Mission Work
Open Brethren are noted for their commitment to missionary work. In the earliest days of the Plymouth Brethren movement, Anthony Norris Groves became one of the earliest "faith missionaries", travelling to Baghdad in 1829 to preach the gospel and the Bible without the aid of an established missionary society. Many later Plymouth Brethren missionaries took the same stance, and included notable missionary pioneers such as:
- George Müller—founder of orphanages in Bristol, England
- Dan Crawford—Scottish missionary to central Africa
- Charles Marsh—missionary to Lafayette, Algeria (1925–69)
- Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming—missionaries to Ecuador killed by members of the Huaorani tribe
While the majority of Open Brethren missionaries do not belong to a missionary society, there are a number of supporting organisations that give help and advice for missionaries: in the UK, Echoes of Service magazine, Medical Missionary News and the Lord's Work Trust are notable organisations. Today, missionaries are found all over the world, with high concentrations in Zambia and Southern Africa, Brazil, India, Western Europe and South East Asia.
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Famous quotes containing the words mission and/or work:
“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)
“The work of vegetation begins first in the irritability of the bark and leaf-buds.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)