List of Christian missionaries
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
- Apollos
- Augustine of Canterbury – missionary to England
- Saint Barnabas
- Saint Boniface – influential in the conversion of German peoples
- Brieuc
- Columba – early missionary to Scotland
- David of Basra – early missionary to India
- Denis – early missionary to France
- Frumentius – early missionary to Ethiopia
- Saint Kilian – Irish missionary killed in Franconia
- Mark the Evangelist
- Pantaenus – early missionary to India
- Saint Patrick – early missionary to Ireland
- Paul of Tarsus
- Twelve Disciples – 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
- Gladys Aylward – missionary to China and Taiwan
- 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
- 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 – linked to India and a founder of the Baptist Missionary Society
- 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 whose writings home made the couple celebrities
- George Liele – first American missionary; served in Jamaica
- Eleanor Macomber – American missionary to Burma
- Isaac McCoy – missionary to the American Indians
- Lottie Moon – Southern Baptist missionary to China
- Anna Seward Pruitt – part of the "missionary generation" in America, Southern Baptist missionary who worked with Lottie Moon in North China
- Cicero Washington Pruitt – husband and fellow Southern Baptist missionary to North China
- Issachar Jacox Roberts – Baptist missionary who, at first unintentionally, inspired Hong Xiuquan
- Charlotte White – widow, the first unmarried American female foreign missionary; arrived in India in 1816
Plymouth Brethren
- Jim Elliot – missionary to Ecuador
- Anthony Norris Groves
- George Müller – preached in various countries
Congregationalists
- William Scott Ament – controversial missionary to China
- David Bogue – missionary to India, convert from the Church of Scotland
- Hedley Bunton – 20th-century missionary in China who lived under Japanese occupation for a time
- 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
- David Livingstone – missionary and explorer in Africa
- Walter Henry Medhurst – revised versions of the Bible for his mission in China
- Robert Moffat – Scottish missionary to Africa
- Peter Parker – missionary and doctor in 19th-century China
- 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
- John Williams – congregationalist in the South Pacific
Latter-day Saint
- Samuel Smith – brother to Joseph Smith, first LDS missionary
- Brigham Young – missionary in the British Isles, became 2nd President of the Church
- John Taylor – missionary in his native country of Britain, became 3rd President of the Church
- Wilford Woodruff – missionary in the British Isles, became 4th President of the Church
- Heber C. Kimball – missionary in the British Isles
- Dan Jones – missionary in his native country of Wales, translated many materials into Welsh
- Orson Hyde – missionary across Europe and into the Holy Land
- Parley P. Pratt – missionary to the Southern and Midwestern US, Canada, South America
- Joseph F. Smith – missionary to the Sandwich Islands at age 15
- Matthew Cowley – missionary to New Zealand's Māori people, translated the Book of Mormon into Māori
Methodist
- Young John Allen – missionary in Qing China
- Francis Burns – missionary to Liberia
- Thomas Coke
- Francis Dunlap Gamewell – chief of fortifications, Boxer Rebellion, China
- George Richmond Grose – missionary to China
- Joseph Crane Hartzell – missionary work in 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
- Dorothy Ripley – missionary to the United States
- Samuel Evans Rowe – missionary work in Africa
- Isaiah Benjamin Scott – African-American missionary to Liberia
- Henry Gerhard Appenzeller - American Methodist missionary to Korea
- William B. Scranton - American Methodist missionary to Korea
Moravian
- Alexander Worthy Clerk – Jamaican Moravian missionary to the Gold Coast, now Ghana
- Christian David – Moravian missionary in Greenland, Livland and Pennsylvania
- Anna Nitschmann – Moravian missionary
- David Nitschmann der Bischof – Moravian bishop and missionary in Pennsylvania
- 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 – renewer of the Moravian Church
Presbyterian
- 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
- 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
- Hunter Corbett – pioneer American missionary to Yantai, Shandong China and Moderator of the General Assembly 1906
- Alexander Duff – missionary in India
- 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
- George Leslie Mackay – among the first modern missionaries to Taiwan
- Bill Majors – American missionary in Korea
- 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"
- Francis Young Pressly – American missionary to Punjab, Pakistan 1945–1972
- 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 – Church of Scotland minister; missionary in the Eastern Himalayas and China
- Clara Anne Williams – 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
Other Protestant
- Reinhard Bonnke – German charismatic Christian evangelist
- Paul Brand – missionary surgeon in India
- 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
- James Legge – Sinologist and missionary to China
- William Miller – Second Advent Movement
- Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen – Lutheran missionary to Sumatra
- Torill Selsvold Nyborg – Norwegian Lutheran missionary in Arequipa from 1977 to 1982
- Jorge Armando Pérez – contemporary missionary to Latin America
- Susanna Carson Rijnhart – Tibet
- Helen Roseveare – missionary physician in the Congo
- Albert Shelton – Disciples of Christ missionary to Tibetans
- John Smith – West Indies
- Sarah Lanman Smith – Syria
- Annie Royle Taylor – China and Tibet
- Hudson Taylor – missionary in China
- James Springer White – Seventh-day Adventist Church
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