Celebrating 200 Years of Mission Society Sending

In this special issue of Mission Frontiers we celebrate 200 years of mission society sending of missionaries. What have we learned in the last 200 years? How far have we come? Can we complete the task of reaching all peoples?

This Month's Articles

Two Hundred Years of Pursuing God’s Heart for All Peoples Editorial

Two Hundred Years of Pursuing God’s Heart for All Peoples

In this special issue of Mission Frontiers we celebrate 200 years of mission society sending of missionaries. What have we learned in the last 200 years? How far have we come? Can we complete the task of reaching all peoples?

Tags: mission society, sending

Endurance Personified in the Life of Judson Feature

Endurance Personified in the Life of Judson

Adoniram Judson and his wife, Nancy (also called Ann), went out in 1812 as one of the first North American Missionaries. They sailed to Burma knowing full well that sufferings lay ahead – a significant lesson to us Christians 200 yeas later whose first question is often, “Is it safe to go there?” Indeed, the most striking aspect of the Judson-Burma story is endurance in spite of hardship.

Tags: judson, pioneer

North American Mission from Judsons to Global Christianity Feature

North American Mission from Judsons to Global Christianity

Events over the past two hundred years have transported us to a world radically different than that of the Judsons. When they sailed out of Salem Harbor in 1812, 20% of the world was Christian and over 90% of all Christians were Europeans. In 2012, the world is about 33% Christian and only about 25% of all Christians worldwide are Europeans. The question remains: how did we get from 1812 to 2012?

Tags: history, progress

What Happened to the Others Who Sailed? Feature

What Happened to the Others Who Sailed?

Two couples and two single men left along with Adoniram and Ann Judson in February 1812. The eight were sent out by the newly organized American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. What happened to the others who sailed to India that month?

Tags: history, missionary

Three Missionary Wives Feature

Three Missionary Wives

the Martyr, the Heroine, the Forgotten

United at first by circumstances, by similar spiritual experiences, and by shared goals, the lives of Harriet Newell, Ann Judson, and Roxana Nott demonstrated how a range of hard realities could reshape mission theory and dictate practice.

Tags: family, history, women

North American Pioneer Missionaries Before 1812 Feature

North American Pioneer Missionaries Before 1812

This year’s mission bicentennial draws attention to the first North American missionaries who were sent out by an organized mission society. That sending precipitated the sending of hundreds of thousands of North American missionaries who followed after them right up until today. However, it needs to be remembered that there were those who had engaged in cross-cultural and even cross-country missionary work before 1812. Here is a look at some of the better known.

Tags: history, pioneer

Learn from Our Mistakes Feature

Learn from Our Mistakes

It would seem clear that Asian mission leaders (and others) have a great advantage in being able to learn from the mistakes of Western agencies. The twelve “mistakes” of Western churches and agencies, as described below, are my best understanding of the lessons mission leaders can and should learn from the mistakes the West has made.

Tags: mistakes

What Have We Learned From 200 Years of Doing Missions? Feature

What Have We Learned From 200 Years of Doing Missions?

Various Leaders Share Their Views

Reliving the movements of Acts has moved from a remote possibility to a realistic faith-filled expectation with each generation. To believe that we have arrived would be a naïve assumption. However, what we have learned in 200 years of missionary history is bearing fruit in unprecedented ways. Various North American mission leaders share their views here.

Tags: history, training

Reproducing Fishers of Men Other

Reproducing Fishers of Men

Jesus didn’t explain in advance everything His disciples would need to know; instead He gave them His Holy Spirit to continue their training after His departure. Despite the unavailability of the tools we depend on today, explosive growth continued as Jesus-followers received Spirit-led ministry from one another in small groups. Where Jesus’ training model is adapted today, the results are still “turning the world upside down.”

Tags: holy spirit, training

Building Momentum Other

Building Momentum

Report from the Global Network of Centers for World Mission

Over thirty years ago it was proposed at a world-level meeting known as Edinburgh 1980 that a network and movement of centers for world mission be formed. Since that time what has become known as the Global Network of Centers for World Mission has been formed to link national mission centers around the world. In December of 2011 a three-day gathering was held for such centers to discuss issues related to strategy, mobilization, training and thinking about what is next.

Tags: mobilization, resource, strategy, training

Introducing the Global Great Commission Network Other

Introducing the Global Great Commission Network

What is the state of the Great Commission today? This is a question which should rightly concern every believer. Yet, remarkably, even many mission and church leaders remain unaware of the progress being made towards discipling all peoples in our generation. A special network has been formed to give leadership to the vision of assessing, promoting, and resourcing disciple-making movements among every nation, tribe, people, and language.

Tags: great commission, network

Further Reflections

Religion-Bashing or Faith-Sowing

Do we believe that we must put down another person’s religion or beliefs in order to convince them of the gospel? Do we need to say, directly or indirectly: “My Christianity is better than your xyz?” It makes us feel better to be “right,” but just as often this other person also things he is “right,” so it shuts down the opportunity to talk further.

Tags: discipleship