Missions Textbook 19
The History of World Missions
A Lesson Plan

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

Although every mission’s book ought to have a chapter with this heading, one of the best books on the market is From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya[1] by Ruth A. Tucker. In it, Tucker takes the reader from the beginning of the church in Acts 2 through every era of missionary work in history, up until 2004. We recommend this book to anyone interested in this subject, as we could not possibly squeeze all that information into one article!

A Lesson Plan for a Class

This could be a tremendously tedious lesson to teach, but I found a way to keep interest high and students involved. Time needed: about three classroom hours.

You will need:

  1. A copy of the last pages of this article, on which are listed major historical events and all the important missionaries throughout the past 2000 years. You may want to enlarge them. Add any that you think are important. You may also hold back a few that you would like to present.
  2. Cut out every name separately and put them in a hat, well mixed.
  3. A white board or chalkboard on which you have marked out a timeline from AD 30 to present day. I used large sheets of butcher paper, so all I had to do was tape it to the wall. You can then add the major historical events or let the students do it.
  4. Tape.

Have the students draw names from the hat until all names are chosen. The students will then be given 20-30 minutes (depending on how many names they have) to look up all their names on the internet. They need to make notes so they can make a 2-3-minute presentation about every missionary they have chosen.

Draw attention to the major historical events. Talk about their significance as you get to each one.

Following the list at the end of this article, you will call out the name of a missionary, and the student who drew that name will tape the name to the board in the correct era. Then have the student highlight something interesting from this missionary’s life. Give them a break once in a while by making a presentation of your own.

When all presentations are finished, have them make observations about the timeline, particularly, the 19th century, which was the Great Missionary Century.

Following are all the mission organizations that were started during that time, which could also be added to the timeline:

  • LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY 1795
  • AMERICAN BOARD FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 1810
  • CHINA INLAND MISSION 1865
  • CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE 1887
  • STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 1886
  • CENTRAL AMERICAN MISSION 1890
  • THE EVANGELICAL AND ALLIANCE MISSION 1890
  • SUDAN INTERIOR MISSION 1893
  • AFRICA INLAND MISSION 1895
  • HCJB 1931
  • SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS 1934
  • NEW TRIBES MISSION 1942
  • MISSIONARY AVIATION FELLOWSHIP 1945
  • FEBC 1948
  • WORLD VISION 1950
  • TRANSWORLD RADIO 1964

 Major Historical Events

  • NERO, 64 PERSECUTION
  • JERUSALEM DESTROYED, 70
  • EDICT of MILAN, 313
  • CONSTANTINE
  • ISLAM CONQUERS JERUSALEM, 638
  • BATTLE OF TOURS, 732 Charles Martel, freed Europe from the Muslims
  • CHARLEMAGNE, 800
  • A.D.1054 POPE & PATRIARCH
  • PRINTING PRESS 1440
  • MARTIN LUTHER REFORMATION 1500’s
  • BOXER REBELLION 1900
  • U.S. CIVIL WAR 1861-1865
  • WORLD WAR 1 1914-1918
  • 100 YEARS WAR 1337-1453
  • MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE FOUNDED 1886
  • WORLD WAR 2 1939-1945
  • KOREAN WAR
  • VIETNAM WAR
  • GULF WARS
  • SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

Missionaries for the past 2000 years

(Many of the missionaries are listed in From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya)

  • PAUL THE APOSTLE                           THOMAS THE APOSTLE
  • LUKE THE EVANGELIST                  POLYCARP
  • PERPETUA                                              ULFILAS
  • PATRICK TO IRELAND                      COLOMBA FROM IRELAND
  • St. BONIFACE (WINFRIED)            MARTIN OF TOURS
  • RAYMOND LULL                                   ANSKAR
  • COUNT ZINZENDORF                       CYRIL & METHODIUS
  • JOHANNES GUTENBERG                 WILLIAM FAREL
  • PETER WALDO                                       JOHN WYCLIFFE
  • DAVID BRAINERD                                JOHN WESLEY
  • WILLIAM CAREY                                   DAVID LIVINGSTONE
  • GEORGE WHITFIELD                          J. HUDSON TAYLOR
  • SAMUEL ZWEMER                               C.I. SCHOFIELD
  • JOHN G. PATON                                     ADONIRAM JUDSON
  • MARY SLESSOR                                     ELEANOR MACOMBER
  • “LOTTIE” MOON                                   ROBERT MORRISON
  • HENRY MARTYN                                  MAUDE CARY
  • HENRY AND ELIZA SPALDING     AMY CARMICHAEL
  • GLADYS AYLWARD                             C.T. STUDD
  • JOHN ELIOT                                           JIM ELLIOTT
  • RACHEL SAINT                               
  • ELIZABETH “BETTY” GREENE       JOHN & BETTY STAM
  • CHET BITTERMAN                             CLARENCE W. JONES
  • WILLIAM CAMERON TOWNSEND
  • HORACE ALLEN                                  RALPH D. WINTER
  • JOANNE SHETLER
  • LUIS BUSH                                         OMAR GAVA
  • NATASHA                                         BROTHER ANDREW
  • BERT & COLLEEN ELLIOTT            D.L. MOODY

[1] Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

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