Missionaries

Question 1

What were missionary societies

Answer 1

• shared common conviction that world-wide conversion was a duty.
• belief in Christianity and belief in the worthlessness of other faiths gave them motivation to do their work.
• Anglicans, Roman Catholic and particularly non-conformist groups such as the Methodists all sought to spread the Christian faith.
• examples: The Baptist Missionary Society; The London Missionary Society and the Church
  Missionary Society.

Question 2

What role did Missionary Societies play in promoting missionary work

Answer 2

• Conferences were set up to oversee missions in different parts of the world.
• They recruited people from Britain to do missionary work.
• They produced pamphlets to relay stories and gain more financial backers for their work.

Question 3

Why did people become missionaries

Answer 3

• Missionaries hoped to create Christian bases that would become self-financing, self-governing and expansionist in their own right.
• They went out of a sense of moral compulsion and deep religious conviction.
• The work of missionaries was often hard and unrewarding, many did not return as they were killed by natives of disease.

Question 4

what activities did missionaries carry out in the field

Answer 4

• Missionary societies helped open up territories by penetrating beyond colonial borders and establishing links with indigenous communities.
• Missionary groups established compounds and farms to keep them safe -> set up churches and provided housing and farm work in return for native conversion.
• Colonial administrators often frustrated with missionaries -> they challenged authorities when they acted against the people they were trying to spread faith with.
  -> education provided led to rising political consciousness among indigenous people.
  -> Lord Salisbury denounced missionaries as vulgar radicals.
• Missionaries worked alongside other Europeans and were not interested with Empire.

Question 5

Give examples of missionaries and the work they did

Answer 5

• women were particularly concerned about the rights of women and children. Many learned local languages and assimilated the local culture to win the local’s respect. Mary Slessor, Mary Carpenter are some examples.
• educated women in India and introduced social reforms like preventing girls from being used as temple prostitutes in India.
• Anglican Henry Williams worked in New Zealand from 1823, translating the Bible into Maori.
• John Mackenzie pressured British gov to establish protectorate over Bechuanaland -> then became Deputy Commissioner there.