The Theology of Missions

cousin King Christian VI, the Moravian Church's patron Nicolas Ludwig, Count von
Zinzendorf, was very struck by its effects, and particularly by two visiting Inuit children
converted by Hans Egede. He also got to know a slave from the Danish colony in the
West Indies. When he returned to Herrnhut in Saxony, he inspired the inhabitants of the
village – it had fewer than thirty houses then – to send out "messengers" to the slaves in
the West Indies and to the Moravian missions in Greenland. Within thirty years,
Moravian missionaries had become active on every continent, and this at a time when
there were fewer than three hundred people in Herrnhut. They are famous for their
selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with the Native
Americans, the Delaware (i.e., Lenni Lenape) and Cherokee Indian tribes. Today, the
work in the former mission provinces of the worldwide Moravian Church is carried on by
native workers. The fastest-growing area of the work is in Tanzania in Eastern Africa.
The Moravian work in South Africa inspired William Carey and the founders of the
British Baptist missions. As of 2014, seven of every ten Moravians live in a former
mission field and belong to a race other than Caucasian.
Much Anglican mission work came about under the auspices of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG, founded in 1701), the Church
Missionary Society (CMS, founded 1799) and of the Intercontinental Church Society
(formerly the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society, originating in 1823).
Modern
With a dramatic increase in efforts since the 20th century, and a strong push since the
Lausanne I: The International Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland in 1974,
modern evangelical groups have focused efforts on sending missionaries to every
ethnic group in the world. While this effort has not been completed, increased attention
has brought larger numbers of people distributing Bibles, Jesus videos, and establishing
evangelical churches in more remote areas.
Internationally, the focus for many years in the later 20th century was on reaching every
"people group" with Christianity by the year 2000. Bill Bright's leadership with Campus
Crusade, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, The Joshua Project, and
others brought about the need to know who these "unreached people groups" are and
how those wanting to tell about the Christian God and share a Christian Bible could
reach them. The focus for these organizations transitioned from a "country focus" to a
"people group focus". (From "What is a People Group?" by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins: A
"people group" is an ethnolinguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by
the various members. There are two parts to that word: ethno and linguistic. Language
is a primary and dominant identifying factor of a people group. But there are other
factors that determine or are associated with ethnicity.)
What can be viewed as a success by those inside and outside the church from this
focus is a higher level of cooperation and friendliness among churches and
denominations. It is very common for those working on international fields to not only
cooperate in efforts to share their gospel message, but view the work of their groups in
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