Protestant Missionary Movement

Lesson 12

Objectives: Lesson 12• Describe the widening sense in European Protestantism of the

universality of the gospel and discuss the theological and evangelical impulses behind the modern missions movement

• Describe the factors that impelled the beginnings of Protestant missions, especially the life and work of William Carey (1761-1834) and Adoniram Judson (1788-1850)

• Compare methods the church used to implement her mission in history with present attempts to meet fresh challenges facing the church today

• Describe some of the ways in which Christianity grew in various Asian countries

• Describe the development of missions in the South Pacific– Term Paper Project– Hymn Project– Articles of Faith– TULIP– Wesleyan Quadrilateral

European Protestantism• Describe the widening sense in

European Protestantism of the universality of the gospel and discuss the theological and evangelical impulses behind the modern missions movement

– Protestant Calvinism did not promote missions

– Pietists and the Moravian groups felt that their message needed to be spread

• To their own people in remote locations (USA / Africa)

• To foreigners

European Protestantism

– As strict Calvinism was rejected, the call for saving the souls of others grew

• instead of "God will save them" it became "We must at least preach that they may hear and respond"

Early Protestant missions groups (1700’s)

• Catholics! :-) Don't forget, they were there the whole time!

– First Spain and Portugal– Then France

• England - SPCK and SPG– Wesley went with SPG to Georgia– Whitefield too

• Danish Pietists to India• Moravians• German and Swiss• London Missionary Society (1795)• Church Missionary Society (1799)

1800’s

• Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (1817)– South Pacific– Americas

• American Board of Commissionares for Foreign Missions (1820)– To Hawaii

• At first, these societies were basically non-denominational. 100 years later most joined with denominations for administrative or financial support.

South Pacific Missions

• LMS sent missionaries to Tahiti - 1796

– John Williams killed in Tonga 1839

– Tonga - Methodists from 1820s

– Samoa

• CMS to New Zealand (1814)

Factors that impelled the beginnings of Protestant missions

• Describe the factors that impelled the beginnings of Protestant missions, especially the life and work of William Carey (1761-1834) and Adoniram Judson (1788-1850)

• Protestant Missionary assumptions:

– Humans are basically the same spiritually

– Humans are equal in God's sight– Other religions are inadequate or

evil– My culture is better (oops!)

William Carey – “Father of Protestant

Missions” was actually not the

first.

Compare methods• Compare methods the church used to

implement her mission in history with present attempts to meet fresh challenges facing the church today

• Catholic Missions:– Focus on giving clergy positions only

to Europeans with training– Focus on Christianizing, but not

elevating– "Paternalistic" Father-child

relationship• Local people not trained because

“they cannot do the work as well”

Early Protestant Missions:

• Focus on equality and Christianizing

• Focus on cultural superiority

• Converts could sometimes be leaders if they changed culture

Later Protestant Missions:

• Increasing discomfort with "Westernizing" or "civilizing"

• Quickly transfer leadership to national pastors and lay people

• 3-self churches: self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating (spread)

– But where is the "body" in 3-self?– 3-self is a good phase of missions– Interdependence has great value

• Schools are expensive and disappointing• Schools should only be for training pastors and

teachers– They should serve the church– They should be in vernacular

• Translation efforts are important• Missionaries should not get involved in politics

– These views diminished during the 1890's due to "high colonialism"

• Compassionate Ministries became a focus• Sometimes to the neglect of evangelism• Often seen as working hand-in-hand

Describe some of the ways in which Christianity grew in various

Asian countries• William Carey (1761-1834) to India • Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) - China• China and most of Asia affected by

Communist growth in 1950's– Most missionaries were forced out– Church forced "underground"– Extreme persecution

• Nationals had to take full responsibility• Today some estimates say that over

30,000 Chinese people come to Christ every day!

• Back to Jerusalem Movement - Chinese missionaries want to evangelize from their country to Jerusalem and "complete the circle"

Back to Jerusalem

Describe the development of missions in the South Pacific

• Captain Cook sailed the South Pacific and wrote letters that people in England read.

– Stirred clergy and laity– Catholics had not come to the South

Sea– Formed an interdenominational group

called London Missionary Society (LMS)

• Send missionaries to Tahiti or other islands• Mostly British at first• Most did not want American or British

control of islands until French Catholics arrived around 1850

• Early missionaries were very opposed to Catholics

Early missionaries faced several problems:

• Animist religion (worshipping rocks / animals / appease spirits) often made visitors unwelcome. A curse would come if new people arrived.

• Ocean transportation• European traders that would stir up the nationals against the missionaries

• Temptations

1797 39 Missionaries from LMS arrived in Tahiti

• Many were curious about these new missionaries

• Well received and taken care of• But no signs of success for 16 years!• Many went home, 3 went "native"• Henry Nott stayed with the mission

through many trials. Finally the king of Tahiti gave up his idols, was baptized 7 years later, and the people were able to openly accept Christ.

• Infanticide and cannibalism stopped• Tahitian Christians became a major

missionary force to Tonga, Samoa, New Caledonia, New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and Cook Islands

10 went on to Tonga with Captain Wilson

• Not well received• Sailors that had run away

were on Tonga– They made fun of the

missionaries– They tempted the missionaries

to join them in sexual immorality and drinking - 1 did!

– Civil War and 3 missionaries died, the others had to be rescued

– LMS Mission to Tonga failed

In 1820 Wesleyan Methodists came and were more successful in Tonga• New Zealand Maori• Tonga

– LMS Missionary John Williams took Fauea and his family back to Samoa and started the church work there.

– Fauea said that their biggest opposition would be the high priest of the animist religion.

– The priest died 3 weeks before the arrival of Fauea and Williams, and no new priest was named!

http://amazingchronoscope.blogspot.com/2012/08/samoan-child-on-london-missionary.htmlhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/5-TALA-Banknote-SAMOA-1985-COASTAL-Harbor-View-UNC-/380212934975

Further Expansion of Missions work

• Fiji

• New Guinea

• New Britain

• Northern Solomons

Solomon Island Missions development

• Spanish Catholic explorer baptized some people of Makira Island (1568). They did not know why.

• 1845 French Catholic Jean-Baptise Epalle, who was killed his first day on land. Catholics did not return until 1898.

• 1852 Anglican missionaries to Norfolk Island took young boys to New Zealand for schooling and brought them back to do evangelism. Today Anglicanism is the largest denomination in Solomon Islands.

• SSEC (Queensland Kanaka Mission) in 1894 with Peter Abu'ofa. It became SSEC in 1907.

• Methodist Mission arrived in 1902 in New Georgia. They relied heavily on islanders from other countries.

• 1914 Seventh Day Adventists arrive in Western Solomons

• 1971 Assembly of God• 1977 Jehovah's Witness• 1992 Nukukaisi Church of the Nazarene with Dickson

Manongi and Wallace White. :-)• See _00_Religion in Day 09 for chart and table of

membership

SSEC

Missions is at home and missions is overseas.

• Missionary is a Christian ministering cross-culturally

• Much Solomon islands missions is cross-cultural!

• 7 billion people live on Earth, 1/3 have never heard of Jesus - what will you do?

Homework

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?sa=X&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=938&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=KI1mLgdhXdgVGM:&imgrefurl=http://www.uq.edu.au/hprc/beattie-savo-guadalcanal&docid=kR_EDv2aYCPJqM&imgurl=http://www.uq.edu.au/hprc/docs/solomon/Guadalcanal%252520Beattie%252520655%252520Memorial%252520Cross%252520Pioneer%252520Missionary%252520Guadalcanal%252520SINM.jpg&w=750&h=566&ei=QAxJUt2kAojMyQGJ3IHwBg&zoom=1

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?sa=X&hl=en&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=EsMqGWMbTnoUuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.janeresture.com/isabel/&docid=IxuXFNSY3HC95M&imgurl=http://www.janeresture.com/isabel/melanesian%252520missionary.jpg&w=354&h=231&ei=QAxJUt2kAojMyQGJ3IHwBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:38,s:0,i:200&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=181&tbnw=255&start=30&ndsp=39&tx=99&ty=81&biw=1920&bih=938

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?sa=X&hl=en&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=r-20oE4wUbYFyM:&imgrefurl=http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/oferrall_santacruz1908/&docid=JafJ5SiWsZV0QM&imgurl=http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/oferrall_santacruz1908/school_wilson.jpg&w=700&h=467&ei=QAxJUt2kAojMyQGJ3IHwBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:53,s:0,i:245&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=170&tbnw=262&start=30&ndsp=39&tx=138&ty=94&biw=1920&bih=938

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?sa=X&hl=en&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=7x6KRvTdapn6HM:&imgrefurl=http://www.postcardman.net/solomon.html&docid=o4S3G0AXLMh5QM&imgurl=http://www.postcardman.net/200046.jpg&w=430&h=281&ei=QAxJUt2kAojMyQGJ3IHwBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:76,s:0,i:314&iact=rc&page=3&tbnh=181&tbnw=270&start=69&ndsp=41&tx=108&ty=97&biw=1920&bih=938

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?start=519&sa=X&hl=en&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=9EbDTUHmmUDurM:&imgrefurl=http://www.greatsouthernroute.com/captains-log/sovereign-state-of-oceania/&docid=UV2WVG7LF-i_KM&imgurl=http://www.greatsouthernroute.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SOL0421.jpg&w=510&h=344&ei=JQ1JUqSUKIapyAHO5oCwBA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:60,s:500,i:184&iact=rc&page=14&tbnh=184&tbnw=255&ndsp=43&tx=135&ty=91&biw=1920&bih=938

http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/An+Otago+Storeman+in+Solomon+Islands/10011/ch03.html

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahiti

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Tahiti

http://www.google.com.sb/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chrisrainey.com/images/2449-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.chrisrainey.com/index.php%3Fs%3D116%26clr%3D1&usg=__o3JR9EgKdZbYVp3FA7JYALItiYA=&h=570&w=876&sz=95&hl=en&start=20&zoom=1&tbnid=MUKiiZaFEC8UYM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=146&ei=HgxJUuDgBO2MyAHi14CYDA&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0CFEQrQMwEw