The Theology of Missions

Impact of Missions
A 2012 study by political scientist Robert Woodberry, focusing on Protestant
missionaries, found that they have often left a very positive societal impact in the areas
where they worked. "In cross-national statistical analysis Protestant missions are
significantly and robustly associated with higher levels of printing, education, economic
development, organizational civil society, protection of private property, and rule of law
and with lower levels of corruption".
A 2017 study found that areas of colonial Mexico that had Mendicant missions have
higher rates of literacy and educational attainment today than regions that did not have
missions. Areas that had Jesuit missions are today indistinct from the areas that had no
missions. The study also found that "the share of Catholics is higher in regions where
Catholic missions of any kind were a historical present."
A 2016 study found that regions in Sub-Saharan Africa that Protestant missionaries
brought printing presses to are today "associated with higher newspaper readership,
trust, education, and political participation."
Missionaries have also made significant contributions to linguistics and the description
and documentation of many languages. "Many languages today exist only in missionary
records. More than anywhere else, our knowledge of the native languages in South
America has been the product of missionary activity… Without missionary
documentation the reclamation [of several languages] would have been completely
impossible" "A satisfactory history of linguistics cannot be written before the impressive
contribution of missionaries is recognized."
Lists of Prominent Missionaries
American Missionaries
Gerónimo Boscana, (Roman Catholic Franciscan) missionary
Isabel Crawford, (Baptist) missionary
Antonio de Olivares, (Roman Catholic Franciscan) missionary
Anton Docher, (Roman Catholic) missionary
Mary H. Fulton, female medical missionary to China, founder of Hackett Medical
College for Women ( 夏 葛 女 子 醫 學 院 ) in Guangzhou, China
Eusebio Kino, (Roman Catholic Jesuit) missionary
Zenas Sanford Loftis, medical missionary to Tibet
Robert E. Longacre, Christian linguist missionary to Mexico
Dada Maheshvarananda, Ananda Marga yoga missionary
Fred Prosper Manget, medical missionary to China, founder of Houzhou General
Hospital, Houzhou, China, also a doctor with the Flying Tigers and U.S. Army in
Kunming, China, during World War II
Lottie Moon, Baptist missionary to China
Arthur Lewis Piper, medical missionary to the Belgian Congo
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