TL;DR:
This page highlights one significant event and one missionary martyrdom for each month of the year, offering a concise overview of Christian missions history.
A Significant World Missions Event in Each Month of the Year
It's not easy to decide which world missions event to feature for each month of the year. After all, there are two thousand years of events to choose from. So, think of these 12 events as "significant" rather than "most important."
January
January 20, 1870 — Clara Swain, the first female missionary medical doctor, arrived at Bareilly, India. (more January events)
Clara Swain in 1869 |
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February
February 4, 1786 — John Marrant, a free Black man from New York City, preached from 2 Corinthians to "a great number of Indians and white people" at Green's Harbor, Newfoundland. Marrant's cross-cultural ministry would lead him to take the gospel to the Cherokee, Creek, Catawba, and Housaw tribes. (more February events)
March
March 11, 1812 — Fire engulfed missionary William Carey's print shop in Serampore, India. The fire destroyed a massive polyglot dictionary Carey had compiled, grammar books he had written for two Indian languages, sets of type for 14 Asian languages, and complete Bible translations. Undaunted, Carey said, "The loss is heavy, but as traveling a road the second time is usually done with greater ease and certainty than the first time, so I trust the work will lose nothing of real value . . . We are cast down but not in despair." News of the fire touched hearts in England, bringing in funds and volunteer labor. (more March events)
April
April 17, 1937 — As Mussolini's troops occupied Ethiopia, missionaries from Sudan Interior Mission were forced to leave. Upon returning in 1943, they found that the church had grown from 48 to 18,000 members despite persecution. (more April events)
May
May 25, 1892 — Isaac Stringer answered a call to work among the Inuit of the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada. His two-month trip from Toronto to Fort McPherson involved various modes of transportation. He left Toronto by train on May 16 and reached Edmonton on May 25, where the railroad ended. From there, he faced 2,000 more miles of trails and streams. Before leaving Edmonton, Stringer purchased a year's worth of supplies and sent final telegrams to family and friends. (more May events)
June
June 24, 1809 — William Carey completed his translation of the Bible into Bengali. Carey, a Briton, is often called "the father of the modern missionary movement." (more June events)
July
July 1, 1871 — Many Torres Strait Islanders commemorate this day with the Coming of the Light Festival. Missionaries from the London Missionary Society arrived in the Torres Strait and landed on Erub Island. (more July events)
August
August 27, 1727 — A band of 600 Moravians in Herrnhut (Saxony, Germany) launched what became known as the hundred-year prayer meeting: a round-the-clock prayer chain that lasted a century. Within 65 years, they had sent out 300 foreign missionaries. (more August events)
September
September 19, 1882 — The Salvation Army "invaded" India. Authorities feared riots and mass unrest, so Mumbai police lined up quayside at Apollo Bunder for the "army’s" arrival. When only four Salvation Army officers stepped ashore, the police superintendent asked, "When will the rest of your army land?" Major Frederick de Lautour Tucker replied, "We are the whole Army." (more September events)
October
October 15, 1932 — A small party of supporters gathered in Liverpool, England, to send Gladys Aylward, a 28-year-old parlormaid, off on a dangerous missionary trip to China. Though turned down by a mission agency, she became one of the most remarkable women missionaries of the modern era. Her dramatic rescue of a hundred orphans is told in the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. (more on Aylward) (more October events)
November
November 5, 1858 — John and Mary Paton landed on the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu). Warned he might be eaten by cannibals, John Paton said, "If I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether my body is eaten by cannibals or by worms." (more November events)
December
December 29, 1745 — David Brainerd, missionary to Native Americans, wrote in his journal: "After public worship was over, I went to my house, proposing to preach again after a short season of intermission. But they soon came in one after another, with tears in their eyes, to know what they should do to be saved. . . . It was an amazing season of power among them, and it seemed as if God had bowed the heavens and come down . . . and that God was about to convert the whole world." (more December events)
"Brainerd Preaching to the Indians" engraving in David Brainerd, the Apostle to the North American Indians, 1891 |
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"We rejoice when we see that, throughout history, believers who perished under persecution did not abandon their faith or mission but instead became examples for us." – R.B., European Nazarene College student
January
January 8, 1956 — Five American missionaries were killed in Ecuador by the Waorani tribe (earlier called "Auca") whom they were trying to reach.
February
February 5, 1597 — Twenty-six Japanese Christians were crucified for their faith by General Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Nagasaki, Japan. By 1640, thousands of Japanese Christians had been martyred.
March
March 24, 1927 — Chinese Communists seized Nanking, killing missionary John E. Williams. A little more than twenty years later, the Communists took control of China, expelled foreign missionaries, and imposed severe restrictions on Christian churches.
April
April 8, 1901 — After nearly 30 years of church planting in New Guinea, Presbyterian missionaries James Chalmers and Oliver Tomkins were killed and cannibalized.
May
May 20, 1861 — Presbyterian missionaries George and Ellen Gordon were killed on Erromango, now part of Vanuatu. Their deaths followed a devastating measles outbreak for which some islanders blamed the missionaries.
June
June 7, 2002 — American missionary Martin Burnham and a Filipino nurse were killed during a rescue raid after being held hostage in the jungle for over a year. Burnham's wife, Gracia, was rescued but wounded.
July
July 13, 1968 — Wycliffe missionary Henry F. Blood died in Viet Cong captivity five months after his capture during the January Tet Offensive. Although his ministry reportedly resulted in only one known convert during his lifetime, that convert, Tang, later led many Vietnamese to Christ.
Henry F. Blood
August
August 6, 1942 — English missionary Vivian Redlich was killed during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea.
September
September 17, 1597 — During an uprising against Spanish rule, Guale leader Juanillo and his followers killed Spanish missionaries Miguel de Añón and Antonio de Badajoz on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia. The missionaries had reportedly been warned of the impending uprising.
October
October 9 — According to tradition, Denis, an early missionary and bishop in what is now Paris, was arrested and beheaded with two companions during the third-century Roman persecutions.
"The church sometimes grows more amid pain and persecution than in comfort." – D.H., European Nazarene College student
November
November 29, 1847 — Missionary physician Marcus Whitman, his wife, Narcissa, and eleven others were killed at the Whitman mission in present-day Washington. A devastating measles outbreak and suspicions that Whitman was responsible for the deaths contributed to the violence.
December
December 8, 1934 — American missionaries John and Betty Stam were beheaded by Chinese Communists. Their story inspired hundreds to volunteer for missionary service.
John and Betty Stam
