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The History of World
Evangelization
“But ye shall receive power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth.” (Acts 1:8; Mk. 16:15; Mt. 28:18-20)
The task of carrying the gospel to every nation,
people, tribe and tongue and to the ends of the
earth for the evangelization of the world started
on the day of Pentecost—2,000 years ago. Missionary
work started that day with the dynamic work of the
Holy Spirit (the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth)
and spread to Minor Asia, conquered the Roman Empire,
and expanded to the whole of Europe despite repeated
persecution by Roman emperors. From the eighth century
on, Europe experienced the Dark Ages of 500 years,
followed in turn by the sixteenth-century Reformation,
the far-reaching reformation movement |
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and the Pietism movements of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries in Europe.Those sparked the missionary movement
of the United Kingdom and the United States of America,
sending out missionaries to Asia, Africa and other parts
of the world. This became a turning point in world evangelism
and expressed the vitality of a new era in Christian missions.
In the nineteenth century, Christianity became a worldwide
religion through the ventures and systematical evangelization
that caused an explosive growth of Christianity by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
In the 20th century, the Pentecostal Movement was raised
up by the Holy Spirit in the United States and this, in
turn initiated the Golden Age of the missions by organizing
many missionary organizations for the evangelization of
the world. Especially due to the advent of radio and television,
the gospel of the grace of God through Jesus Christ has
now reached every part of the world. With the latest developments
of satellite technology and the internet, the Word of
the Gospel is reaching every nation, people, tribe and
tongue in the world as one big global town. These achievements
confirm that the Lord’s return is near! (Matt. 24:14;
28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8; 20:24)
Following is a summary of the fulfillment to date of the
Church’s efforts to carry out of the Great Commission
of preaching the Gospel throughout the whole earth:
1. Early Missions -Christianity in
the Roman Empire (AD 30 - 500)
Christian missions began with the apostles. They
started carrying out the Great Commission of the Lord
soon after the Holy Spirit came down upon them on the
day of Pentecost. By the end of the Apostolic Age, the
number of disciples had grown to about 500,000. They were
persecuted under the Roman Empire, and many were scattered
in the region of Asia Minor and along the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea at the end of the first century. The
number of the Christians increased greatly in the second
century and continued growing in the following centuries.
Christianity became the State Religion of the Roman Empire
due to the efforts of Emperor Constantine in the fourth
century. During the latter part of the fourth century,
the gospel was preached to the Armenians and Armenia became
a Christian nation. In the fifth century, under the protection
and financial support by the Imperial Household, Christianity
increased rapidly and the gospel reached the whole of
Europe.
2. The Christianization of Europe (AD
500-1200)
Christianity and the Gospel spread throughout Europe during
this period through missionary work. On the other hand,
the Dark Age took over for a number of centuries, climaxing
with the wars of the Christian Crusades challenging the
Islamic powers. Between the sixth and eighth centuries,
Christianity spread to Ireland, the most developed nation
in Europe at the time. From there, it expanded to the
United Kingdom, Netherlands (Holland), Germany, Switzerland,
and in the ninth century, to the Scandinavian regions
of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It reached the Moravians
and Poland in Eastern Europe in the tenth century. Bulgaria
became the center of Christian culture of the Slavic nations
during the ninth century. Christianity settled in Russia
in the 10th century, and by the twelfth century, the whole
of Europe had became Christianized.
3. The Middle Ages and The Protestant
Reformation (AD 1300-1700)
During the Middle Ages, the territories dominated
by the Roman Catholic Church expanded and retracted. During
the period of the Holy Roman Empire, ecclesiastical authority
reached its peak, and the Roman Catholic Church dominated
completely the politics, culture, economy, and religion
of Europe. However, superstition, false doctrine and the
barbaric cruelty of the Roman Catholic religion caused
a reaction known as the Protestant Reformation, when the
majority of European nations turned against their backs
on the Roman Church, and it lost ground in Europe. During
the time of the Reformation, as the Protestant Churches
steadily expanded throughout the European continent, the
Roman Catholic Church launched an outreach to other continents,
pioneering missions in the newly-discovered American continent
in coordination with Spain and Portugal, who were sending
out expeditions of soldiers and colonizing other parts
of the world.
4. The Protestant Church Mission (AD
1600-1800)
The Netherlands (Holland) emerged as a force among
the European Powers. While England launched and pioneered
expeditions to colonize the New World, the Protestant
Churches organized many missionary organizations after
the Gospel awakening of the Pietists. The Moravians entered
seriously into world missions in the seventeenth century.
In the eighteenth century, John Wesley’s Methodist
mission expansion, along with missionary activity of William
Cary served as the foundation of the modern missions movement.
On the other hand, colonies which later became the United
States of America formed on the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean. In the first part of the seventeenth century, the
Puritans from England began to immigrate to the new continent,
America, as well as many other religious groups. Moravians,
Quakers, Methodists and the Brethren also immigrated and
settled in America. From the 19th century on, each denomination
formed its own foreign missions board and energetically
set about sending forth missionaries. The Presbyterian
Church sent missionaries to the Asian and the Far East
areas. The Congregational Church sent missionaries to
the Islamic and other parts of the world to preach the
gospel. They built hospitals and schools, translated the
Bible into the native languages with the backing of the
Bible Societies. The Church of the nineteenth century,
with the use of printing technology, literature, etc.,
truly saw great accomplishments, and we consider it to
have laid the foundations of modern Christian missions.
5. World Missions by the Church in
the U. S. (1900 - present)
In the early part of the twentieth century, a powerful
spiritual move of the Holy Spirit began in the southern
part of the United States, which renewed and revived all
of North America. This movement became a new focal point
for missionary involvement of America. This work of the
Holy Spirit resulted in the organization first of the
classic Pentecostal, then of Charismatic and neo-Pentecostal
groups, inspiring a new and vibrant impulse for world
evangelization. Its leading organizations are known today
as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God, the Church
of God in Christ, the Foursquare Gospel International,
Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International,
the Pentecostal Holiness Churches, Apostolic Churches,
etc., and over 500 other independent missionary organizations.
These groups contributed greatly to the cause of world
missions during the 20th century with powerful organizational
and financial supports. The revolution led by America
in world missions toward the end of the twentieth century
was the appearance of the “cyber-church”.
Through the mediums of radio and television, Pentecostal
and charismatic evangelistic ministries from the United
States have blanketed the world, making it possible to
preach the gospel even in the former communist countries
and the Islamic world. At present, Protestant missionary
activities from the United States provide nearly eighty
percent of world mission personnel and finance ninety
percent of world missionary effort.
6. The Status of World Missions Today
World Christianity, as it now exists, is the result of
the missionary work of the last two centuries. Seventy
percent of the results were obtained in the twentieth
century. Seventy percent of the growth during the twentieth
century was after World War II, that is, during the last
fifty years. Truly, the Holy Spirit of God has accelerated
the pace of world
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North America
The latter half of the twentieth century is when
the various independent charismatic and the Pentecostal
missionary organizations in North America appeared.
These brought new waves of the Holy Spirit to U.S.
churches and new revivals to Canada, England, and
the whole world. This movement emphasizes the presence
of the Holy Spirit through the operation of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophecy, intercession,
praise and worship. This new move of the Holy Spirit
has brought renewal and revival to many churches.
The great spiritual revival in Pensacola, Florida
has recently attracted worldwide attention. |
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Africa
Christianity gained more converts in Africa than
in other third-world areas. The growth of Christianity
started increasing more rapidly at about 1900 and
has multiplied geometrically to almost ninety times
that number by 1990. The growth rate of new Christian
converts continues to accelerate up to the present
time. The percentage of the Christian growth is
30%-90% faster than the rate of population growth
in the southern parts of Africa. In the central
and the eastern parts, it is fifty to sixty percent
faster. The most revived nations are Nigeria, Kenya,
Uganda, and South Africa. Especially, the independent
church movement of Africa is spreading throughout
the whole region. Eastern and Central Africa have
been experiencing revival over last fifty years. |
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Latin America
In 1909, the Holy Spirit was poured out in Chile,
South America. It was not long before this explosion
of Holy Ghost fire spread to Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela
and Argentina. What surprised the rest of the world
more recently was learning that 73% of the Protestant
movement in Latin America has developed with national
workers without outside help, led by autonomous
Pentecostal organizations. It has also been confirmed
that the number of evangelical Christians is increasing
four times faster than the rate of population increase. |
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Asia
Two-thirds of the world population is crowded into
Asia, the cradle of the three major idolatrous religions.
Until now, it has been the most unfruitful region
for Christian missionary endeavor, and it has now
become the missionary area of most concern in the
world. This is located in the so-called “10/40
window”. This term refers to its location
on the globe and takes in the little-evangelized
areas of Asia and North African. The Holy Spirit
has been moving mightily during the 20th century
in the Asian countries ranging from Indonesia, Indo-China
and the Far East. One of the greatest revival in
history and the greatest revival in the present
century is taking place in main land China today.
When western missionaries were expelled from China
in the 1950s, there were approximately 55.5 million
Christians there. Today, the estimated number of
Christians is between 85.5 - 100 million, despite
intense Communist persecution. |
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Europe
Europe’s great spiritual heritage has blessed
the world. Five hundred years ago Christianity was
a beleaguered Remnant in western and northern Europe.
God gave great movements- the reformation, Pietism,
revivals, men and woman of God- which resulted in
the world being penetrated with the gospel. The
sudden disappearance of the iron curtain that had
divided Europe for nearly half a century was a dramatic
answer to prayer. The growth of evangelicals in
central Europe, especially Romanian, Albania and
Bulgaria. In Bulgaria over 5,000 Turkish-speaking
people have come to Christ since 1990.newer evangelical,
charismatic and pentecostal denominations are growing
and attracting young people. |
The Collapse of Communism
Communism in the 20th century appeared to be a powerful
obstacle of world evangelization, expelling many missionaries
from the countries it took over and closing the door of
the Gospel with the bamboo and iron curtains. In a single
year, over 330,000 Christians were martyred. The Gospel
was trampled under foot ruthlessly, but throughout the
sixty years of oppression, Christianity continued to experienced
steady growth in those countries. Part of its growth may
be attributed to radio broadcasts that were beamed into
these areas in the native languages by missionary organizations.
After the collapse of Communism in the latter part of
the twentieth century, which featured the unification
of Germany, the dividing up of the former Soviet Union
and the liberating of the Eastern European countries,
the door to missions has been widely opened again, along
with a granting of freedom of religion under the blessing
of God in most of these areas.
As we study the signs mentioned above, we can see that
the growth-curve line of world evangelization is more
steeply inclined in recent years. Now, world evangelization
is realistically possible because of the development of
communication satellites, the internet and advanced technology.
As we review the history of modern missions from its beginnings
to the present day, the supernatural work of the Holy
Spirit of witnessing to every nation is the sign that
prophecy is actually being fulfilled, signaling that the
this is indeed the end of the last days and time for the
second coming of our Lord! (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15;
Luke 24:47-49; Acts 20:24)
The Information Age
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall
run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
(Dan. 12:4; Matt. 24:15)
Two thousand six hundred years ago, God revealed to Daniel
by vision the events of the end-time, the very time we
live in today. The world is entering into the information
age, when, at any point on the globe, the same information
is available just as it happens simply with the aid of
a satellite dish. We are experiencing a knowledge explosion
through the new communications technologies. According
to the prophecy of Daniel, we are about to enter the new
age of the end of the last days, even going beyond the
barriers of time and space. (Rev. 14:6-7; Dan. 12:3; Rev.
22:20) |
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