Over the past century, America has stood out as a world leader in global Protestant missionary efforts. Between 1880 and 1930, the foreign mission enterprise involved tens of thousands of Americans abroad and millions at home; and it exceeded most other benevolent organizations in size and resources. American career missionaries abroad increased threefold from 11,000 in 1935 to 35,000 in 1980. By the middle of the 20th century, the United States supplied the majority of missionaries and over half of the financial support for Protestant missions worldwide. How did America arise as a world leader in missionary activity?

By reviewing and analyzing salient historical details, several reasons can be surmised for the growth and expansion of the Protestant missionary movement in the United States.

Historical Background

Though the Reformation of the 16th century offered a great deal toward the reshaping of the church, a proliferation of missionary effort was not one of its immediate effects. Thus, it is interesting to note that the first Protestants who fled persecution in Europe for the freedom of the New World were strongly mission-minded.

The Puritans, who sought after God's glory above all else, exemplified this mindset. These pioneers had an authentic sense of God's sovereignty that caused them to see their colonial adventure as a grand mission that was important in God's design in history.

When Native Americans began converting to Christianity, the new settlers were convinced that the worldwide reign of Christ was at hand.

The evangelistic efforts of John Eliot and Cotton Mather among the native Indians would be followed by such notable figures as David and John Brainerd. These men, like so many other settlers, exemplified an ideal that would not soon be lost on generations of Americans: turning the wilderness into a paradise.

As history would prove, this "wilderness" was far broader in scale than the forested land that met the eyes of the first New England immigrants. The world itself would soon become the wilderness for Americans to tame.

Though the early settlers certainly maintained eschatological aims, their immediate focus was upon taming the wilderness directly before them, which often went hand-in-hand with the conversion of Native Americans. Unfortunately, the Europeans' thirst for land often superseded their desire to convert the heathen. The pioneers themselves were naturally unchurched, for the rapidly expanding frontier produced a fragmented civilization.

The Great Awakening in the 18th century helped to bring organization to the near chaos. Not only was the Awakening important in shaping the Christian nature of the new nation that was about to be born, but it was instrumental in creating new theology that would directly shape future missionary activity.

Jonathan Edwards

The key figure in the Great Awakening was Jonathan Edwards, whose theology has been credited as "the most profound expression of the fresh and vigorous impulse that flavored missionary thought and activity through the next seventy-five years." His was a theology of evangelism that compelled all to come to God by their own free will. Edwards was particularly effective in relating missions to God's great work of redemption, and thus set the stage for an onslaught of missionary activity following the Revolution. Samuel Hopkins followed in Edwards' footsteps and added another important component of missionary theology known as "disinterested benevolence," which can be defined as an entirely unselfish desire to serve God and man. The missionary task thus gained esteem as the highest and most "disinterested" task in which a Christian could be involved.

The Great Awakening ended up only serving as a spark for the missions flame and not the fire itself, as New England soon found itself tied up in an all-consuming conflict with Old England.

The Second Great Awakening (1795-1810)

Following the Revolution, attention was once again drawn to taming the frontier immediately to the west. The Americans were in no place to mobilize for evangelizing the world when they needed to be re-evangelized themselves, given that less than 10% of the population belonged to congregations following the war. What America needed was another revival - and that is exactly what they received at the turn of the 19th century.

The Second Great Awakening (1795-1810) has been called the most influential revival of Christianity in the history of the United States. The scope of this essay does not allow for recounting the history behind the notable itinerant preachers of this time, such as Charles Finney and Francis Asbury. Suffice it to say that the Second Great Awakening was immensely significant for joining evangelical religion to social reform, and for multiplying the Methodists and Baptists, who would rapidly form their own missions societies. At least to a certain degree, after the Awakening the churches were successful in keeping up with the westward movement of American civilization. Thus, the Second Great Awakening prepared the way for a century that would become known as "Protestant America."

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Evangelism and Growth of the Assemblies of God Churches in Tamilnadu, India - From 1989 - 2003 | Africans into World Missions? | Am I the Keeper of My Sister? | Manhattan Declaration - A Call of Christian Conscience | Lloyd C. Douglas' Ministry through His Novels | Light | An Evaluation of the Growth and Expansion of the Protestant Missionary Movement in the United States | The Way Forward in Missions -- New Wine in New Wineskins | Celebration of Love in the Book of Ruth | You Are Valued! | The Light of Christmas | Jesus Christ | Freedom in Jesus Christ - Our Lord's Ministry | HOME PAGE of December 2009 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR