From Evangelization to Enterprise: A Comparative Analysis of Missionary Economic Legacies in the 1800s and the Retreat of Contemporary Churches from Community Development

Abstract

This study employs a comparative historiographical methodology to examine the transformation of Christian missionary engagement with socioeconomic development from the nineteenth century to the present. Comparing missionary enterprises in America, Africa, and Asia with selected contemporary church movements, it analyzes shifts in theological vision, institutional practice, and economic orientation. While acknowledging the colonial entanglements and moral ambiguities of nineteenth-century missions, the study argues that many functioned as proto-development actors by integrating evangelization with education, agriculture, healthcare, and institution-building. Engaging major historiographical debates, it situates missionary activity within complex imperial, cultural, and political contexts.