American Missionaries…a 200 year tradition

6 years ago our Pastor Phil and Caroline, and Malcolm and Jo Lee visited Plymouth,MA. We were able to see where the Adoniram and Ann Judson were laid to rest at a cemetery overlooking the Atlantic and the famous Plymouth Rock.

It was 200 years ago in 1812 that 5 young men were ordained to go to India and Burma as missionaries. Among them were Adoniram Judson who served primarily in Burma.

He served there for decades and translated the Bible into the local language.

These five are credited as the first Americans to leave for a foreign land and with laying the foundation for America missions.

The value of Missions

Today there are many Christians in Burma , now called Myanmar, including 1.5 million Baptists. This gives a sense of the importance of that first endeavor and of a continuing Mission presence. Today about two-thirds of the world’s Christians come from countries where western missionaries worked a century or more earlier.

In the year 2010 more than 127,000 missionaries were sent from America, the most missionaries of any country. The second largest number were sent from Brazil with 34,000. The was a total of 400,000 missionaries sent in 2010.

There is now an explosion of interest in mission work in Asia, Africa and Latin America.