
  • 1852 - Zenana (women) and Medical Missionary Fellowship formed in Englandmarker to send out single women missionaries
  • 1853- The Hermannsburg Missionary Society, founded in 1849 by Louis Harms, has finished training its first group of young missionaries. They are sent to Africa on a ship (the Kandaze) which had been built entirely from donations.
  • 1854 - New York Missionary Conference, guided by Alexander Duff, ponders the question: "To what extent are we authorized by the Word of God to expect the conversion of the world to Christ?"; Henry Venn, secretary of the Church Missionary Society, sets out ideal of self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating churches; Hudson Taylor arrives in China
  • 1855 - Henry Steinhauer is ordained as a Canadian Methodist missionary to North American Indians and posted to Lac La Biche, Albertamarker. Steinhauer's missionary work had actually begun 15 years earlier in 1840 when he was assigned to Lac La Pluie to assist in translating, teaching and interpreting the Ojibwa and Cree languages.
  • 1856 - Presbyterians start work in Colombiamarker with the arrival of Henry Pratt
  • 1857 - Bible translated into Tswana language; Board of Foreign Missions of Dutch Reformed Church set up; four missionary couples killed at the Fatehgarhmarker mission during the Indian Mutiny of 1857; Publication of David Livingstone's book Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
  • 1858 - John G. Paton begins work in New Hebridesmarker ; Basel Evangelical Missionary Society begins work in western Sumatramarker (Indonesia)
  • 1859 - Protestant missionaries arrive in Japan; Revivals in North America and the British Isles generate interest in overseas missions; Albert Benjamin Simpson (founder of Christian and Missionary Alliance) is converted by the revival ministry of Henry Grattan Guinness
  • 1861 - Protestant Stundism arises in the village of Osnova of modern-day Ukrainemarker; Sarah Doremus founds the Women's Union Missionary Society; Episcopal Church opens work in Haitimarker ; Rhenish Mission goes to Indonesiamarker under Ludwig Nommensen
  • 1862 - Paris Evangelical Missionary Society opens work in Senegalmarker
  • 1863 - Robert Moffat, missionary to Africa with the London Missionary Society, publishes his book Rivers of Water in a Dry Place, Being an Account of the Introduction of Christianity into South Africa, and of Mr. Moffat's Missionary Labours
  • 1865 - The China Inland Mission is founded by James Hudson Taylor; James Laidlaw Maxwell plants first viable church in Taiwanmarker. Salvation Army founded in London by William Booth
  • 1866 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon invents The Wordless Book, which is widely used in cross-cultural evangelism ; Theodore Jonas Meyer (1819-1894), a converted Jew serving as a Presbyterian missionary in Italymarker, nurses those dying in a cholera epidemic until he himself falls prey to the disease. Barely surviving, he becomes a peacemaker between Catholics and Protestants; Robert Thomas, the first Protestant martyr in Koreamarker, is beheaded giving a Bible to his executioner.
  • 1867 - Methodists start work in Argentinamarker ; Scripture Union established; Lars Olsen Skrefsrud and Hans Peter Børresen begin working among the Santals of India.
  • 1868 - Robert Bruce goes to Iranmarker, Canadian Baptist missionary Americus Timpany begins work among the Telugu people in India.
  • 1869 - The first Methodist women's missionary magazine, The Heathen Women's Friend, begins publication. ; Riot in Yangzhoumarker, China destroys China Inland Mission house and nearly leads to open war between Britain and China.
  • 1870 - Clara Swain, the very first female missionary medical doctor, arrives at Bareillymarker, India; Orthodox Missionary Society founded
  • 1871 - Henry Stanley finds David Livingstone in central Africa
  • 1872 - First All-India Missionary Conference with 136 participants ; George Leslie Mackay plants church in northern Taiwanmarker ; Lottie Moon appointed as missionary to China
  • 1873 - Regions Beyond Missionary Union founded in London in connection with the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions; first Scripture portion (Gospel of Luke) translated into Pangasinanmarker, a language of the Philippines, by Alfonso Lallave
  • 1874 - Lord Radstock's first visit to St. Petersburgmarker, Russia, and the beginning of an evangelical awakening among the St. Petersburg nobility; Albert Sturges initiates the Interior Micronesia Mission in the Mortlock Islands under the leadership of Micronesian students from Ohwa
  • 1875 - The Foreign Christian Missionary Society organized within the Christian Church and Church of Christ movements; Clah, a Canadian Indian convert, brought Christianity to natives at Ft. Wangel, Alaska. He assumed the name of Philip McKay.
  • 1876 - In September, a rusty ocean steamer arrives at a port on the Calabar River in what is now Nigeriamarker. That part of Africa was then known as the White Man's Grave. The only woman on board that ship is 29-year-old Mary Slessor, a missionary.
  • 1877 - James Chalmers goes to New Guineamarker ; Presbyterians Sheldon Jackson and missionary-widow Amanda McFarland arrive at Ft. Wrangel, Alaska where they join Philip McKay (née Clah) to start missionary work. McFarland was the first white woman in Alaska, and renowned as "Alaska's Courageous Missionary."
  • 1878 - Mass movement to Christ begins in Ongolemarker, India
  • 1880 - Woman missionary doctor Fanny Butler goes to India ; Missionary periodical The Gospel in All Lands is launched by A. B. Simpson ; Justus Henry Nelson and Fannie Bishop Capen Nelson begin 45 years of service in Belémmarker, Parámarker, Brazilmarker, establishing the first Protestant Church in Amazonia in 1883
  • 1881 - Methodist work in Lahoremarker, Pakistanmarker starts in the wake of revivals under Bishop William Taylor; North Africa Mission (now Arab World Ministries) founded on work of Edward Glenny in Algeriamarker
  • 1882 - James Gilmour, London Missionary Society missionary to Mongoliamarker, goes home to Englandmarker for a furlough. During that time he published a book: Among the Mongols. It was so well-written that one critic wrote, "Robinson Crusoe has turned missionary, lived years in Mongolia, and wrote a book about it." Concerning the author, the critic said, "If ever on earth there lived a man who kept the law of Christ, and could give proof of it, and be absolutely unconscious that he was giving it to them, it is this man whom the Mongols called 'our Gilmour.'"
  • 1883 - Salvation Army enters West Pakistan ; A.B. Simpson organizes The Missionary Union for the Evangelization of the World. The first classes of the Missionary Training College are held in New York Citymarker. Zaire Christian and Missionary Alliance mission field opens.
  • 1884 - David Torrance is sent by the Jewish Mission of the Free Church of Scotland as a medical missionary to Palestine
  • 1885 - Horace Grant Underwood, Presbyterian missionary, and Henry Appenzeller, Methodist missionary, arrive in Koreamarker; Scottish Ion Keith-Falconer goes to Adenmarker on the Arabian peninsula; "Cambridge Seven" -- C. T. Studd, M. Beauchamp, W. W. Cassels, D. E. Hoste, S. P. Smith, A. T. Podhill-Turner, C. H. Polhill-Turner—go to China as missionaries with the China Inland Mission
  • 1886 - Student Volunteer Movement launched as 100 university and seminary students at Moody's conference grounds at Mount Hermon, Massachusetts, sign the Princeton Pledge which says: "I purpose, God willing, to become a foreign missionary."
  • 1887 -The Hundred missionaries deployed in one year in China under the China Inland Mission. Dr. William Cassidy, a Toronto medical doctor, was ordained as the Christian and Missionary Alliance's first missionary preacher. Unfortunately, en route to China, he died of smallpox. However, Cassidy's death has been called the "spark that ignited the Alliance missionary blaze."
  • 1888 - Jonathan Goforth sails to China; Student Volunteer Movement for foreign missions officially organized with John R. Mott as chairman and Robert Wilder as traveling secretary. The movement's motto, coined by Wilder, was: "The evangelization of the world in this generation.; Scripture Gift Mission (now Lifewords) founded
  • 1889 - Missionary linguist and folklorist Paul Olaf Bodding arrives in India, Santhal Parganas, and continues the work among the Santals started by Skrefsrud and Børresen in 1867; North Africa Mission enters Tripolimarker as first Protestant mission in Libyamarker
  • 1890 - Central American Mission founded by C. I. Scofield, editor of the Scofield Reference Bible ; Methodist Charles Gabriel writes missionary song "Send the Light"; John Livingston Nevius of China visits Korea to outline his strategy for missions: 1) Each believer should be a productive member of society and active in sharing his faith; 2) The church in Korea should be distinctly Korean and free of foreign control; 3) The leaders of the Korean church will be selected and trained from its members; 4) Church buildings will be built by Koreans with their own resources
  • 1891 - Samuel Zwemer goes to Arabia ; Helen Chapman sails for the Congo (Zaire). She married a Danish missionary, William Rasmussen, whom she met during the voyage.
  • 1892 - Redcliffe Collegemarker, Centre for Mission Training founded in Chelsea, Londonmarker
  • 1893 - Eleanor Chestnut goes to China as Presbyterian medical missionary ; Sudan Interior Mission founded by Rowland Bingham, a graduate of Nyack College
  • 1894 - Soatanana Revival begins among Lutheran and LMS churches in Madagascarmarker, lasting 80 years
  • 1895 - Africa Inland Mission formed by Peter Cameron Scott; Japan Bible Society established; Roland Allen sent as missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to its North China Mission. Amy Carmichael arrives in India.
  • 1896 - Ödön Scholtz founds the first Hungarian Lutheran foreign mission periodical Külmisszió
  • 1897 - Presbyterian Church begins work in Venezuelamarker
  • 1898 - Theresa Huntington leaves her New England home for the Middle East. For seven years she will work as an American Board missionary in Elazığmarker (Kharput) in the Ottoman Empire. Her letters home will be published in a book titled Great Need over the Water ; Archibald Reekie of the Canadian Baptist Ministries arrives in Oruro as the first Protestant missionary to Boliviamarker. The work of Canadian Baptists led to the guarantee of freedom of religion in Bolivia in 1905.
  • 1899 - James Rodgers arrives in Philippinesmarker with the Presbyterian Mission ; Central American Mission enters Guatemalamarker


1900 to 1949

  • 1900 - American Friends open work in Cubamarker; Ecumenical Missionary Conference in Carnegie Hallmarker, New York (162 mission boards represented); 189 missionaries and their children killed in Boxer Rebellion in China; South African Andrew Murray writes The Key to the Missionary Problem in which he challenges the church to hold weeks of prayer for the world
  • 1901 - Nazarene John Diaz goes to Cape Verdemarker Islands; Maude Cary sails for Moroccomarker; Oriental Missionary Society founded by Charles Cowman (his wife is the compiler of popular devotional book Streams in the Desert); Missionary James Chalmers killed and eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guineamarker
  • 1902 - Swiss members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Missions in Many Lands (CMML) enter Laosmarker ; California Yearly Meeting of Friends opens work in Guatemalamarker
  • 1903 - Church of the Nazarene enters Mexico
  • 1904 - Premillennialist theologian William Eugene Blackstone begins teaching that the world has already been evangelized, citing Acts 2:5, 8:4, Mark 16:20 and Colossians 1:23
  • 1905 - Gunnerius Tollefsen is converted at a Salvation Army meeting under the preaching of Samuel Logan Brengle. Later he would become a missionary to the Belgian Congo and then first mission secretary of the Norwegian Pentecostal movement.
  • 1906 - The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) opens work in Venezuelamarker with T. J. Bach and John Christiansen
  • 1907 - Massive revival meetings in Koreamarker; Harmon Schmelzenbach sails for Africa; Presbyterians and Methodists open Union Theological Seminary in Manilamarker, Philippines; Bolivian Indian Mission founded by George Allen
  • 1908 - Gospel Missionary Union opens work in Colombiamarker with Charles Chapman and John Funk; Assemblies of God enter Romemarker and southern Italymarker as well as Egyptmarker
  • 1909 - Pentecostal movement reaches Chilemarker through ministry of American Methodist Willis Hoover
  • 1910 - C.T. Studd establishes Heart of Africa Mission, now called WEC International ; Edinburgh Missionary Conference held in Scotlandmarker, presided over by John Mott, beginning modern Protestant ecumenical cooperation in missions
  • 1911 - Christian & Missionary Alliance enters Cambodiamarker and Vietnammarker
  • 1912 - Conference of British Missionary Societies formed ; International Review of Missions begins publication
  • 1913 - African-American Eliza George sails from New York for Liberiamarker ; William Whiting Borden dies in Egypt while preparing to take the gospel to the Muslims in China
  • 1914-1918 World War I numerous missionaries in Africa and Asia in British, French, German and Belgian colonies are expelled or detained for the duration of the war, if their nation was at war with the colonial authority
  • 1914 - Large-scale revival movement in Uganda; C.T. Studd reports a revival movement in the Congo
  • 1915 - Founded in 1913 in Nanjingmarker, China as a women's Christian college, Ginling College officially opens with eight students and six teachers. It was supported by four missions: the Northern Baptists, the Christian Church , the Methodists, and the Presbyterians.
  • 1916 - Rhenish missionaries are forced to leave Ondjivamarker in southern Angolamarker under pressure from the Portuguese authorities and Chief Mandume of the Kwanyama. By then, four congregations existed with a confessing membership of 800.
  • 1917 - Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA) founded
  • 1919 - The Union Version of Bible in Chinese is published; Gospel Missionary Union enters Sudan
  • 1920 - Baptist Mid-Missions formed by William Haas ;Church of the Nazarene enters Syriamarker; Columbans enter Australia and New Zealandmarker
  • 1921 - Founding of International Missionary Council (IMC); Norwegian Mission Council formed; Columbans enter China
  • 1922 - Nazarenes enter Mozambiquemarker
  • 1923 - Scottish missionaries begin work in British Togoland
  • 1924 - Bible Churchman's Missionary Society opens work in Upper Burmamarker ; Baptist Mid-Missions begins work in Venezuelamarker
  • 1925 - E. Stanley Jones, Methodist missionary to India, writes The Christ of the Indian Road
  • 1927 - East African revival movement (Balokole) emerges in Rwanda and moves across several other countries
  • 1928 - Cuba Bible Institute (West Indies Mission) opens; Jerusalem Conference of International Missionary Council; foundation of Borneo Evangelical Mission by Hudson Southwell, Frank Davidson and Carey Tolley.
  • 1929 - Christian & Missionary Alliance enters East Borneo (Indonesia) and Thailand
  • 1930 - Christian & Missionary Alliance starts work among Baouli tribe in the Côte d'Ivoiremarker
  • 1931 - Franciscan missionary the Venerable Gabriele Allegra arrives in Hunanmarker China from Italy to start translating the Bible
  • 1931 - HCJBmarker radio station started in Quitomarker, Ecuador by Clarence Jones ; Baptist Mid-Missions enters Liberiamarker
  • 1932 - Assemblies of God open mission work in Colombiamarker; Laymen's Missionary Inquiry report published
  • 1933 - Gladys Aylward (subject of movie "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness") arrives in China; Columbans enter Koreamarker
  • 1934 - William Cameron Townsend begins the Summer Institute of Linguistics; Columbans enter Japan
  • 1935 - Frank C. Laubach, American missionary to the Philippinesmarker, perfects the "Each one teach one" literacy program, which has been used worldwide to teach 60 million people to read
  • 1936 - With the outbreak of civil war in Spainmarker, missionaries are forced to leave that country.
  • 1937 - After expulsion of missionaries from Ethiopiamarker by Italian invaders, widespread revival erupts among Protestant (SIM) churches in south; Child Evangelism Fellowship founded by Jesse Irvin Overholzer
  • 1938 - West Indies Mission enters Dominican Republicmarker; Church Missionary Society forced out of Egyptmarker; Madras World Missionary Conference held; Dr. Orpha Speicher completes construction of Reynolds Memorial Hospital in central India
  • 1939-1945 World War II numerous missionaries in Africa and Asia in British, French and Belgian colonies are expelled or detained for the duration of the war, if their nation was at war with the colonial authority
  • 1939 - A sick missionary, Joy Ridderhof, makes a recording of gospel songs and a message and sends it into the mountains of Honduras. It is the beginning of Gospel Recordings
  • 1940 - Marianna Slocum begins translation work in Mexico; Military police in Japan arrest the executive officers of the Salvation Army
  • 1942 - William Cameron Townsend founds Wycliffe Bible Translators; New Tribes mission founded with a vision to reach the tribal peoples of Boliviamarker
  • 1943 - Five missionaries with New Tribes Mission martyred; 11 American Baptist missionaries beheaded in the Philippines by Japanese soldiers
  • 1944 - Missionaries return to Suki, Papua New Guineamarker after withdrawal of the Japanese military
  • 1945 - Mission Aviation Fellowship formed ; Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) founded; Evangelical Foreign Missions Association formed by denominational mission boards
  • 1945 - The Venerable Gabriele Allegra establishes the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Beijing
  • 1946 - First Inter-Varsity missionary convention (now called "Urbana") ; United Bible Societies formed
  • 1947 - Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society begins work among the Senufo people in the Côte d'Ivoire
  • 1948 - Alfredo del Rosso merges his Italian Holiness Mission with the Church of the Nazarene, thus opening Nazarene work on the European continent; Southern Baptist Convention adopts program calling for the tripling of the number of missionaries (achieved by 1964
  • 1949 - Southern Baptist Mission board opens work in Venezuelamarker, Mary Tripp sent out by CEF Child Evangelism Fellowship to the Netherlands.


1950 to 1999

  • 1950 - Paul Orjala arrives in Haitimarker; radio station 4VEH, owned by East and West Indies Bible Mission, starts broadcasting from near Cap Haitienmarker, Haiti
  • 1951 - World Evangelical Alliance organized; Bill and Vonette Bright create Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLAmarker; Alaska Missions is founded (later to be renamed InterAct Ministries).
  • 1952 - Trans World Radio founded
  • 1953 - Walter Trobisch, who would publish I loved a girl in 1962, begins pioneer missionary work in northern Cameroonmarker
  • 1954 - Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities opens work in Cubamarker; Argentina Revival breaks out during Tommy Hicks crusade; Augustinians re-established in Japan; Columbans enter Chilemarker
  • 1955 - Donald McGavran publishes Bridges of God ; Dutchmarker missionary "Brother Andrew" makes first of many Bible smuggling trips into Communist Eastern Europe;
  • 1956 - U.S. missionaries Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Edward McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian are killed by Huaorani Indians in eastern Ecuadormarker. (See Operation Auca)
  • 1957 - East Asia Christian Conference (EACC) founded at Prapat, Sumatra, Indonesia
  • 1958 - Rochunga Pudaite completes translation of Bible into Hmar language (India) and was appointed the leader of the Indo-Burma Pioneer Mission; Missionaries Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint make first peaceful contact with the Huaorani tribe in Ecuadormarker.
  • 1959 - Radio Lumiere founded in Haitimarker by West Indies Mission (now World Team); Josephine Makil becomes the first African-American to join Wycliffe Bible Translators; Feba Radio founded in UK.
  • 1960 - Kenneth Strachan starts Evangelism-in-Depth in Central America ; 18,000 people in Moroccomarker reply to newspaper ad by Gospel Missionary Union offering free correspondence course on Christianity; Loren Cunningham founds Youth with a Mission ; The Asia Evangelistic Fellowship (AEF), one of the largest Asian indigenous missionary organisations, is launched in Singapore by G. D. James
  • 1961 - International Christian radio stations now number 30
  • 1962 - Don Richardson goes to Sawi tribe in Papua New Guineamarker ; Operation Mobilisation founded in Mexicomarker by George Verwer
  • 1963 - Theological Education by Extension movement launched in Guatemalamarker by Ralph Winter and James Emery
  • 1964 - In separate incidents, rebels in the Congomarker kill missionaries Paul Carlson and Irene Ferrel as well as brutalizing missionary doctor Helen Roseveare ; Carlson is featured on December 4 TIME magazine cover; Hans von Staden of the Dorothea Mission proposes to Patrick Johnstone that he write the book now titled Operation World
  • 1966 - Red Guards destroy churches in China; Berlin Congress on Evangelism ; Missionaries expelled from Burmamarker; God's Smuggler published
  • 1967 - All foreign missionaries expelled from Guineamarker
  • 1968 - The Studium Biblicum Translation of the Bible is published in Chinese by the Venerable Gabriele Allegra
  • 1968 - Wu Yung and others form the Chinese Missions Overseas in order to send out missionaries from Taiwanmarker to do cross-cultural ministry; Augustinian order re-established in India
  • 1969 - OMF International begins "industrial evangelism" to Taiwan's factory workers
  • 1970 - Frankfurt Declaration on Mission; Operation Mobilisation launches MV Logos ship; Abp. Makarios III (Mouskos) of Cyprus baptizes 10,000 into the Orthodox Church in Kenya.
  • 1971 - Gustavo Gutierrez publishes A Theology of Liberation
  • 1972 - American Society of Missiology founded with journal Missiology
  • 1973 - Services by Billy Graham attract four and a half million people in six cities of Korea; first All-Asa Mission Consultation convenes in Seoul, Korea with 25 delegates from 14 countries
  • 1974 - Missiologist Ralph Winter talks about "hidden" or unreached peoples at Lausanne Congress of World Evangelism . Lausanne Covenant is written and ratified
  • 1975 - Missionaries Armand Doll and Hugh Friberg imprisoned in Mozambiquemarker after communist takeover of government
  • 1976 - U.S. Center for World Mission founded in Pasadena, Californiamarker; 1600 Chinese assemble in Hong Kongmarker for the Chinese Congress on World Evangelization; Islamic World Congress calls for withdrawal of Christian missionaries; Peace Child by Don Richardson appears in Reader's Digest.
  • 1977 - Evangelical Fellowship of India sponsors the All-India Congress on Mission and Evangelization
  • 1978 - LCWE Consultation on Gospel and Culture in Willowbank, Bermuda ; Columbans enter Taiwanmarker
  • 1979 - Production of JESUS film commissioned by Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ ; Ted Fletcher founds Pioneers, a missionary agency with a focus on "unreached people groups"; Columban missionaries enter Pakistanmarker at the request of the Bishop of Lahore
  • 1980 - Philippine Congress on Discipling a Whole Nation ; Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism Conference in Pattaya
  • 1981 - Colombian terrorists kidnap and kill Wycliffe Bible Translator Chet Bitterman; Project Pearl: one million Bibles are delivered in a single night to thousands of waiting believers in China
  • 1982 - Story on "The New Missionary" makes December 27 cover of TIME magazine ; Andes Evangelical Mission (formerly Bolivian Indian Mission merges into SIM (formerly Sudan Interior Mission
  • 1983 - Missionary Athletes International, a global soccer ministry, founded by Tim Conrad
  • 1984 - Founding of The Mission Society for United Methodists, a voluntary missionary sending agency within the United Methodist Church; rebranded in 2006 to The Mission Society; Founding of STEM (Short Term Evangelical Mission teams) ministry by Roger Petersen signals the rising importance of Short-term missions groups
  • 1985 - Howard Foltz founds Accelerating International Mission Strategies (AIMS)
  • 1987 - Second International Conference on Missionary Kids (MKs) held in Quitomarker, Ecuadormarker
  • 1989 - Adventures In Missions (AIM) Short-term missions agency founded by Seth Barnes; Lausanne II, a world missions conference; concept of 10/40 Window emerges ; "Ee-Taow" video released by New Tribes Mission
  • 1991 - The Marxist government of Ethiopiamarker is overthrown and missionaries are able to return to that country
  • 1992 - World Gospel Mission (National Holiness Missionary Society) starts work in Uganda
  • 1993 - Trans World Radio starts broadcasting from a 250,000-watt shortwave transmitter in Russia
  • 1994 - Liibaan Ibraahim Hassan, a convert to Christianity in Somaliamarker, is martyred by Islamic militants in the capital city of Mogadishumarker;
  • 1995 - Missionary Don Cox abducted in Quitomarker, Ecuador
  • 1996 - Nazarenes enter Hungarymarker, Kazakhstanmarker, Pakistanmarker
  • 1997 - Foreign Mission Board and Home Mission Board of Southern Baptist Convention become the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board with ten thousand missionaries
  • 1999 - Trans World Radio goes on the air from Grigoriopol (Moldova) using a 1-million-watt AM transmitter; Veteran Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons are burned alive by Hindu extremists as they are sleeping in a car in eastern India.


2000 to present

  • 2000 - Asia College of Ministry (ACOM), a ministry of Asia Evangelistic Fellowship (AEF), was launched by Jonathan James, to train national missionaries in Asia.
  • 2001 - New Tribes Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham are kidnapped in the Philippines by Muslim terrorist group; Baptist missionary Roni Bowers and her infant daughter are killed when a Peruvian Air Force jet fires on their small float-plane. Though severely wounded in both legs, missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson landed the burning plane on the Amazon River.
  • 2003 - Publication of Back To Jerusalem Called to Complete the Great Commission - Three Chinese Church Leaders with Paul Hattaway brings Chinese and Korean mission movement to forefront; Coptic priest Fr. Zakaria Botros begins his television and internet mission to Muslims in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and western countries, resulting in thousands of conversions.
  • 2004 - Four Southern Baptist missionaries are killed by gunman in Iraqmarker
  • 2006 - Abdul Rahman, an Afghan Christian convert, is forced out of Afghanistan by local Muslim leaders and exiled to Italy. Missionary Vijay Kumar is publicly stoned by Hindu extremists for Christian preaching.
  • 2007 Kriol Bible completed, the first translation of the entire Bible into an Australian indigenous language


Footnotes

References

  • Anderson, Gerald H.,(ed.) Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1998
  • Bainbridge, William F. Around the World Tour of Christian Missions: A Universal Survey (1882) 583 pages; full text online
  • Barrett, David, ed. World Christian Encyclopedia, Oxford University Press, 1982
  • Etherington, Norman, ed. Missions and Empire (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series) (2008)
  • Gailey, Charles R. and Howard Culbertson. Discovering Missions, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2007
  • Glazier, Michael and Monika K. Hellwig, eds., The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia, Liturgical Press, 2004
  • Glover, Robert H. The Progress of World-Wide Missions, rev. by J. Herbert Kane., Harper and Row, 1960
  • Herbermann, Charles George. The Catholic Encyclopedia, The Encycylopedia Press, 1913
  • Herzog, Johann Jakob, Philip Schaff, and Albert Hauck. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 12 volumes, Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1910-11
  • Kane, J. Herbert. A Concise History of the Christian World Mission, Baker, 1982
  • Laroutette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity, 2 vol 1975
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 volumes, (1938-45), the most detailed scholarly history
  • Moreau, A. Scott, David Burnett, Charles Edward van Engen and Harold A. Netland. Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, Baker Book House Company, 2000
  • Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Penguin Books, 1986
  • Newcomb, Harvey. A Cyclopedia of Missions: Containing a Comprehensive View of Missionary Operations Throughout the World : with Geographical Descriptions, and Accounts of the Social, Moral, and Religious Condition of the People (1860) 792 pages complete text online
  • Olson, C. Gordon. What in the World is God Doing? Global Gospel Publishers, 2003
  • Parker, J. Fred. Mission to the World. Nazarene Publishing House, 1988
  • Pocock, Michael, Gailyn Van Rheenen, Douglas McConnell. The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues And Trends (2005); 391 pages
  • Tucker, Ruth. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. 2004
  • Tucker, Ruth. Guardians of the Great Commission. 1988
  • Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church. 1959



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