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A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. The English word "missionary" is derived from Latin, the equivalent of the Greek-derived word, "apostle".
A parish is a subdivision of a diocese or bishopric within the Roman Catholic church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, and of some other churches. ... A parish is also a geographical subdivision used in several parts of the world, ... (See: Parish)
Examples:
Since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, a widely-accepted definition of a christian mission has been "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement." This definition is motivated by theological analyses of the acts required to enhance God's reputation (usually translated as "glory" or "honor"). The definition is claimed to summarize the acts of Jesus' ministry, which is taken as a model for all minstries. The motivation is said to be God's will, plainly stated throughout the Bible, including the Old Testament ... See Mission (Christian)
Christian missions: History According to the documents of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the Biblical authority for missions begins quite early in Genesis, 12:1-3, in which Abraham is blessed so that through him and his descendants, all the "peoples" of the world would be blessed. Others point to God's wish, often expressed in the Bible, that all peoples of the earth would worship Him. Therefore, Christian missions go where worship is not, in order to bring worship to God. ...
See: Mission (Christian) for much more detail.
In ancient times, the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah were considered to be the prime role-models of "converting" the masses to Monotheism as based on the verse in the Book of Genesis: "God said to Abram, 'Go away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you'...Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all their belongings, as well as the people they had gathered, and they left, heading toward Canaan..." (Genesis 12:1;5). "[T]he people they had gathered" is interpreted to mean the people whom Abraham and Sarah had brought over to the belief in the Hebrew God worshiped by Abraham and Sarah themselves.
In modern times, Jewish teachers repudiate proselytization. One basic argument is that all people have the law of God in their heart to a limited degree, and that to teach them more would be to make them responsible for more than Jewish law requires of them. That is, they would start as virtuous gentiles, protected by their lack of formal Torah observance, but after contact with Jewish teachings they would be in held accountable to a higher Jewish religious standard. Non-Jews are therefore encouraged to observe the universal "Seven Noahide Laws" through which they can attain all their pre-destined goals in the world during their entire lifetimes.
However, most Jewish religious groups encourage "Outreach" to Jews alienated from their own heritage due to assimilation and intermarriage. The over-all movement seeks to encourage Jews to become more religiously observant of Jewish law (known as halakha), and those people who do become religious are known as Baal teshuvas. The large Hasidic Judaism group known as Chabad Lubavitch have been at the forefront of such efforts internationally. There are others, such as the National Jewish Outreach Program that do the same on a large scale in North America.
In recent times, the Reform Judaism movement has begun an active program to convert to Judaism the non-Jewish spouses of its intermarried members as well as to activley seek and encourage non-Jews who have an interest in Judaism to become Jews, the rationale being that Jews have lost so many of their own during the Holocaust so any newcomers must be sought out and welcomed. This approach has been repudiated by the Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism wings as being unrealistic and as posing a danger by making Judaism seem as an easy religion to join and observe when in reality being Jewish entails many difficulties and sacrifices.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work. The Church strongly encourages all worthy young men to devote two years to missionary work, most of which is spent proselytizing. Single young men are eligible to serve missions when at least 19 but no older than 26 years old. Prospective missionaries must also meet stringent worthiness requirements (Church leaders have recently increased the requirements).
Young women may also serve missions, but are not expected to do so. Young women must be at least 21 years old to serve missions, only serve for an 18 month period and must meet similar worthiness requirements as young men.
Missionaries receive a call from the Church through the mail, and are ordained Elders and set apart to preach the gospel. Newly called missionaries attend a short training period at one of the Church's Missionary Training Centers (MTC). The largest MTC is located in Provo, Utah adjacent to Brigham Young University (BYU) (some housing for the MTC is, in fact, former BYU dorms). Missionaries serving English-speaking missions spend three weeks at the MTC and are trained in the use of proseletizing materials and taught expected conduct. Missionaries bound for foreign-language missions spend longer periods at the MTC—eight to ten weeks—in order to learn the language. During this period, they are encouraged not to speak in their native tongue, but rather immerse themselves in the new language. Other MTC campuses exist in other parts of the world for missionaries serving in their native countries outside the US.
MTCs and their teaching methods have been studied by various organizations because of the rapid ability of the missionaries to learn a foreign language in the setting. Occasionally, missionaries are fluent in the language they study at the end of the eight- to ten-week period.
In the past, the Church expected all young men to serve missions regardless of marital status. Today, the church no longer expects young married adults to serve missions.
Older, retired couples are also encouraged to serve missions and may serve as long as they desire (typically from one to two years). Many older couples have been known to serve several consecutive missions.
Besides proselytizing missionaries, the Church also has a strong welfare missionary program. The missionaries who serve these types of missions serve in poor and third world countries and do not actively proselytize. Regular proselytizing missionaries may engage in welfare activities and community service from time to time.
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