- The history of Christianity
Christian missions
In the early 21st century about one-third of the worldâs people claimed the Christian faith. Christians thus constituted the worldâs largest religious community and embraced remarkable diversity, with churches in every nation. Christianityâs demographic and dynamic centre had shifted from its Western base to Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific region, where more than half the worldâs Christians lived. This trend steadily accelerated as the church declined in Europe. The global extent of Christianity represented a new phenomenon in the history of religions. This was the fruit of mission.
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Biblical foundations
The word mission (Latin: missio), as a translation of the Greek apostolÄ, âa sending,â appears only once in the English New Testament (Galatians 2:8). An apostle (apostolos) is one commissioned and sent to fulfill a special purpose. The roots of mission, Christians have believed, lie in Godâs active outreach to humanity in historyâas a call to those able to fulfill the divine purpose, among them Abraham, Moses, Jonah, and St. Paul the Apostle. The New Testament designated Jesus as Godâs apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Jesusâ prayer in the Gospel According to John includes the words âAs thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.⊠[I pray also] for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be oneâŠso that the world may believe that thou hast sent meâ (John 17:18, 20â21). Moreover, the âGreat Commissionâ of Jesus declares: âGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the ageâ (Matthew 28:19â20; compare Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21â22, and Acts 1:8).