In Matthew 16:18, Jesus clues us in on how the gospel will be spread around the world. He says, “…I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This gives us great hope as believers! We know that Jesus will be faithful, and His church will spread, no matter what is transpiring in our world. From the moment the Church was born in the book of Acts, Jesus charged the church to be His instruments in this great task. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 As we look back through the annals of history, we can see special times, situations and people where Jesus’s words have proven to be true. In this article, we want to highlight a couple of these in order to encourage you and challenge us all to be witnesses for Christ in 2021!

In the book of Acts, we have a clear history of how the early church spread through the labors of Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus and others…but a question arises: What happened after Acts 28? How about the so called “dark ages”? Did the spread of the gospel cease? Church historians and missiologists commonly divide up the spread of the gospel into four different time periods, bringing us up to modern missionary efforts, starting with William Carey in the 1700’s. We’ll look briefly at each of these periods and see how the gospel progressed in each. The information below was largely gleaned from the article “The Kingdom Strikes Back” by Ralph D. Winter, found in “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” which we recommend!

Period I: 0-400 A.D Winning the Romans

Throughout history, the Lord uses the rise and fall of empires to accomplish His purposes. This is no exception when considering the Roman Empire. Winter says, “Perhaps the most spectacular triumph of Christianity in history was its conversion (or “conquest”) of the Roman Empire in roughly 200 years.” The technological advancement by the Roman Empire allowed the gospel to spread, specifically through the famous Roman roads and trade routes that were created. Of course, a major event was Emperor Constantine identifying as a Christian in A.D. 312, and subsequently declaring Christianity as the religion of the land. By A.D. 375 Christianity had been made the official religion of Rome.

Period II: 400-800 A.D. Winning the Barbarians

As Rome began to be invaded by northern Barbarian groups, such as the Visigoths and Vandals, this still fulfilled the Lord’s purposes of seeing His glory spread throughout the earth. These barbarians were heavily influenced by the faith of those in the Roman Empire, and took it back north with them. It’s during this time that we see the emergence of traveling evangelists, called monks. Names like Benedict, Columban and Boniface lived during this time and they were influential in starting the orders, filled with highly disciplined men that formed tightly-knit fellowships. Again, Winter comments, “Probably the greatest accomplishment of these disciplined Christian communities is seen in the simple fact that almost all our knowledge of the Roman world is derived from their libraries, whose silent testimony reveals the appreciation they had, even Christians, for the “pagan” authors of ancient times. Thus, in our secular age it is embarrassing to recognize that had it not been for these highly literate “mission field” Christians who preserved and copied manuscripts (not only of the Bible but of ancient Christian and non-Christian classics as well), we would know no more about the Roman Empire today than we do of the Maya or Incan empires.”

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Charlemagne in this period. He ruled from 768-814 A.D and arguably, had a larger impact on Christianity than Constantine did. During his rule, many aspects of society were evaluated in light of God’s word. He had a strong desire to see his empire be reached with the gospel!

Period III: 800-1200 A.D Winning the Vikings

As Charlemagne’s reign comes to a close, a new threat arrives on the scene. The Vikings. Unlike the Visigoths and Vandals who arose against Rome, there was absolute no Christian influence among the Vikings. Consequently, they attacked, killed and pillaged with no mercy. They especially enjoyed destroying churches, and even killing those inside the church while the service was going on. After the church was destroyed, they would often sell the monks into slavery. But even in spite of this great violence, God’s purposes never stop and the gospel could not be silenced. Over time, the Viking conquerors became conquered by the faith of their captives! We once again must commend the disciplined faith of the monks who were carried off into slavery, and there are even stories of Christian girls witnessing to the wives and mistresses of the Viking men. There is one name we should highlight during this time: Alfred the Great of Wessex. He led a successful revolt against the Vikings, and he allowed church services to be conducted in an early form of English, instead of Latin, which was not understood by the common people. Although this period has few major historical events that we can turn to, the gospel still progressed even among the vicious Vikings.

Period IV: 1200-1600 A.D. Winning the Muslims?

The final period we are going to mention in this article is a time in history that generally brings a stain on Christianity, but is not without its bright spots. One of these bright spots would be the friars, we commonly know the term from the story of Robin Hood. They were faithful in carrying the gospel forward, even in the midst of a great plague that devastated Europe during this time. St. Francis of Assisi and Raymond Lull were other, more calmer voices that focused on loving evangelism instead of the violence perpetuated by other Christians. The reason why this period has a question mark attached to it, is because the “winning” mentioned here refers to military battles as opposed to souls. Winter comments, “While the Crusades had many political overtones (they were often a unifying device for faltering rulers), they would not have happened without the vigorous but misguided sponsorship of Christian leaders…The great lesson of the Crusades is that goodwill, even sacrificial obedience to God, is no substitute for a clear understanding of His will.” The crusades resulted in Muslim doctrine becoming more anti-Christian. The cross, being used as a symbol in these battles, resulted in the Muslim world believing that Jesus did not die on the cross. The Quran does not teach this, but there have been lasting impacts because of this event in history.

This brings us to our stopping point for this article. Please note, this has been focused on giving you just a snapshot of how the Lord has worked though the ages, there is so much more we could write, and there are many more stories to tell. Also, you may have noticed that this is focused on western European history, but the Lord was also working in the Asian world as well during these years. The gospel was also spreading there! We hope this has been encouraging, and informative for you – but not just for you to think, “that was interesting” and walk away. We wrote this for you to consider what place you have in His story, what part will you play in 2021 to see His glory spread among the nations? God has raised up the church for this task, and He is faithful to work in our world. The question is: will we join Him?

How can we help your church be equipped to join God in His mission both locally and globally? Contact us and let us know.