Church and world
From a handful of disciples in Jerusalem to churches in almost every country. Follow the road on the map, and read how the news reached the speakers of your language.
Just before His ascension Jesus told a handful of disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and further, to the ends of the earth. Acts tells the beginning. After that the story went on, through traders, slaves, monks, kings and ordinary families. Not always as Jesus meant it: sometimes by force or in the wake of conquerors. But again and again people found the same Lord in their own language.
At first there were only a few friends of Jesus. They told the good news to others, and they told it to others again. That is how the story travelled over seas and mountains, until it reached your home too!
Every language of Thread has its own story. Yours comes first; choose another language to read on.
3rd–7th century
In Roman Britain Alban died as a martyr, and in 314 three British bishops sat at a church council in Arles. In 597 Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory, landed in Kent, where King Æthelberht became a Christian. From Iona and Lindisfarne Irish monks brought the gospel to the north.
Note: When Alban died is uncertain: the third or the early fourth century.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Augustine of Canterbury” · Wikipedia, “Council of Arles”
4th–8th century
In Roman times there were already Christians along the Meuse; Servatius is named as the first bishop of Tongeren. In the seventh century Amandus founded abbeys in Ghent, and in 695 Willibrord became bishop of the Frisians, with Utrecht as his see. Boniface died near Dokkum in 754.
Note: Servatius' life is largely legend.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Willibrord” · Wikipedia, “Saint Amand”
2nd–6th century
In the second century Lyon had a church with Bishop Pothinus, who came from Asia Minor. In 177 the Christians of Lyon and Vienne were persecuted; their letter about it has been preserved. Irenaeus then led the church. Around 500 King Clovis was baptised in Reims by Bishop Remigius.
Note: The year of Clovis' baptism is uncertain: historians give dates between 496 and 506.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Martyrs of Lyon” · Wikipedia, “Clovis I”
3rd–9th century
Trier, a Roman imperial city, already had a bishop in the third century. In the eighth century Boniface organised the church in the German lands and founded Fulda (744). Around 830 the Heliand retold the gospels as an Old Saxon heroic poem.
Note: The earliest bishops of Trier are known mainly from tradition.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Saint Boniface” · Wikipedia, “Heliand”
c. 300 and 1511
Around 305 bishops from all over Hispania met at Elvira, near Granada: there were already organised churches by then. In 589, at the Council of Toledo, King Reccared brought the Visigoths from Arianism to the Catholic faith. In 1511 Santo Domingo became the first diocese in the Americas, where most Spanish speakers now live.
Note: That James or Paul preached in Spain themselves is a tradition; Paul did want to go there (Romans 15:24).
Sources: Wikipedia, “Synod of Elvira” · Wikipedia, “Third Council of Toledo”
1st century
Even before Paul came, there were believers in Rome: Priscilla and Aquila came from there around 50. Paul wrote his letter around 57 to a large, existing church and came there later as a prisoner. After the fire of 64 Nero persecuted the Christians; according to tradition Peter and Paul died in Rome at that time.
6th century
Christianity came to Lusitania and Galicia in the first centuries. Around 550 Martin of Braga came from Pannonia; he founded the monastery of Dume and helped the Suebi from Arianism to the Catholic faith. In 1681 the New Testament of João Ferreira de Almeida appeared.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Martin of Braga”
966
On Holy Saturday 966 Prince Mieszko I was baptised with his court, partly through the influence of his Czech wife Dobrawa. In 968 Poland received its first bishop, Jordan, in Poznań. That baptism counts as the beginning of Poland.
Note: Whether the baptism took place in Poznań or Gniezno is not known for certain.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Baptism of Poland”
635, 1601, 1807
Three times it began anew: with Alopen of the Church of the East in 635, with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci in Beijing in 1601, and with Robert Morrison, who arrived in 1807 and translated the New Testament into Chinese. The Chinese Bible that Thread uses appeared in 1919.
Sources: Boston University, History of Missiology, “Morrison, Robert (1782–1834)” · Wikipedia, “Xi'an Stele”
1784
In Korea the church began without missionaries. Scholars read Christian books from China, and in 1784 Yi Seung-hun was baptised in Beijing. At home he baptised others. He died a martyr in 1801. In 1885 the first Protestant missionaries came, Underwood and Appenzeller.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Yi Seung-hun” · Boston University, History of Missiology, “Underwood, Horace Grant”
1521
On Easter Sunday, 31 March 1521, during Magellan's voyage, the first Mass in the Philippines was celebrated, and in April the ruler of Cebu and his people were baptised. From 1565 the Spanish stayed. In 1593 the Doctrina Christiana appeared in Manila, the first book in a Philippine language, in Spanish and Tagalog.
Note: Here too the coming of the faith went together with colonisation.
Sources: Wikipedia, “First Mass in the Philippines” · Wikipedia, “Doctrina Christiana”
1615–1651
In 1615 Jesuits began a first congregation in Hội An. Alexandre de Rhodes came in 1624 and worked mainly in the north. With others he worked out the Latin-letter script in which Vietnamese is still written; in 1651 he published a dictionary and a catechism in Rome.
Note: The Latin script was the work of several missionaries and Vietnamese helpers, not of one man.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Alexandre de Rhodes” · Wikipedia, “Catholic Church in Vietnam”
1549
In 1549 Francis Xavier arrived in Kagoshima. After rapid growth came bans and persecution. Christians around Nagasaki kept their faith in secret for about 250 years. On 17 March 1865 they made themselves known to a priest in the new church at Ōura.
Sources: UNESCO World Heritage, “Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region”
1st century
At the first Pentecost Arabs too heard the apostles in their own language, and after his conversion Paul went to Arabia. Before Islam there were Christian Arab tribes, such as the Ghassanids. The oldest Arabic Bible manuscripts date from the ninth century; the Bible that Thread uses was completed in Beirut in 1865.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Bible translations into Arabic” · Wikipedia, “Ghassanids”
c. 49
The New Testament was written in Greek. Around 49 Paul preached in Philippi, the first city in Europe where he founded a church, and then in Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth. Three of those churches received a letter that is now in the Bible.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Philippi”
829
In 829 Ansgar, 'the apostle of the North', came to the trading town of Birka for half a year and formed a small congregation there. Around 1000 Olof Skötkonung became the first Christian king. In 1541 the Bible appeared in Swedish.
Note: The congregation in Birka did not last long; Sweden only became fully Christian in the twelfth century.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Ansgar”
c. 972–1000
Around 972 Grand Prince Géza brought Western missionaries to his land and was baptised. His son Stephen was crowned the first king around 1000 and built up the church in Hungary. In 1590 the first printed Hungarian Bible appeared, by Gáspár Károli.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Stephen I of Hungary”
863
In 863 Cyril and Methodius came to Great Moravia and made the first Slavic alphabet. Methodius probably baptised Prince Bořivoj and Ludmila. The Bible of Kralice (1579–1593) later became a standard for the Czech language.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Saints Cyril and Methodius” · Wikipedia, “Bořivoj I”
tradition: 52 · certain: c. 849
The Thomas Christians of Kerala say that the apostle Thomas came ashore at Kodungallur in 52. Around 849 copper plates in Kollam recorded the rights of a church. By 1841 the whole Bible had been translated into Malayalam.
Note: That Thomas himself came is a tradition that historians can neither prove nor rule out.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Tharisapalli plates” · Wikipedia, “Bible translations into Malayalam”
12th century and 1548
Christianity came gradually from the west and the east. According to legend Bishop Henry came with the Swedish king around 1155 and died a martyr. What is certain is that Mikael Agricola translated the New Testament into Finnish in 1548, the beginning of written Finnish.
Note: Little is known for certain about Bishop Henry.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Mikael Agricola” · Wikipedia, “Bishop Henry”
995–1030
Kings Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf Haraldsson introduced Christianity, often by force. Olaf Haraldsson fell at Stiklestad in 1030 and was afterwards venerated as a saint in Nidaros, now Trondheim. Earlier still, the faith came through trade and contacts with England.
Note: The forced conversions are known mainly from later sagas; they were real, and they run counter to the gospel.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Olaf Tryggvason” · Wikipedia, “Olaf II of Norway”
9th century and 1219
In the ninth century the Serbs became Christian, helped by disciples of Cyril and Methodius. In 1219 Sava became the first archbishop of a Serbian church of its own, with his see in the monastery of Žiča.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Christianization of the Serbs” · Wikipedia, “Saint Sava”
1910–1926
Esperanto has no people of its own, but it does have Christians who speak it. Zamenhof, the maker of the language, translated the Old Testament himself. In 1910 a Catholic association, IKUE, was founded in Paris, and in 1911 a Protestant one, KELI, in Antwerp. In 1926 the complete Bible appeared in Esperanto.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Bible translations into Esperanto” · Wikipedia, “International League of Christian Esperantists”
c. 957 and 988
The Russian church goes back to the baptism of the realm of Kyiv: Princess Olga was baptised around 957, and around 988 Prince Volodymyr was baptised and after him the people of Kyiv. Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians share this origin. The Russian Bible that Thread uses appeared in 1876.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Christianization of Kievan Rus'” · Wikipedia, “Russian Synodal Bible”
c. 957 and 988
In Kyiv Princess Olga was baptised around 957, and around 988 Prince Volodymyr had the people of the city baptised in the Dnipro. In 1581 the first complete printed Bible in Church Slavonic appeared in Ostroh, and in 1903 the first complete Bible in modern Ukrainian.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Olga of Kiev” · Wikipedia, “Ostrog Bible”
1580 and 19th century
In 1580 the Mughal emperor Akbar invited Jesuits to his court at Fatehpur Sikri to talk with them about their faith. In the nineteenth century Henry Martyn and the Serampore mission translated the Bible into Hindustani and Hindi.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Rodolfo Acquaviva” · Boston University, History of Missiology, “Martyn, Henry”
1844
The Portuguese were in Mombasa in the sixteenth century, but no church remained. In 1844 Johann Ludwig Krapf came; he wrote the first grammar and the first dictionary of Swahili and began translating the Bible. By 1891 the whole Bible was ready in Swahili.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Johann Ludwig Krapf” · Dictionary of African Christian Biography, “Hodgson, F. J.”
1793–1801
Portuguese Catholics built the church of Bandel in 1599. In 1793 William Carey came to Bengal; at the end of 1800 Krishna Pal was baptised in Serampore, and in 1801 the New Testament appeared in Bengali.
Sources: Boston University, History of Missiology, “Carey, William”
1578 and 1706
In 1578 a Tamil catechism became the first book ever printed in Tamil letters. In 1706 Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau arrived in Tranquebar, as the first Protestant missionaries in India. Ziegenbalg's Tamil New Testament (1714) was the first in an Indian language.
Sources: Boston University, History of Missiology, “Ziegenbalg, Bartholomäus” · Wikipedia, “Henrique Henriques”
1715 and 1805
In 1715 Manda Reddy was baptised with a few families: the first Telugu Christians we know of. In 1805 the London Missionary Society began in Visakhapatnam; its people translated the New Testament into Telugu. Later the church grew above all among the poorest communities.
1616
The English Jesuit Thomas Stephens wrote the Kristapurana in Goa, a long poem about the story of the Bible in the style of the Indian epics, in Marathi. It was printed in 1616. Later the Serampore mission translated the Bible into Marathi.
1815–1829
In 1815 missionaries of the London Missionary Society came to Surat. In 1820 and 1821 the first New Testaments in Gujarati appeared, and in 1829 the whole Bible. From 1841 Irish Presbyterians worked in Gujarat.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Christianity in Gujarat”
1834 and 1873
In 1834 the first mission in the Punjab began in Ludhiana. Around 1873 Ditt, a poor leather worker, was baptised in Sialkot. He passed it on in his own villages, and so a movement arose in which tens of thousands of the poorest Punjabis became Christians.
Sources: Evangelicals Now, “Pakistan's little-known Christian story”
1715 and 1951
From 1715 to 1769 Capuchins worked in the Kathmandu valley, until they had to leave. In 1821 a New Testament appeared in Nepali. Ganga Prasad Pradhan, the first Nepali pastor, translated the whole Bible from Darjeeling (1914). Only after 1951 were foreigners allowed to work in Nepal, and the church grew above all after 1990.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Christianity in Nepal” · Wikipedia, “Ganga Prasad Pradhan”
Twelve stops, from Pentecost to today. Choose a stop on the map or in the list.
Where the gospel reached your language
c. 30
Jerusalem
Fifty days after Easter the Spirit comes. Pilgrims from Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Crete and Arabia hear the disciples in their own language. Many take the news home with them.
At Pentecost people from many countries heard about Jesus, each in their own language. Then they went home and passed it on.
Who is the Holy Spirit?c. 35 and 4th century
Meroë and Aksum
A high official of the Candace, the queen of Kush (‘Ethiopia’ in the Bible, in today’s Sudan), reads Isaiah on his way home. Philip explains it to him, and he is baptised. In the fourth century the kingdom of Aksum becomes Christian under King Ezana: a cross appears on his coins. Frumentius, who was stranded there as a boy, is consecrated bishop in Alexandria.
A man from Ethiopia was reading the Bible in his chariot. Philip told him about Jesus, and the man was baptised straight away in a stream!
Philip in Who is whoc. 49–62
Philippi and Rome
On his second journey Paul crosses over to Macedonia. In Philippi Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, is baptised: the first believer we know of in Europe. Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth follow. In Rome there was already a church before Paul arrived there as a prisoner.
Paul sailed to Europe. A woman who sold beautiful purple cloth, Lydia, was the first there to believe in Jesus.
Follow Paul on the Bible maptradition: 52 · certain: 9th century
Kerala (India)
The Christians of Kerala say that the apostle Thomas came ashore among them in the year 52. What is certain: around 849 a ruler in Kollam granted rights to a church of Syrian Christians on copper plates. Their church is at least eleven centuries old, and they still pray in the tradition of the Syriac churches.
In the south of India live Christians who say: the apostle Thomas came to us by boat long ago!
Note: That Thomas himself was in India is an old tradition that historians can neither prove nor rule out.
More about the apostlesSources: Wikipedia, “Tharisapalli plates”
301–314
Armenia
King Tiridates III is baptised by Gregory the Illuminator, and Armenia becomes the first country to adopt Christianity as its religion. The Armenian church holds to 301; many historians think of a few years later, before 314. A century later Armenian gets its own alphabet, so that the Bible can be read.
Armenia was the very first country where the king said: we follow Jesus.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia, “The Early Christianization of Armenia”
5th century
Ireland
Patrick was a young Briton when raiders carried him off as a slave to Ireland. He escaped, but later went back of his own free will to bring the gospel to the people who had held him captive. He wrote down his own story, the Confessio. Irish monks then went on to Scotland and the continent.
Patrick was kidnapped as a boy and taken to Ireland. Later he went back of his own free will to tell about God's love, even to the people who had hurt him.
Sources: Royal Irish Academy, “St Patrick's Confessio (confessio.ie)”
635–781
Xi'an (China)
In 635 the monk Alopen of the Church of the East arrives in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang emperors. In 781 the Christians there set up a stone pillar, in Chinese and Syriac, describing a century and a half of the church. The stone was buried and found again in the 1620s.
Long ago a monk travelled all the way to China. The Christians there made a big stone pillar with their story on it. It still stands in a museum!
Sources: Wikipedia, “Xi'an Stele”
4th–8th century
Tongeren, Ghent and Utrecht
According to tradition Servatius was bishop of Tongeren in the fourth century. What is certain is that Amandus founded two abbeys in Ghent in the seventh century, and that Willibrord was consecrated bishop of the Frisians in Rome in 695, with Utrecht as his see. Boniface was killed near Dokkum in 754.
People came to the Low Countries too, to tell about Jesus: Amandus in Ghent, Willibrord in Utrecht. Some churches they started still exist!
Note: There is much legend about Servatius; his office as bishop of Tongeren is old, but the details are uncertain.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Saint Amand” · Wikipedia, “Willibrord”
c. 830
Saxony
An unknown poet retells the gospels in Old Saxon, as a long heroic poem. Jesus is a lord with His loyal retinue, as the readers knew it from their own stories. In this way he wanted the story to take root in his readers' world, without changing its core.
Someone wrote the story of Jesus as a long song for the Saxons, so that they could understand it well.
Note: Charlemagne's work among the Saxons went together with war and forced baptism. The Heliand comes from the generation after.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Heliand”
863–988
Moravia and Kyiv
In 863 the brothers Cyril and Methodius go to Moravia and make an alphabet so that the Bible and the liturgy can be written in the language of the Slavs. Around 988 Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv is baptised, and after him the people of the city, in the Dnipro.
Two brothers invented new letters so that the Slavic peoples could read the Bible in their own language.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Saints Cyril and Methodius” · Wikipedia, “Christianization of Kievan Rus'”
from 1492
Santo Domingo
The gospel came to the Americas on the ships of the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, and that often went together with violence and exploitation. But there too a voice of protest came from within the church itself: in 1511 the Dominican Antonio de Montesinos preached in Santo Domingo against the abuse of the Taíno, and Bartolomé de las Casas defended the rights of the indigenous peoples all his life.
When people from Europe sailed to the Americas, they did a lot of harm there. But some Christians bravely said: this must not happen, they too are God's children.
Note: Thread does not keep quiet about this: what was done by force in Jesus' name runs counter to what He Himself did.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Antonio de Montesinos”
20th–21st century
Africa, Asia and Latin America
In the twentieth century the church grows fastest in Africa south of the Sahara, in Latin America and in parts of Asia, often carried by the people there themselves. Today the majority of all Christians live outside Europe and North America. The figures are on the page about Christians worldwide.
Today there are Christians in almost every country of the world, most of all in Africa and South America.
Christians worldwide, in figures