- published: 05 Dec 2015
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A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning "act of sending" or mittere, meaning "to send". The word was used in light of its biblical usage; in the Latin translation of the Bible, Christ uses the word when sending the disciples to preach in his name.
The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology.
A Christian missionary can be defined as "one who is to witness across cultures." The Lausanne Congress of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement." Recognizing justice as being at the heart of the Gospels, some modern missionaries now promote the development of western government[citation needed], education and economic structure[citation needed] in the place of pre-existing local systems and tradition. Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world.