What is a missionary, what work do they carry out and are they Christian?
Missionaries aim to help spread their religion and contribute to public good through charity, education and economic development
RELIGIOUS missionaries have travelled the world for centuries aiming to spread their religion in the hope of securing new converts.
But where did the practice originate and is it only Christians who are missionaries?
What is a missionary?
A missionary is a member of a religious group deployed to a specific area to proselytise or perform acts of service such as education, social justice, health care and economic development.
The word "mission" comes from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad - the Latin missionem means "act of sending".
The Christian Church expended throughout the Roman Empire during New Testament times and is said to have reached to as far as Persia and India.
In 596, Pope Gregory the Great (in office 590-604) sent the Gregorian Mission (including Augustine of Canterbury) into England.
In their turn, Christians from Ireland (the Hiberno-Scottish mission) and from Britain (Saint Boniface (ca 675-754), and the Anglo-Saxon mission, for example) became prominent in converting the inhabitants of central Europe.
During the Age of Discovery, the Catholic Church established a number of missions in the Americas and in other Western colonies through the to spread Christianity in the New World and convert the Native Americans and other indigenous people.
Are Christians the only missionaries?
Although mostly used for Christians, the term can be applied to any creed or ideology.
Most commonly today, missionaries are associated with Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Scientologists.
There are also many Ahmadiyya Islam missions, particularly in West Africa.