List of Christian missionaries

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

The following are notable Christian missionaries:

Early Christian missionaries

These are missionaries who predate the Second Council of Nicaea so it may be claimed by both Catholic and Orthodoxy or belonging to early Christian groups.

Alopen – first missionary to China (Nestorian)
Apollos
Augustine of Canterbury – missionary to England
Saint Barnabas
Saint Boniface – influential in the conversion of German peoples

Columba – early missionary to Scotland
Denis – early missionary to France
Frumentius – early missionary to Ethiopia
Saint Kilian – Irish missionary killed in Franconia
Mark the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist
Pantaenus – early missionary to India
Saint Patrick – early missionary to Ireland
Saint Paul
Twelve Apostles – all of the twelve are considered missionaries
Ulfilas – missionary to the Goths

List of Catholic missionaries

List of Eastern Orthodox missionaries

Medieval to modern missionaries

Anglican

Geoffrey Bingham – missionary in Pakistan
James Blair – Scottish-born American clergyman in the Virginia Colony, founder of the College of William & Mary
William Duncan – worked with the Tsimshians
James Hannington – saint in Anglicanism who was killed in Uganda
Richard Johnson – first Christian cleric in Australia
Francis Le Jau, missionary to South Carolina
Samuel Lyde – missionary to the Alawites of Syria
Robert Machray – clergyman and missionary and first Primate of the Church of England in Canada
Samuel Marsden – missionary to Australia
Henry Martyn – missionary to India
William Mitchell – missionary to India
Charles Pearson – pioneer of the Church of Uganda
Henry Townsend – missionary in West Africa
Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe – missionary in Kashmir
John Wesley – missionary/evangelist in Europe and America
Walter Weston – missionary to Japan, popularized the term "Japanese Alps"
George Whitefield – missionary/evangelist to the colonial United States
John Burdett Wittenoom – missionary to Australia
Charles Stewart Thompson – missionary to India

Baptist

Ellen Arnold – Australian Missionary
Gladys Aylward – Missionary in China and Taiwan
Anne Luther Bagby – Southern Baptist missionary to Brazil
Lauran Bethell – missionary to Thailand and Eastern Europe
Joseph Booth – missionary to what is now Malawi
William Carey (missionary) – Missionary in India Founder of the baptist missionary society
Chow Leung – Missionary to Chicago Chinatown
William Goldsack
Adoniram Judson – American missionary to Burma whose conversion to Baptist beliefs en route to the mission field led to the founding of the first Baptist association in the U.S.
Ann Hasseltine Judson – wife of Adoniram Judson and missionary in Burma. Translated portions of the Bible into Burmese
George Liele – first American missionary; served in Jamaica
Eleanor Macomber – American missionary to Burma
Daniel Sharpe Malekebu – Malawian missionary who served in Malawi
Isaac McCoy – missionary to the American Indians
Lottie Moon – Southern Baptist missionary to China
Hopestill Pillow – New Zealand female missionary to India in the 19th century, member of the Zenana Missions
Anna Seward Pruitt – part of the "missionary generation" in America, Southern Baptist missionary who worked with Lottie Moon in North China
Cicero Washington Pruitt – Southern Baptist missionary to North China
Issachar Jacox Roberts – Baptist missionary who, at first unintentionally, inspired Hong Xiuquan
William Ward (missionary) – Missionary and printer in India

Plymouth Brethren

Jim Elliot – missionary to Ecuador
Anthony Norris Groves
George Müller – preached in various countries

Congregationalists

William Scott Ament – controversial missionary to China
Thomas J. Arnold Missionary in China during the Qing dynasty
David Bogue – missionary to India, convert from the Church of Scotland
Samuel Dyer – 19th-century China
William Ellis – missionary to the South Pacific and an author
Cynthia Farrar – missionary to India, 1827–1862
Cyrus Hamlin – American missionary in Turkey
Griffith John Missionary in China and companion of Jonathan Goforth
Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt - first world missionary for Woman's Christian Temperance Union
David Livingstone – missionary and explorer in Africa
Walter Henry Medhurst – revised versions of the Bible for his mission in China
Luella Miner - missionary in China, 1887 to 1935
Robert Moffat – Scottish missionary to Africa
Peter Parker – missionary and doctor in 19th-century China
Ellen M. Stone - missionary, teacher, author remembered for the Miss Stone Affair
Arthur Henderson Smith – missionary and author, more than 50 years in China
Betsey Stockton – missionary to Hawaii; a freed slave who was one of the first American single women to go on a foreign mission
Lancelot Threlkeld – linguist and missionary linked to the Lake Macquarie mission
Mary E. Van Lennep – missionary to Smyrna and Constantinople
Charlotte White - missionary to India, 1816-1826
John Williams – congregationalist in the South Pacific

Methodist

Young John Allen – missionary in Qing China
Henry Gerhard Appenzeller - American Methodist missionary to Korea
Francis Burns – missionary to Liberia
Thomas Coke
Thomas Birch Freeman – Anglo-African missionary and colonial official in West Africa
Francis Dunlap Gamewell – chief of fortifications, Boxer Rebellion, China
Mary Ninde Gamewell – American missionary in China; writer
Mary Porter Gamewell – American missionary in China
George Richmond Grose – missionary to China
Joseph Crane Hartzell – missionary work in Africa
Gertrude Howe – American teaching missionary in China
William Hughlett – medical missionary to Africa
E. Stanley Jones – missionary to India
Walter Russell Lambuth – established missionary schools and hospitals in East Asia
Mary Ann Lyth – English missionary, translator, teacher
J. P. Martin – children's book writer and missionary in Africa
Pilipo Miriye – missionary to Nigeria
Sioeli Nau – missionary work in Fiji and Tonga
Samson Oppong – Ghanaian prophet-preacher
Mary Reed – missionary to India
Dorothy Ripley – missionary to the United States
Samuel Evans Rowe – missionary work in Africa
Isaiah Benjamin Scott – African-American missionary to Liberia
William B. Scranton - American Methodist missionary to Korea
William Taylor (missionary) – Reverend who became Bishop in Africa during the latter half of the 19th century

Moravian

Johann Leonhard Dober Missionary in St. Thomas in the Caribbean
Alexander Worthy Clerk – Jamaican Moravian missionary to the Gold Coast, now Ghana
Christian David – Moravian missionary in Greenland, Livland and Pennsylvania
Anna Rosina Gambold – Moravian missionary in Georgia; diarist
Rose Ann Miller – Jamaican Moravian educator and missionary to the Gold Coast, now Ghana
Catherine Mulgrave – Angolan-Jamaican educator and missionary to the Gold Coast, now Ghana
Anna Nitschmann – Moravian missionary
David Nitschmann der Bischof – Moravian bishop and missionary in Pennsylvania
Christian Jacob Protten – Gold Coast educator and missionary
Rebecca Protten – Caribbean Moravian evangelist and missionary to the Gold Coast
August Gottlieb Spangenberg – head of the Moravian Church in America in its early days
David Zeisberger – Moravian missionary known for his role in the history of the Christian Munsee
Nicolaus Zinzendorf – Founder of the Moravian church

Presbyterian

Susan Law McBeth – Presbyterian missionary to American Indians and author
Horace Grant Underwood – first Protestant missionary to Korea
Samuel Austin Moffett - American missionary to Korea and founder of Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang
Samuel H. Moffett - American missionary to Korea and faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary
Lloyd Kim - American missionary to Cambodia and the coordinator of Mission to the World
Harvie M. Conn - American missionary to Korea and a missiologist
John Livingston Nevius - American missionary in China who advocated the Nevius Principle
Ralph D. Winter - American missiologist and founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission
Michael Oh - American missionary to Japan and executive director of Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
William Chalmers Burns – missionary to China
Nicholas Timothy Clerk – Presbyterian missionary in southeast colonial Ghana
Peter Hall – Presbyterian missionary in colonial Ghana
William Alderman Linton - American missionary to Korea
William D. Reynolds - American missionary to Korea
David Earl Ross - American missionary to Korean and founder of Jesus Evangelism Band (YWAM Korea)
Hunter Corbett – pioneer American missionary to Yantai, Shandong China and Moderator of the General Assembly 1906
Alexander Duff – missionary in India
William Montague Ferry - Presbyterian missionary who was stationed on Mackinac Island.
John Lawrence Goheen – Presbyterian missionary, administer of Ichalkaranji state of British India
William Imbrie – American missionary to Japan
Samuel Kirkland – American Revolution figure who did missionary work among the Tuscarora
Eric Liddell – Olympic athlete who became a Scottish missionary in China
Alexander Murdoch Mackay – Presbyterian missionary to Uganda^[1]
George Leslie Mackay – among the first modern missionaries to Taiwan
James Laidlaw Maxwell – among the first modern missionaries to Taiwan
Robert Morrison – first Protestant missionary in China
John Gibson Paton – Scottish missionary to "the New Hebrides" (now part of Vanuatu)
Francis Young Pressly – American missionary to Punjab, Pakistan 1945–1972
Carl Christian Reindorf - Gold Coast historian, minister and missionary
Mary Slessor – Scottish Presbyterian missionary in Nigeria
Absalom Sydenstricker – Presbyterian missionary to China, father of Pearl S. Buck
William James Wanless M.D., F.A.C.S – founded the first missionary medical school in India in 1897
Aeneas Francon Williams (Rev) – Church of Scotland minister; missionary in the Eastern Himalayas^[2] and China
Clara Anne Williams (ne. Rendall) – wife of Rev. Aeneas Francon Williams; Church of Scotland missionary in the Eastern Himalayas
Asher Wright – missionary to Native American Seneca people
Gladstone Porteous – Australian missionary to China of Scottish descent
Donald Fraser – Free Church of Scotland missionary to Malawi
Robert Grierson – Canadian missionary to Korea
Samuel Cochran – American missionary to China
George Ashmore Fitch – American missionary to China and Korea
Mary Coombs Greenleaf – American missionary who worked among the Chickasaw Indians

Other Protestant

Hedvig Posse – Swedish missionary in South Africa, linguist and hymn writer
David Asante – Gold Coast native linguist, educator and missionary
Reinhard Bonnke – German charismatic Christian evangelist
Paul Brand – missionary surgeon in India
Emilie Christaller – German educator and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast
Johann Gottlieb Christaller – German linguist and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast
Aril Edvardsen – Norwegian evangelical preacher and missionary
Jonathan Edwards
Hans Egede – Norwegian Lutheran missionary called "The Apostle of Greenland"
John Eliot – Puritan missionary to the American Indians
Leung Faat – Chinese convert who did missionary work in Southeast Asia and his homeland
Mark Finley – Seventh-day Adventist Church
Jason Frenn – contemporary missionary to Latin America
Theodore Hamberg – Swedish missionary to China
Hermann Herlitz – German pastor and missionary to Australia
Regina Hesse – Gold Coast educator and missionary
Hermann Gundert – German linguist and Basel missionary to India
James Legge – Sinologist and missionary to China
Eugen Liebendörfer – German medical missionary to India
William Miller – Second Advent Movement
Hermann Mögling – German missionary to India
Volbrecht Nagel – German missionary to India
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen – Lutheran missionary to Sumatra
Torill Selsvold Nyborg – Norwegian Lutheran missionary in Arequipa from 1977 to 1982
Theophilus Opoku – Gold Coast native linguist, educator and missionary
Jorge Armando Pérez – contemporary missionary to Latin America
Susanna Carson Rijnhart – Tibet
Fritz Ramseyer – Swiss builder and missionary to the Gold Coast
Andreas Riis – Danish minister and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast
Helen Roseveare – missionary physician in the Congo
Albert Shelton – Disciples of Christ missionary to Tibetans
John Smith – West Indies
George Peter Thompson – Liberian minister and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast
Sarah Lanman Smith – Syria
Annie Royle Taylor – China and Tibet
Hudson Taylor – missionary in China
James Springer White – Seventh-day Adventist Church
Rosina Widmann – German educator and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast
Johannes Zimmermann – German linguist and Basel missionary to the Gold Coast

Other Christian

Heidi Baker – co-founder IRIS ministries
Sigurd Bratlie – Brunstad Christian Church
William F. P. Burton – missionary pioneering in the Congolian rainforests
Stephen Grellet – Quaker missionary
Robert A. Jaffray – Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary to China
Thomas Raymond Kelly – Quaker
Wayman Mitchell – missionary and founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries
Raphael Morgan – Jamaican-American Greek Orthodox priest, thought to be the first Black Orthodox clergyman in America
Robert Pierce – founder of World Vision International
Ockert Potgieter – South African missionary to Ukraine
Erika Sutter – Swiss missionary to South Africa
John Allen Chau – American Evangelical, killed by the Sentinelese people after he approached the island in hopes of converting them.
Loren Cunningham – founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM)