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A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to carry on ministries of the word, such as evangelism and literacy, or ministries of service, such as education, social justice, health care and economic development.[1][2] 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".[3] In Christian cultures the term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but it applies equally to any creed or ideology. Buddhism launched 'the first large-scale missionary effort in the history of the world's religions' in the 3rd century BC.[4] A Christian missionary can be defined as "one who is sent to witness across cultures."[2] 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[5] 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. The New Testament missionary outreach of the Christian church from the time of St Paul was extensive throughout the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages the Christian monasteries and missionaries such as Saint Patrick, and Adalbert of Prague propagated learning and religion beyond the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. In the 7th century Gregory the Great sent missionaries including Augustine of Canterbury into England. During the Age of Discovery, the Roman Catholic Church established a number of Missions in the Americas and other colonies through the Augustinians, Franciscans and Dominicans in order to spread Christianity in the New World and to convert the Native Americans and other indigenous people. At the same time, missionaries such as Francis Xavier as well as other Jesuits, Augustinians, Franciscans and Dominicans were moving into Asia and the far East. The Portuguese sent missions into Africa. These are some of the most well-known missions in history. While some of these missions were associated with imperialism and oppression, others (notably Matteo Ricci's Jesuit mission to China) were relatively peaceful and focused on integration rather than cultural imperialism.
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