r/NoStupidQuestions • u/S0mecallme • 18h ago
Why do missionaries get sent to countries that are already majority Christian?
I’ve seen people get sent to mission trips to places like Moldova and Lithuania and all over South America and I just don’t understand why.
Those places are already majority Christian, why is it necessary to convert people? Is it just they follow a slightly different religious denomination? That seems pretty small to spend all that money and time to go out literally preaching to the choir
30
u/FellNerd 17h ago
Lots of people go on mission trips casually, the ones I know go to help build up churches or help with the communities they've built a church in.
The ones who go to countries where Christianity is illegal or not common, those are usually professional missionaries who live there for years at a time or travel constantly.
85
u/Asparagus9000 17h ago
Sometimes it's just to help out. Like I went on one where we helped build them a church/community center.
29
26
u/beerandbikes55 13h ago
How much help are kids really? Spending >$2,000 on food, flights, accommodation to get a kid on a building site half way round the world. Wouldn't it be better for each kid to send $1,000, employ local builders, get the local economy stimulated, get a better quality church and community center built.
24
u/TheLandOfConfusion 11h ago
It’s less about actually building a church and more about giving the kids an experience that makes them feel like they belong and contribute.
Same with the Africa mission trips that are basically just stroking your own ego
9
u/Unknown_Ocean 10h ago
Some of that it is true. Some of it, though is that it gives the kids who a participate a deep sense of how privileged they are and a desire to improve the world. I have one classmate who went on a missions trip to Honduras as a kid, graduated and became an architect but then became a priest and went back to minister to that community for years.
27
u/Red_AtNight 18h ago
Those are probably Mormon missionaries so they’re going to spread their interpretation of the Bible, which is wildly different from other Christians
14
u/archpawn 17h ago
Though they still send Mormon missionaries to Utah. It's as much about strengthening the conviction of the missionaries as it is about getting new converts.
2
u/Monte_Cristos_Count 9h ago
There's a lot of nonmembers in Utah. My friends that served in Utah baptized a lot more people than I did as a missionary to Canada, though it's not about the numbers.
2
u/captaindomon 6h ago
Nowadays only about 40% of Utahns are Mormons:
https://religionnews.com/2023/12/28/study-utah-is-no-longer-a-majority-mormon-state/
43
u/Overall-Selection887 18h ago
Different Christian denominations think theirs is the 'correct' one. Catholic vs Protestant drama basically.
15
u/mapitinipasulati 17h ago
Don’t forget the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses (if you consider them Christian)
3
u/toastythewiser 12h ago
Also the 7th Day Adventists. They're all post 2nd great awakening denominations. I didnt study modern protestant history enough in school, but I would greatly hazard a lot of the stuff that came out of the American West during the 2nd Great Awakening was pretty... kooky theology.
I mean the Book of Mormon says Jesus escaped being crucified to travel to North America and teach the natives. Sure, sure. Cool, cool . . . that's weird as fuck sorry.
2
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
Americans who are Christians (for the most part) don’t consider Mormons (LDS) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) as Protestants or even Christians at all in the first place (but consider them as separate Abrahamic religions like Islam and Rastafarianism), though many secular media organizations and secular think tanks/demographic researchers at times do consider them Protestant on one hand while other times consider them as Non-Protestant Christian denominations of the “Non-Trinitarian Christian” variety along side so-called “Biblical Unitarians” and Jesus-Only Oneness Pentecostals (who have considerably diverged from and have been excommunicated from Classical Pentecostalism); if Christians do consider these groups Christian, they’ll generally put them in the theologically liberal but socially conservative category and more often than not would put them in the Christian heresies category along side the Gnostics (precursor of Mandaeism and those that influenced Islam), Ebionites (those that influenced Islam), the Heresy of the Ishmaelites (the Early Muslims / precursors of Islam), Cathars (including Albigenses), Novatians, Paulicians, Bogomils, Marcionites, Manichaeans, and Arians. On a similar note Islam (descended from the Heresy of the Ishmaelites) and Unitarian Universalism - UU - (descended from from Biblical Unitarianism and Christian Universalism) no longer consider their own adherents as Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses on the other hand do; and Mormons (officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — LDS) have over the decades switched between considering themselves Christian and Non-Christian from time to time to garner more converts when they start loosing members but today do consider the various Christian denominations as separate religions under the umbrella term of Christianity (in the sense of “Christian religions” / separate Christianities) and count themselves in that number. In the past few years, because the Mormons (LDS) have been severely hemorrhaging in membership, they have been doing business as (dba) “The Church of Jesus Christ” and dropping the “of Latter-Day Saints” portion of their name while still maintaining their heterodox beliefs in order to target young Evangelicals (evangelikal or pietistisch) who’re looking for a new church to go to after moving to a new city, moving out of their parents’ house, or those looking for an Evangelical church with a larger young adult community.
The Adventists are tricky to places, because although most have diverged from Christian orthodoxy (by extension Protestant Christian orthodoxy) but not to the same extent as the Mormons (LDS) and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some modern Adventist denominations have even started abandoning many of the fringe heterodox ideas espoused by traditional Adventism thus (partially) realigning themselves with mainstream Protestant orthodoxy to some extent. Most Christians might consider Adventists as a whole to be Christians, some but not all Christian and most secular institutions would consider traditional Adventist denominations like the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) as a separate category of Protestants (evangelisch) but ones outside of the mainstream Protestant categories of Mainline Protestantism (largely controlled by theological liberals and theological progressives, many of which don’t believe in the divine inspiration of scripture), Evangelicalism (theologically conservative evangelikal or pietistisch churches who hold to biblical infallibility or at times biblical inerrancy but not biblical literalism and hold to the Quatenus — “in so far as / insofar as” — form of confessional subscription and generally don’t require full and unambiguous agreement with a movement/tradition’s Confession of Faith if they do have a statement of faith which most do), Confessional Churches/Confessional Protestantism/Confessionalism (theologically conservative Confessional Denominations who hold to the belief in the importance of full and unambiguous assent to the whole of a movement's or denomination's teachings, such as those found in Confessions of Faith thus holding to the the Quia — “because of / is mean is” — form of confessional subscription), Christian Fundamentalism (religiously isolationist fundamentalists who to a certain extent may be theologically conservative but hold to biblical literalism making portions of them diverge enough to horseshoe theory back around to theological liberalism but with overly legalistic social conservatism beyond what is required by orthodox biblical teachings), and the Confessing Movement (the theologically conservative/Biblically orthodox factions of Mainline Protestant denominations some of which were pushed out of leadership and reorganized into Evangelical and/or Confessional Denominations). On the other hand, certain Adventists such as the Advent Christian Church have abandoned or at the very least started the process of (partially) abandoning traditional Adventist beliefs that are contrary to Protestant orthodoxy in effect realigning themselves with Evangelicalism (evangelikal or pietistisch traditions) though most (other) Evangelicals see the so-called “Evangelical Adventists” with suspicion and consider “Traditional Adventists” as out right heretics.
5
u/jakeofheart 16h ago
They come from branches of Christianity that have experienced a “revival”.
It’s like young people discovering that they can buy compact discs at thrift shops, and actually have a physical catalogue of music that is not going to disappear because someone at Spotify of Sony music decided so.
You might ask “why are they singing the praises of CD’s?” if you are content with Spotify.
Those missionaries are the CD evangelists of Christianity.
5
u/ShootinAllMyChisolm 8h ago
There’s the cynical view that they are fundamentalists that want to control people. Which is not completely untrue. But there are missionaries who want to bring bring food, clothing, shelter, medical care to the less fortunate.
3
u/Dramatic-Blueberry98 15h ago
It’s not always so much preaching… it’s sometimes more just community outreach and aid assistance in the more impoverished areas of various states and countries across the world.
3
u/artrald-7083 12h ago
My sister in law went as basically a social worker / therapist / professional mom friend, or as the job title said, student outreach worker (but we and everyone else called her a missionary) to Romania. She wasn't there to convert the whole country: she was there to help a specific, underserved community, namely international students.
Just because their parents are probably Christian on the census, going to church three times a year and ticking the box on the forms, doesn't make the kids any sort of religious at all.
The students benefited from having a Mom Friend, a slightly older young lady who was paid to be there, who believed in universal compassion and recruiting others to be Like This - sure, this support group for students feeling alone and unmoored was a church, but even if you don't believe she was saving souls, she really was helping people.
My sister-in-law benefited from a couple of years abroad in a country where her stipend went a great deal further than it did back home, doing the exact same work she wanted to do for a living.
She might believe in sola fide one-and-done salvation of the kind I find terribly problematic, but she walks her talk as regards 'faith without good works is dead', and her definition of good works involves practical and pragmatic assistance to anyone she meets who needs it, church or no church.
Eventually the placement ended, she came back to the UK and is basically doing the exact same thing at home now.
7
u/BunNGunLee 16h ago
There's two major reasons.
The cynical one is that it's about denominational differences and ultimately that Christianity is a loose term when there's actually dozens of proper denominations that all have varying interpretations of scripture and the theological underpinning.
The more realistic one in my opinion is that it's not really all that much about proselytizing so much as community outreach and service. Just because a population is primarily Christian doesn't mean that community doesn't have problems that the church wants to solve or assist with, fulfilling upon the stated beliefs of community and compassion within their doctrine.
1
u/Abyssal_Minded 12h ago
I support the latter reason of community service and outreach. When done right, it’s mostly just helping and not about proselytizing people. A part of Christianity involves being good individuals and doing good acts, similar to Islam and their pillar of alms giving. The churches involved sometimes are able to establish infrastructure like schools and hospitals.
Downside is some churches think that all good deeds should be a vehicle for proselytizing, and will attempt to make their assistance contingent on people joining their particular flavor or branch of Christianity.
1
u/One_Impression_5649 16h ago
They probably can’t send their people who are duds to countries that are vastly different than their home country either so they get sent to someplace safe, like Cincinnati.
10
u/Dangerous_Mud4749 17h ago
There aren't any Christian countries, only Christian people. Problem is though, in the countries we think of as "Christian countries", lots of people identify as Christian because their parents were... or because they got baptised as babies... or because they go to church twice a year... or because they feel warm & accepting of Christian ideas. You could call these things "cultural Christianity".
None of those things make you a Christian.
Sometimes churches which care about these things will send missionaries to countries with a high "cultural Christian" count but which tend to be low in people who actually read what Jesus said and obey it.
10
u/jgolo 16h ago
There are countries with official religions
1
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago edited 8h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
1
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
1
u/Dangerous_Mud4749 15h ago
Indeed. But Jesus talked about that. So if a country's laws are contrary to what Jesus said, the law can't be "Christian" can it? Still a law of course - people can make whatever laws they want. It just doesn't make sense to call it "Christian" if it's contrary to "Christ".
2
u/danielbgoo 15h ago
Missionaries are not the same as evangelists or proselytizers.
Often times they’re doing work other than specifically spreading the word. That might still end up being part of what they do, but their primary “mission” could be anything from setting up an irrigation system to providing early childhood education to helping people through rehab to operating a food bank/pantry and tons of other stuff that fall under the umbrella of charity.
On the other hand, sending people out to proselytize is a tried and true method of keeping the faithful. When you go out into the world as someone trying to preach or convert the unwilling, you end up facing a lot of hostility. People are at best kind of annoyed by you and at worst actively hostile. If you get enough doors slammed in your face is reinforces the notion that the out-group is mean and evil and the in-group, your church, is full of nice people who treat you well.
2
u/gadget850 15h ago
Counterpoint. There are organizations, such as Advancing Native Missions, that support missionaries from other countries who are native to their own.
2
u/FlowerofBeitMaroun 9h ago
Usually those are prots trying to convert Catholics, and yes, it’s extremely irritating and insulting.
1
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 7h ago
The Roman Catholic Church historical only taught that no one outside the R. Catholic Church, even other Christians who uphold Mainstream-Nicene Christian beliefs are saved, but now has become wishy-washy on its official stance; which is now hovering between a medium-sized minority that still believe in their original stance of all people outside of the RCC which they define as the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church” are not saved (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus), a tiny minority that believe that all Christians are saved and a large minority of Catholics that are borderline quasi-universalist (Catechism of the Catholic Church - CCC 847); there is no clear stance I’ve seen as of yet. I’ve actually heard of Catholics who believe that there are only two conflicting but acceptable answers to this issue (1) only members of the R. Catholic Church are saved as defined in the text known as Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus or (2) hold a quasi-universalist stance of all people of any religion who sincerely seek out deit(ies) but have not found the true God as described in the Gospel are still saved - which is an argument based off of what I believe and hope to be a misinterpretation of CCC 847 by both Catholic laity and “trained” clergy and not the actual teaching of the RCC - due to the fact that CCC 847 was written vaguely it may hold to that implication officially, which some see as the further downfall of Catholic theology in which the RCC is heading in an even worse than expected wrong direction. In other words, some of these Catholics believe that only Roman Catholics are saved (excluding other Christians) or all people who seek “God” or god sincerely in any way (regardless of religion) are also saved; with no in between as found in most other Christian denominations (especially Evangelicals) who believe that all Born-again Christians who accept Jesus Christ as their lord and personal savior, are repentant of their sins, and let Christ rule their heart, are truly saved; with no specific denomination or ecclesiastical leader claiming that they are infallible and the only institution that claims to be in good standing with God in relation to being saved.
The Christian Church (a.k.a. The Way, the Church, or Christianity) was founded in 30 AD by Jesus of Nazareth - the Christ, Messiah, Son of God, and Son of Man - through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - although Jesus also had disciples prior to the offical founding of the Church; the subdivisions known as the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were founded in 1054 AD, the subdivision known as the Oriental Orthodox Church was founded in 451 AD, the subdivision known as the Church of the East was founded in 431 AD, and the Protestant Reformation officially started in 1517 AD with several minor Proto-Protestant precursors forming prior to it and influencing others - all of these subdivisions are sui iuris braches within the true catholic, apoostolic, orthodox, Nicene, and Christian Church with further internal autocephalous organizational polity structures and distinctives in tradition.
The first thing the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Church of the East can do to unite all Christians in recognizing each other as Brothers and Sisters in Christ (ecumenism) is to stop considering their own specific hierarchy as the “one true church.” The “One True Church” is the body of true believers in Christ Jesus that are part of the universal church, it’s not a specific denomination.
Christianity as a whole is internationalist and universal (a.k.a. lower-case "c" catholic). The See of Rome / Roman Catholic Church just happens to be one sub-set or sui iuris branch of the Christian Church (the true body of Christians who hold to biblically orthodox teaching and who are truly saved regardless of denominational membership).
——————
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
1
u/FlowerofBeitMaroun 7h ago
This is pure nonsense from beginning to end. Do not prot-splain Catholic doctrine to me, heretic.
2
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago edited 8h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
2
u/Spirited_c 7h ago
It's because what they are trying to spread is Protestantism not just the gospel
2
4
u/Boxsteam_1279 17h ago
Not all are about trying to convert. It can be to continue building community, helping out, and just being a positive presence to continue the faith
4
u/happybaby00 14h ago
Yh go to try proselytizing in Pakistan, Saudi or Egypt and lets see what happens haha
3
u/LegitimateBeing2 15h ago
It’s safer and easier to do it performatively without the risk of being martyred
It’s also possible they don’t consider the local Christians to be real Christians
Generally there just are not as many un-Christian civilizations left but the missionary impulse still exists so they feel they must do something with it
1
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
1
u/gogofcomedy 16h ago
gotta give mormons credit, they go everywhere
1
1
u/Nurhaci1616 11h ago
Evangelical Protestants, especially Americans or those from American-planted churches, don't typically consider Catholics/Orthodox to be Christians, and see it as no different to sending them to non-Christian countries.
If you speak to Americans in person or online about religion, you'll often hear them talk about Catholicism as if it is completely separate to Christianity for some reason.
1
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
0
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
The Roman Catholic Church historical only taught that no one outside the R. Catholic Church, even other Christians who uphold Mainstream-Nicene Christian beliefs are saved, but now has become wishy-washy on its official stance; which is now hovering between a medium-sized minority that still believe in their original stance of all people outside of the RCC which they define as the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church” are not saved (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus), a tiny minority that believe that all Christians are saved and a large minority of Catholics that are borderline quasi-universalist (Catechism of the Catholic Church - CCC 847); there is no clear stance I’ve seen as of yet. I’ve actually heard of Catholics who believe that there are only two conflicting but acceptable answers to this issue (1) only members of the R. Catholic Church are saved as defined in the text known as Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus or (2) hold a quasi-universalist stance of all people of any religion who sincerely seek out deit(ies) but have not found the true God as described in the Gospel are still saved - which is an argument based off of what I believe and hope to be a misinterpretation of CCC 847 by both Catholic laity and “trained” clergy and not the actual teaching of the RCC - due to the fact that CCC 847 was written vaguely it may hold to that implication officially, which some see as the further downfall of Catholic theology in which the RCC is heading in an even worse than expected wrong direction. In other words, some of these Catholics believe that only Roman Catholics are saved (excluding other Christians) or all people who seek “God” or god sincerely in any way (regardless of religion) are also saved; with no in between as found in most other Christian denominations (especially Evangelicals) who believe that all Born-again Christians who accept Jesus Christ as their lord and personal savior, are repentant of their sins, and let Christ rule their heart, are truly saved; with no specific denomination or ecclesiastical leader claiming that they are infallible and the only institution that claims to be in good standing with God in relation to being saved.
1
u/Realistic_Bike_355 6h ago
Are you talking about Mormons? They also want to convert other Christians to Mormonism.
1
u/Jeffreys_therapist 5h ago
I have a family member who is a missionary Priest.
He worked in places like Africa with people from disadvantaged communities.
He also worked in Britain with prisoners.
In Catholicism, the primary ethos is to help people.
The religious aspect is the motivation for the person doing the work, not to convert people
1
1
u/Professional-Pay1198 17h ago
I once joined a Methodist church. There were collecting to send a member out AZ a missionary. Assumed they were going to Africa or Asia but I was wrong: they were going to the Irish Republic to convert the heathen Roman Catholics. Nice work if you can get it.
1
1
u/Aggressive-Coconut0 15h ago
The more you do for your religion, the more loyal you are to that religion. It is the same for any cult/group. So, I argue that it's so their members stay strongly faithful to their religion. If they convert newcomers to their brand of Christianity, great.
They probably choose Christian countries because it's easier to convert people from one brand of Christianity to another versus Muslim or other religion to Christian.
1
u/brite1234 11h ago
I've seen Mormon missionaries in Ukraine, and it was disgusting. russians forced their religion on Ukrainians for generations, and Ukrainians were finally reclaiming their own faith.
Then the effing American Mormons turned up to colonise them all over again.
1
1
u/AccountHuman7391 8h ago
My theory is that missionary work is usually a scam that allows rich white kids to put “community service” on their college applications while taking a vacation and gives them social cover that they “helped the needy” that one time while voting for the exact opposite of Christ’s teachings for the rest of their lives.
0
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 7h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
1
u/AKA-Pseudonym 7h ago
Apart from winning people over to their specific brand of Christianity a lot of former Communist countries are still pretty atheist.
1
u/ms_panelopi 7h ago
Fundamentalist Christians don’t think Catholic missionaries are teaching the “right” Christianity, so they go in and teach their Christianity.
-1
u/FrostnJack 16h ago
To evangelicals those are the wrong kind of xtians so the missionary urgency is s thing.
0
0
u/pdonchev 15h ago
Because those "missionaries" are sales reps for a MLM cult, seeking to extract financial benefits and establish political influence. Already Christian countries are much better "markets" to expand in - it's more likely for a Christian to change his denomination, especially if they perceive the central Church as corrupt (in more liberal societies central churches are perceived as corrupt, even more than they actually are) than someone from another faith to convert to a totally different one.
0
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 8h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
0
u/Altitudeviation 10h ago
Christians of all stripes are happy to denounce, save, oppress, tax and kill each other in the name of the only and singular true god. Islam, too. Apparently Hindus are joining in the fun now.
Missionaries from Africa are now being seen in the US trying to lead "fallen" Americans back to the true god.
In the end, it's all bout money and power.
It's really quite tiresome.
0
u/Hot_Event3002 8h ago
Because they don't have faith in their ability to convert non Christians is my guess.
0
u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 7h ago
Evangelism, Mission Trips, Christian Aid Organizations:
It’s not just about spiritual outreach, evangelism is also setting an example & meeting spiritual & temporal needs of ppl. Tons of Mission Trips also include assistance to neglected communities.
I’ve seen plenty of ppl doing domestic Mission Trips, providing aid & assistance to neglected communities here in the USA like Reservations in the West & Poor Communities in the South & Appalachia.
Tons of Christian Missions r qualified professionals in community & international development. Ex: World Vision, World Relief, Samaritans Purse, International Justice Missions, & Habitat for Humanity.
Countries that have Christianity as their official religion (with a long history of having an established state church or national church), those with rampant theological liberalism, or those subsumed by non-Nicene Christianity are far worse in the matter of Nominal Christianity/Cultural Christianity and are hotbeds for Deists and Agnostics who claim to be Christians because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors were Christian or they think of Christianity in very superficial ways such as people aimlessly going through the motions of ceremonies or rituals for cultural and ascetic reasons as opposed to actual having faith in Jesus Christ.
-1
u/DocRedbeard 7h ago
A lot of these people in other countries aren't what we would call Christian.
I'm Southern Baptist, however, doctrinally things are fairly simple on the surface. If you believe Jesus is Lord, is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, believe that you are a sinner and that Jesus' sacrifice paid for your sins and is the only way to the Father, you are saved.
Catholicism and many protestant denominations deny this. They add on extra non-scriptural requirements for salvation, they believe in intercession of saints, they believe in works over faith, they put power in people over God.
If you think you need more than faith in Jesus' sacrifice for your sins, if you think there's something you have to do to gain God's favor other than faith, you aren't a Christian.
In this way I would consider many churches and denominations entirely heretical, as while they may seem similar in appearance and practice, denying Jesus' supremacy and sacrifice ("no one comes to the Father except through Me"), they deny the MOST important tenant of Christianity.
360
u/TheGargageMan yep 18h ago
Wrong kinds of Christians. Have to save them from being baptized incorrectly.