Great Missionary Pioneers

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Great Missionary Pioneers

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Great Missionary Pioneers

• Aedesius and Frumentius
• (ca. 300-ca. 380)

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Aedesius and Frumentius

• The two were shipwrecked on the coast of the Red
  Sea while returning from a trading voyage in
  India.
• They became the captives (playmates?) of the
  young king Ezana, and were eventually made high
  officials in the realm of Aksum.
• Frumentius pastored the Christian population of
  the realm, and the two of them evangelized the
  royal court.
• Ezana became a Christian and made Christianity
  the state religion.
• In 346, Athanasius named Frumentius bishop of
  Aksum.

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Fruit of Frumentius Labor

• In the fifth century, Egyptian monks moved into
  Aksum and translated the Bible into the native
  language.
• The Ethiopian Church has survived
• the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth
  century
• the Islamic invasions of the seventh century
• massive political unrest throughout its history

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Frumentius Legacy

• An outstanding early example of laypeople
  spreading the message of Christ
• Nearly 1700 years of Christianity in Black Africa
• A truly indigenous form of Christianity

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Great Missionary Pioneers

• Winfrith (Boniface)
• (ca. 672-754)

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Bonifaces Life

• He went to northern Germanic tribes as a
  missionary.
• After an unsuccessful mission to Holland, he was
  commissioned by the Pope and reached northern
  Germany in 723.
• The Oak of Thor at Geismar Turning point in the
  conversion of Germanic tribes.
• He worked to organize the new churches of Germany
  and to reform existing churches in Bavaria and
  France.
• While in his 80s, he resolved to return to the
  scene of his early disappointment in Holland.
• He was murdered by a pagan mob while preparing
  for a baptismal ceremony in 754.

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Bonifaces Methods

• He used a power encounter to win a hearing.
• First he addressed himself to the upper classes,
  counting on the masses to follow once they were
  converted.
• He traveled by the usual trade routes rivers,
  roads, forest trails.
• He lived off the land and often worked with his
  hands.
• He gained acceptance since the Germanic language
  and way of life were similar to his own
  Anglo-Saxon customs.
• He established monasteries as centers of cultural
  and religious education.
• He encouraged the establishment of nunneries and
  urged women to be involved in missions as well.

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Bonifaces Influence

• Conversion of new tribes in northern Germany and
  Holland
• Organization and reform of existing Christianity
  in Bavaria and France
• Development of monasteries
• Extension of Roman ecclesiastical power over
  Germany

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An Assessment of Boniface

• Few, if any, Christian missionaries have more
  accurately presented by their conduct the ideals
  of the faith they have sought to propagate.
  Humble in spite of the temptations which come
  with high ecclesiastical position, above the
  breath of scandal, affectionate and possessed of
  a wide range of friends with whom he took the
  time and trouble to maintain his contacts, a man
  of prayer, self-reliant, courageous, burning with
  indignation against anything which caused simple
  Christians to stumble, self-sacrificing, with a
  deep and loving concern for all for whom he was
  responsible and with a passion for righteousness,
  Boniface was one of the outstanding exemplars of
  the Christian life. He was fearless in denouncing
  evil in high places and was capable of taking
  King and Pope to task.
• -- From Kenneth Latourettes A History of the
• Expansion of Christianity, vol. 2, p.
  99.

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Bonifaces Legacy

• In what ways does he inspire us?
• What aspects of his method can we use?
• What troubles us about his work?

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Great Missionary Pioneers

• Constantine Cyril
• (826-869)
• and
• Methodius
• (815-885)

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Politics and Missions

• Photius of Constantinople sought to evangelize
  non-Greek tribes, for both political and
  spiritual reasons.
• Constantine and Methodius were sent to the
  northern Caucasus, on a mission that proved to be
  unsuccessful.
• Rome and Constantinople struggled for control of
  the Western Slavic regions.
• Prince Boris of Bulgaria leaned toward the West.
• Prince Ratislav of Moravia leaned toward the
  East.
• Constantine and Methodius were sent to Moravia in
  862.

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The Moravian Mission

• Holy and profane languages
• Constantine devised the Glagolitic alphabet
  before even reaching Moravia.
• He translated the liturgy and eventually the
  whole Bible into Slavonic.
• Frankish Latin Christians in Moravia bitterly
  opposed the mission.
• Ultimately, Moravia sided with the West and
  adopted Latin as its language of worship.
• Thus, a second failed mission for Constantine and
  Methodius.

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A Failure Revisited

• In 886, Boris welcomed Slavic monks (led by
  Clement) from Moravia to Bulgaria.
• Clement had spectacular success in Bulgaria, and
  the Slavonic Bible and liturgy became firmly
  entrenched.
• The Bulgars were instrumental in evangelizing the
  Eastern Slavs.
• The baptism of Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988

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The Legacy

• An important lesson about perseverance
• An important lesson about courage and conviction
• Language, culture, and the heart

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Great Missionary Pioneers

• Francis Xavier
• (1506-1552)

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Xaviers Life

• He was born in Spain into the same situation as
  Ignatius, but he had no desire to pursue the
  soldiers calling.
• He was part of the original band of Jesuits.
• He sailed for India in 1541.
• He spent 11 years in missionary work in Goa,
  southern India, Ceylon, Malaysia, and Japan.
• He died while trying to gain entrance into
  mainland China in 1552.

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Xaviers Missionary Strategy

• Prior to his encounter with the Japanese
• The blank slate approach
• But his work in Japan forced him to re-think this
  approach completely.

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Xaviers Missionary Strategy

• With remarkable penetration he had grasped the
  social and political situation in Japan, and had
  settled on the methods which could ensure
  success. He had realized that ... conversions
  among the lower classes would never be able to
  produce a great movement towards the Faith. The
  only way to secure permanent results was to win
  over the local rulers with their almost complete
  independence. Nothing, therefore, must be
  neglected which might help to win their favour,
  their confidence, and, if possible, their
  conversion. He had understood that, if this
  proud, intelligent, logical people, with its
  passion for disputation, was ever to be won, it
  would be necessary to send missionaries of the
  highest quality, flexible enough to adapt
  themselves to the customs of the country to the
  limit of what was permitted by their faith, but
  strong enough in character to fashion their
  conduct according to the most rigid requirements
  of the faith which they taught.
• -- From Stephen Neills A History of Christian
  Missions, p. 134.

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Xaviers Influence

• He was largely responsible for the dramatic
  christianization of Goa.
• He established a Christian presence in many
  places in East Asia which had never possessed the
  gospel previously.
• He began a revolution in missionary methodology,
  a revolution which paved the way for the
  world-wide explosion of Christianity in the 19th
  and 20th centuries.

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Xaviers Legacy

• How does a top-down approach to missions fit with
  Christs concern for the disenfranchised?
• Can there be genuine conversion in
  mass-movements?
• How does a desire to be respected in a given
  society fit with Christian humility?