Missionary Movements - Article Example

Missionary Movements s Religion and Theology Department 28th February Introduction Mission has always been holding asignificant place in the history of religion and church, as its primary and the most crucial purposes, evangelization and preaching the word of God to people, are an integral part of the history of Christianity. According to Bruce Shelley (2008, p.3), who tells a comprehensive and easily understood history of Christian faith in his book, Christianity in its essence was born not with the birth of Christ, but with his disciples following him. The ministry of Jesus, his sermons and help to the poor and the sick, is what ensured upcoming rise and prosperity of the new religion: mission began in the New Testament era and was aimed at spreading of Christianity across countries, particularly, European countries. Therefore, the highest goal of the mission is defined as multiplication of adherents’ number and preaching Christian doctrine to the flock. As the human was encouraged and blessed to preach the word of God to others, missionary activity has been flourishing across the world. Various missionary movements have emerged since the dawn of Christianity, whose activity is based on the wide range of instruments and strategies aimed at demonstrating the glory of God and promotion of salvation through Christian faith. As soon as a person beholds the idea of living in the Spirit and the triune God, he/she is ready to promote the fruits of Christian faith (Bosch, 2013, p. 170). The right to preach and promote one’s religion and be involved in missionary activity is unconditional both from legal and from dogmatic viewpoints. According to Jim Montgomery, the number of projects aimed at global evangelization in the history of Christianity is estimated 700 missions seeking to multiply the number of disciples, “individuals who have faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and who have become responsible church members” (Montgomery, 1989, p. ix). These missions existed in different periods and in different places, yet their strategies and methods were generally common throughout centuries. Although development of civilization contributed to establishments of new opportunities in missionary activity, main strategic lines, social groups to be affected, building of new churches and public support have been intact. It should be mentioned that missionary activity has been the core force of popularization Christianity across the globe in all historical epochs. For instance, already “in the 5th through 9th centuries, Christianity expanded throughout Europe, north to Greenland and Iceland, and among the Slavs—carried from Rome by such missionaries as St. Patrick, St. Augustine of Canterbury, and St. Boniface, and from Constantinople by two brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, missionaries to the Slavs” (Missionary movements, 2014). Many other missionary movements have emerged since that time, including the modern ones active nowadays in many countries. However, despite their common big goal and the generally similar sets of strategies applied in evangelization, these movements have always been distinct from each other in certain aspects, forming their identities under the influence of different circumstances. Of course, it is important that the missionary movements developed on the soil of different Christian denominations and lead by different founders, who sought to embody their beliefs and ideas in the activity of the missions found by them. Thus, throughout centuries, Cristian mission acquired guises of various denominations and performing the task of Great Commission in ongoing religious rivalry (Ustorf, 1998, p.592). In the history of Christianity, various missions produced much impact on religious landscape of all continents, each having its peculiarities yet complying with the ground principles of the Holy Scripture. Among them, there are Hiberno-Scottish mission, Gregorian mission, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Irish Missionary movement, the Jesuits, Dominican Order of preachers, John Eliot’s mission, the Salvation Army and many others. However, the history of missions’ development in relation to the ideas promoted by their founders cannot be viewed separately from the overall nature of missionary movements and its changes. The abyss of time separating early and contemporary missionary movements predetermines differences in their structure: whereas contemporary missions are typically characterized by a relatively clear structure, that of the early movements (when Christianity was popularized across Europe) wasn’t that distinguished. Moreover, not all missionary movements have a sole leader. Therefore, in the current paper, examples of several missionary movements will be described and analyzed in order to understand whether the founder’s ideas and beliefs really produce great impact on development of mission’s identity. Celtic Missionary Movement In the early Middle Ages, when Europe was literally torn by conquests and wars for territories, Christianity was still at its dawn. In conditions of declining moral (and growing political power) of existing kingdoms, the incentive for restoration of virtue and purity of the church was needed. Moreover, Arians and pagans surrounding Christian territories were to be civilized and tamed. It isn’t quite clear how Christian belief came to Britain and Ireland originally (Hardinge, 1995, p.5), but the incentive, the missionary movement, came from these territories, based on the doctrine of Celtic Christianity. In the secluded isles, Christianity took its peculiar trajectory, developing autonomously due to influence of St. Patrick. Therefore, the mission that formed in this territory was connected to Celtic Christian teachings and practices. The peculiarities possessed by the missionary movement were predetermined by the doctrine of Celtic Church, which implied, in particular, higher significance of monasteries. Thus, the missionary movement was monastic due to the way Celtic church was structured (Dyrness & Kärkkäinen, 2009, p.565). The sole founder of the missionary movement isn’t mentioned in the historical sources, as Celtic Christian doctrine that eventually formed the mission was constructed piece by piece by numerous members of clergy. However, history knows prominent monks spreading Celtic Christianity through their pilgrimage: for instance, St. Columba and Aidan. Having founded the monastery of Iona in 563, St. Columba preached the word of God to Scots and Picts and then moved to the continental Europe. Here, one should mention that Celtic mission experienced strong impact of monastic rule created by St. Columba, as it spread among the monks, who were engaged in an early version of religious inculturation. However, after death of the leading monks the mission declined. Dominican Order Being founded centuries later than Celtic mission, in early 1200’s, Dominican Order (or the Order of Preachers) has been following the motto “To praise, to bless to preach” in its activity till nowadays. This Roman Catholic order was established by St. Dominic de Guzman and eventually named after him. Unlike the early Christian movements, the order created with the goal to evangelize, fight heresy and preach the Gospel of Christ has a rather distinguished organizational structure and the sole Master of the Order. In the ideological and religious frameworks of the Dominicans, preachers and friars were placed in the limelight of the medieval intellectual life. The stem of the order was created by only Dominic and his six followers, who adhered to monastic rules including penance and prayer. Dominic was driven by the need of the contemporary society for some new type of organization that would address and satisfy spiritual needs of growing cities. In conditions of growing urban population, there was a need for a system combining dedication and regular education with flexibility. Thereby, Dominic wanted the order to address religious issues in the society in a more discreet way and promote spirituality and education. Moreover, the order would prepare preachers via thorough studies of theology; and these preachers would carry the word of God among people, surviving only by begging rather than by farming (like monasteries did). Education has been an integral part of the order’s values, with numerous educational institutions including universities in Bologna and Paris being founded by Dominican friars. The headquarters placed by the founder in Rome (Guiraud, 1913, p. 91) is still located there. St. Dominic played a great role in development of the order, inspiring and guiding his followers to virtue and learning and promoting the value of worldly deprivation. As the Order of preachers exists even nowadays, the traditions laid in the foundations of it are still preserved by the members. The order has survived for already eight centuries, protecting orthodoxy of Christian faith, carrying the Gospel of Christ among people and promoting education and spirituality. Thus, one can say that – in this case – the missionary movement is inseparably connected to the monastic order, which was created for the purpose of missionary activity, and bears clear imprints of the founder’s influence even nowadays. Jesuit Mission in China This mission was started by the Society of Jesus between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and became an important stage in relations between the western civilization and China and introducing Christianity to the Chinese society. The Society of Jesus was founded by Ignatius of Loyola and is, like the Dominican Order, a Catholic denomination seeking to spread Christianity among people and enhancing their spiritual life. The main principles of the Jesuit order were set forth in "Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus", where Ignatius mentioned that the soldiers of the order should serve the Lord and be ready to assist everyone who is in need, those in hospitals and prisons; the members of the orders should be ready to do all kinds of charitable work (Puca, 2008). This principles formed by the founder of the Society of Jesus persisted in their missionary work, too. Coming to China, Jesuits brought fruits of Western science and encouraged intercultural dialogue, spreading Christianity. Among others, many Chinese scholars who used Confucians adopted Christianity and entered the order of Jesuits. Considering the great role of the order’s founder in the mission, it is possible to say that Jesuit missionary movement formed its identity under the influence of Ignatius and the set of basic rules he created. Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah’s Witnesses in the denomination, which is probably the best known nowadays for its evangelization activity. Although the denomination is also Christian, some of its core beliefs are rather peculiar, for instance, belief in a non-triune God Jehovah and in the imminence of the Armageddon. The foundations of this genuinely American denomination and the mission as well were laid in 1870 by Charles Taze Russel (Rogerson, 1969, p.6), who can be considered the founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, though organization was later restructured to certain extent. In 1909, the headquarters was moved to Brooklyn in New York, where it is located nowadays. The organizational structure of the missionary movement is rather clear, with the settled hierarchy, the elective governing body and the president. Relying on the interpretations of the Bible accepted in this denomination, its adherents engage in missionary activity, which is predominantly based on preaching to and sharing the faith with people they meet. Furthermore, a special educational institution exists for teaching and training of the future missionaries, who are expected to communicate good news from the Holy Scripture to the flock. The missionary activity has long overflown beyond the borders of the U.S. spreading to numerous countries of the world including all European countries. It is clear that the essence of Jehovist beliefs as well as the identity of their missionary movement descend from the ideas promoted by Russel, the founder of the denomination. In terms of beliefs, the denomination disputes mainstream dogmas of Christianity, for instance, hellfire, the Trinity, immortality of the human soul, return of Jesus Christ and many others. In terms of missionary activity related to these beliefs, the most common approach practiced by Jehovists is preaching from house to house, i.e. simply talking to people. It was Russel, who arranged his ministry in this way travelling around the country with speaking tours aimed at encouraging people to adopt his faith. Thus, in this case, the assertion about the influence of the leader on formation of the mission’s identity is rather justified. China Inland Mission In 1865, Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) in Britain; nowadays, the mission promoting protestant faith is based in Singapore and is aimed at spreading Christianity across East Asia. China Inland Mission was originally established in the second half of the 19th century in response to the Taiping Rebellion. As the rebels proclaimed themselves Christians, interest to China sparked among British Christian public. Thus, Hudson Taylor, a Christian missionary, was sent to China to promote evangelization. Having arrived in China, Taylor decided to perform religious inculturation in a discreet way, wearing Chinese clothes and hairstyle in order not to repel the future flock. Together with William Berger, he founded China Inland Mission aimed at spreading Christian belief in numerous Chinese provinces. Later, he returned to Britain and translated Old and New Testaments into one of Chinese dialects and then came back with 21 missionary (including women) and 2 thousand pounds. The only important criterion for the candidates to participate in the mission is soundness of their faith. The only support lent to the mission was free-will offerings from the converts, going in debt was a prohibited thing in missionary activity headed by Taylor. According to Tucker, the mission was perfectly organized and systematized and embraced an extremely broad geographical area (Tucker, 1983, p.76). The Salvation Army Unlike China Inland Mission, the Salvation Army was originally established as the internal mission aimed at improvement of the condition the Victorian society was in at that time. This charitable and missionary movement created on the basis of the Protestant denomination was founded in the second half of the nineteenth century by the Methodist minister called William Booth and his wife Catherine. Beginning with the middle of the 19th century, over a half of population lived in cities, where all human vices of the Victorian society came to the surface. Vigorous urbanization triggered grim social consequences including many homeless people inhabiting suburban areas, ruining patriarchal model of the family, long and exhausting working days, poor life conditions and demoralization of the citizens belonging to the working class. Thereby, the number of roamers, alcoholics, beggars and harlots dramatically rose. Particularly, prostitution was a very disturbing issue, because young girls were often sold to brothels because of the desperate need of money (Green, 2008, p. 9). In the light of such unfavorable state of the society, the Booths created the missionary organization, which was originally called East London Cristian Mission. As far as William Booth was a protestant, he was driven by the ideas of revivalism, which he interpreted as the revival of English society. Having descended from London’s East End, the organization promoted evangelization and charitable work, spreading its beliefs around the globe. It successfully operates even nowadays, having its offices in around 100 countries. The identity of the salvation Army as of a religious mission formed in the environment of marginalized and poor social elements, to whom the couple of founders initially preached in East End. The missionaries intended to bring salvation over those miserable people through the word of God, yet their doctrine was rather specific in this respect. According to Booth, a person is able to behold the Gospel of God only when she/he has all the physical needs satisfied. Therefore, the primary target group of the Salvation Army includes alcohol/drug addicts, beggars, prostitutes and other “undesirable” social elements (Cruz, 2008, p.70). The Army’s doctrine created by the founder doesn’t include such sacraments as baptism and Holy Communion in the worship tradition. Moreover, one of the rules implies that it is more important to focus on the faith and grace themselves, than on their outer expressions. In accordance with both New and Old Testaments, the doctrine of the Army presupposes spreading Christian beliefs via sermons, converting new adherents of the faith and providing humanitarian assistance for those who are in need (creating shelters for homeless citizens, volunteer groups, soup kitchens etc.). The highest Christian mission of the Army lies in massive evangelization efforts combined with satisfaction of basic needs of people; the mission seeks to create the most favorable conditions for moral, physical and spiritual recovery for all people regardless of gender, denomination, race or age. It is also important to mention that the structure of the organization is rather well-organized, with clear hierarchy and a leader, the General. Thus, the first General was, of course, William Booth, the founder of the Army. Being a creation of a William Booth, the Salvation Army still bears much of the organizational and ideological principles, doctrine and beliefs established by him, as he personally participated in development of its identity, demonstrating his example to others, preaching and helping marginalized citizens. Whereas the details of the Army’s structure, ranks or uniforms could be altered or improved, the core principles forming the essence of the Army’s missionary activity still bear the deep imprints of the founders influence. Conclusion Moving on to the conclusion, one could state that there’s no entirely homogeneous image of the missionary movements in terms of their founders’ role. However, judging be the missions discussed in the current paper, it is possible to say that founders did really play the great role in forming of the orders’ identities. At the same time, the relation between the historical period and the level of mission’s organization can be traced. Whereas Celtic missionary movement wasn’t clearly distinguished in terms of leadership or founders, the missionary movements that emerged later are characterized by the presence of sole or multiple founders and clear connections between their beliefs and the mission’s strategies and activities. Particularly, one cannot confirm the idea of the founder’s influence in case of Celtic missions, because there was literally no founder; therefore, we cannot state whether his ideas influenced the mission’s identity formation. At the same time, looking at the Salvation Army, one of the youngest large missionary movements, one can agree that its founder and first leader, William Booth, has played a great role in the development of the mission’s identity, because most his ideas still remain highly relevant in the Army’s activity. Therefore, it would be fair to say that each missionary movement, which has a distinguished founder, experiences strong influence of his beliefs, ideas and rules, as they are often laid in the basis of the missions. References BOSCH, I. L. (2013) Christian Mission Reread in the Freedom of the Spirit. International Review Of Mission, 102, 2, p. 167. [Online] MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost. Available from http://www.ebscohost.com/ [Accessed February 28, 2015] CRUZ, S. J. (2008) An Enduring Mission. Victorian Homes 27 (6). Orange, CA: Action Pursuit Group. pp. 68–72.  DYRNESS, W. & KÄRKKÄINEN, V.-M. (2009) Global Dictionary of Theology: A Resource for the Worldwide Church. InterVarsity Press. GREEN, R. J. (2008) Catherine Booth, The Salvation Army, and the Purity Crusade of 1885. Priscilla Papers, 22, 2, pp. 9-18. [Online] Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Available from http://www.ebscohost.com/ [Accessed February 28, 2015] GUIRAUD, J. (1913) Saint Dominic. 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