After the Reformation, Christianity has been proclaimed in far distant
lands by missionaries. Hans Egede, a clergyman in Vaagen, Nordland,
Norway, resigned his charge to go and preach the Gospel in Greenland.
None had gone there with the Word of God since the Black Death in the
fourteenth century.
In 1842 the Norwegian Mission Society was organized. Schreuder went as
its first missionary to southern Africa. He labored mostly among the
Zulus, among whom he died in 1882. Many followed his example and went
out to heathen nations to bear witness of Christ. The society later on
began missionary work in the island of Madagascar, where it has
established many large Christian congregations.
The Norwegian Lutheran Synods in America have also been engaged in
mission work among the heathen, as follows: the Norwegian Lutheran
Church of America has its field at Hupeh and Honan, China, with 70
missionaries and 873 native workers; in southeastern Madagascar, with 31
missionaries and 450 native workers; in Natal including Zululand, South
Africa, with 8 missionaries; among the Indians of Wisconsin, with 2
missionaries; among the Eskimos of Alaska, with 3 missionaries. (The
figures are for 1927.) The Norwegian Lutheran Free Church has its fields
in southwestern Madagascar and Honan, China; the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (Elling Synod), among the Indians of Wisconsin; the
Lutheran Synod of the Brethren, in Honan, China. In addition to these
synodical missions, the Norwegian Lutherans of America have conducted
independent missions among the Jews of Palestine, Russia and the United
States, the Santals of India, the Nestorians of Chaldea, the Mohammedans
of Kurdistan and the Negroes of the Southern States and the Soudan.
Both Catholics and Reformed have, during the last century, been
energetic in missionary work. In 1926 about 750 Protestant Missionary
Societies were in existence, carrying on missionary work amongst the
heathen in every part of the world. Four hundred and fifty of these
societies were working in Asia, 200 in Africa, 200 in North America, 110
in South America, 60 in Australia and the South Sea Islands.
The earliest Bible society was the Canstein of Halle, founded in 1712.
The largest Bible society is the British and Foreign Bible Society,
founded in 1804. It has translated the Bible or parts of it into many
languages and dialects, and has distributed about 400,000,000 Bibles and
New Testaments. There are also other important Bible societies, of which
we shall mention two: the Norwegian Bible Society, organized in 1816,
which has issued about 3,000,000 Bibles and New Testaments; the American
Bible Society, organized in 1816, which has issued over 185,000,000
Bibles and New Testaments. In 1926 the Bible was translated into 800
languages and dialects. Of 10 million copies given away in 1926, China
alone got almost 4 million copies.
The Gospel has never before been preached in so many countries as at
present, but yet the prophecy is far from being fulfilled, that there
shall be one Flock and one Shepherd. In 1927 the population of the world
was 1,850,000,000; and of these only 683,000,000 were nominally
Christians, while 15,000,000 were Jews, 209,000,000 were Mohammedans,
and 943,000,000 were heathen.