Missionary

One sent to proclaim the good news of Christ. The term is from the Latin “to send.” All Christians by baptism are called to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” (BCP, p. 305). The church seeks to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. The church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members (BCP, p. 855). The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church includes all members of the Episcopal Church.

After the resurrection, Jesus commanded the 11 remaining disciples to proclaim the good news to the whole creation (Mk 16:15; see Mt 28:19-20). He promised the apostles that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them and that they would be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Christians were scattered during the persecution of the church that followed Stephen’s martyrdom. Those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word (Acts 8:4; see Acts 11:19). After his conversion to Christianity, Paul undertook three missionary journeys (see Acts 13-14, 15:36-18:21, 18:23-21:16). Paul’s missionary work was shared with other missionaries such as Timothy and Silvanus (2 Cor 1:19) and Titus (2 Cor 8:23). In the following centuries, the Christian faith spread widely through the work of missionaries. Noted Christian missionaries have included Augustine of Canterbury in England, Patrick in Ireland, Boniface in Germany, Cyril and Methodius among the Slavic peoples, Gregory the Illuminator in Armenia, and Anskar in Denmark and Sweden. Jackson Kemper was chosen the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church at the 1835 General Convention. Many missionaries have paid with their lives for their calling. Martyred missionaries include Boniface and his companions in Frisia (754), James Hannington and his companions in Eastern Equatorial Africa (1885), John Coleridge Patteson and his companions in Melanesia (1871), and the martyrs of Lyons (177), Japan (1597), and New Guinea (1942).