Missionary connection with Monasticism

Missionaries go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, while monks live cloistered in a monastery and focus their lives on prayer and studying Scripture, correct? Not exactly. When we study the history of Christian mission, especially from around 500 to 1500 CE, the key missionaries that we constantly encounter are monks. In fact, if we don't have monks in this period then we have very little in the way of Christian mission. There is a phenomenon of missionary monks - those who pursued both a monastic and missionary calling. Meet the monks and monastic orders, narrate their journeys in mission, and evaluate their approaches to and thoughts about mission.

Recommended Reading

Smither, Edward L., Missionary Monks (Cascade Books, 2016)

Resources

Peters, Greg, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality (Baker Academic, 2015).

Missionary Work of the Church

a. How gospel has been passed from one language, tribe, nation to another b. Basic principles of cross-cultural communication c. Mission Strategies d. Personal relational evangelism and apologetics e. Modern Missionary Movements f. Missionary connection with Monasticism g. Post-Christian America h. Re-engineering from the mission field backwards i. Missiology and ecclesiology j. Missional Implications of Technology k. Church Planting