Boston Commemorates 200 Years of American Missions

Teresa Neumann : Feb 22, 2012
Daniel Lovering - Reuters

Today, most Christian missionaries are still American.

(Salem, MA)—On February 6 of this year, the cities of Salem and Boston, Massachusetts, celebrated the North American missions bicentennial. That's because the first missionaries ever sent from the U.S. were commissioned from Tabernacle Church in Salem in 1812.

The missionary team, led by Adoniram Judson, set sail for India where they joined British missionary William Carey. Eventually, they moved on to Burma (Myanmar) where Judson was, according to a Church of God report, "loaded with chains in a Burmese dungeon, where a fellow prisoner asked with a sneer about the prospect for the conversion of the unreached." (Reuters Photo)

Judson's "legendary" reply was, "The prospects are as bright as are the promises of God."

Another report, by Reuters, notes that today our nation sends more Christian missionaries abroad than any other country, with Brazil coming in second and says a reenactment of Judson's departure from Salem Harbor—using actors dressed in period costumes—was witnessed by 60 people.