History Main / TheMissionary

* ''TabletopGame/AgeOfSigmar'': When sending out crusades to found new Cities of Sigmar, missionaries and priests of the Sigmarite faith are often on board to spread the faith of Sigmar to local tribes, who can be anywhere from a GoodShepherd to a NobleBigot to a SinisterMinister. It's a little different than most examples, as Sigmar cares less about people worshipping him (he's actually a bit uncomfortable with it) and more that they ''aren't'' worshipping the [[GodOfEvil Chaos Gods]], as that tends to end badly for everyone involved, and people don't always ''know'' their gods are the Chaos Gods in disguise until it's too late; furthermore, a lot of these tribes already worship Sigmar, albeit not always in the same way or form as the Azyrite church.

[[folder:Theater]]
* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' is about two young Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda.

In some cases, there are negative implications with regards to the pure intentions of the devout. Sixteenth-century Spanish Catholics set up many missions in South America after the conquistadors left. To some people this might be a case of MightyWhitey as they are trying to "[[WhiteMansBurden enlighten the savage]]" (not to mention, some missions used the forced labor of native people). Indeed, to many the idea of a missionary is a person lurking around in the [[DarkestAfrica deepest and darkest jungles of Africa]], mingling with [[HollywoodNatives the Bushmen]]. (Winding up [[StewedAlive in a stew pot]] with a CannibalTribe is optional.)

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''LightNovel/TheFarawayPaladin'', Gracefeel's worship has waned in the years between the sealing of the Demon King and Will's arrival at the City of the Dead, to the point that her religion is referred to as "lost" or "dead" or numerous occasions. Upon swearing himself to her, Will is tasked with helping to restore faith in Gracefeel, which he does primarily by performing good deeds in her name rather than aggressively proselytizing to others.
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* Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}'s ''A Burnt-out Case'' had Christian missionary work as a sneering sort of background to the overall story.

* The Azadi Apostles in ''Dreamfall'' mix this with Church Militant.

* In ''Film/{{Rambo}}'', a bunch of Christian missionaries were pretty much the MacGuffin for Rambo to go do his thing.

* Creator/MichaelPalin's ''Film/TheMissionary''. In 1905, after ten years of missionary work in Africa, the Reverend Charles Fortescue is recalled to England, where his Bishop gives him his new assignment, to minister to London's prostitutes.

* ''The Canopy''
* [[Literature/KingSolomonsMines Allan Quatermain's]] father was a Christian missionary in South Africa.
* ''Literature/{{Shogun}}'' had a Protestant protagonist going up against Catholic missionaries. The main character of ''Shogun'' himself went very local though and was never a missionary. He was just a dude who happened to be Protestant.
* Creator/ChinuaAchebe's ''Literature/ThingsFallApart'' is partly about the conflict between missionaries and the native Africans they're trying to convert. There are two missionaries present in the narrative: the respectful and fairly well-liked Mr. Brown, who builds a school and hospital and respects the Igbo beliefs, and the harsh Reverend James Smith, who forces his beliefs on others and incites conflict between his congregation and the non-believers. Missionaries are not shown to be simply good or bad, it just depends on the sort of person they are.
* Nathan Price from ''Literature/ThePoisonwoodBible'', with a dash of MightyWhitey.
* ''The Mormon Missionary'' Those "Caucasian midwesterners with strong regional accents" who try to "carry the gospel" to highly secularized, predominantly Lutheran (nominally) white people and having very little success at it.

* Creator/JulesVerne had a lone French missionary in ''Five Weeks in a Balloon''. Not a large part, but a sympathetic portrayal.

* Mightily Oats, at the end of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', sets out to be this in Uberwald. In the BackStory of ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', we learn that he succeeded.
* Literature/JaneEyre's cousin St John aspires to be this.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "The Hyborian Age", the BackStory to ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'', Arus.
-->''he determined to go into the western wilderness and modify the rude ways of the heathen by the introduction of the gentle worship of Mitra. He was not daunted by the grisly tales of what had happened to traders and explorers before him, and by some whim of fate he came among the people he sought, alone and unarmed, and was not instantly speared.''
* In Creator/RickCook's ''Literature/LimboSystem'', Father Simon starts to do this accidentally, while not thinking himself authorized.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series from at least IV onward incorporate a religion system that can spread across the game world. Both passive (via proximity and trading) and active means of religion spreading exist, with the latter using missionary units that the player can raise and send to spread their religion to a specific destination.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'' one of the minor civilizations is the Jesuit Mission, who represent the Jesuit Missionaries who traveled to far countries at the time. Their special unit is the Conquistador, and upgrades that increase building hitpoints, and train villagers faster.

[[folder:Theater]]
* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' is about two young Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda.
[[/folder]]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Missionary: Impossible" when Reverend Lovejoy tricks Homer into becoming a missionary for a South Pacific island. He instead does the opposite of what he's supposed to do and corrupts their society by introducing vices such as gambling and drinking.

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* In ''Film/{{Rambo}}'', a bunch of Christian missionaries were pretty much the MacGuffin for Rambo to go do his thing.
* The movie ''Film/BlackRobe'' and...
* ''Film/TheMission'' (naturally) were about missionaries.
* ''The End of the Spear''.

* ''Film/TheOtherSideOfHeaven'' is about the RealLife story (mostly--some of the more spiritual parts of [[TheFilmOfTheBook the original book]] were dumbed down in order to appeal to a wider audience) of a Mormon missionary in Tonga.
* Michael Palin's ''The Missionary''

* Eric Liddel in ''Film/ChariotsOfFire''.
* One appears in the first ''Film/OnceUponATimeInChina'' movie. He appears to just be a background character up until he proves to be the ''only'' man in the entire community with the courage to testify against the criminals that Wong Fei-Hung is trying to take down in court.
* Creator/KatharineHepburn's character in ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'' and the recycled in the Old West version ''Film/RoosterCogburn'' was a missionary, in WWI-era Central Africa and 19th C. Oklahoma, respectively.

One common plot line involves a WideEyedIdealist going to the mission field expecting to do some EasyEvangelism, only to have a CrisisOfFaith when their targets don't respond quite so readily. Of course, it will probably turn out that God works InMysteriousWays. (If the Easy Evangelism ''works'', you've probably got an AuthorTract on your hands.)

Not all missionaries are motivated by the scriptures to evangelize. Some missionaries are merely sponsored and paid by a church to bring medical and other supplies to areas in need. Either way, a missionary has above average chance to be a BadassPreacher.

Of course, in more everyday life, people have the image of people [[KnockingOnHeathensDoor knocking on your door asking you to read various books or magazine]]s. Modern missionaries are likely to be from one of two specific organizations:

* ''Literature/{{Shogun}}'' had a Protestant protagonist going up against Catholic missionaries. The main character of ''Shogun'' himself went very local though, and was never a missionary. He was just a dude who happened to be Protestant.

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'' one of the minor civilizations is the Jesuit Mission, who represent the Jesuit Missionaries who traveled on far countries at the time. Their special unit is the Conquistador, and upgrades that increase building hitpoints, and train villagers faster.

In some cases, there are negative implications with regards to the pure intentions of the devout. Sixteenth-century Spanish Catholics set up many missions in South America after the conquistadors left. To some people this might be a case of MightyWhitey as they are trying to "[[WhiteMansBurden enlighten the savage]]." Indeed, to many the idea of a missionary is a person lurking around in the [[DarkestAfrica deepest and darkest jungles of Africa]], mingling with [[HollywoodNatives the Bushmen]]. (Winding up [[StewedAlive in a stew pot]] with a CannibalTribe is optional.)

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Missionary: Impossible" when Reverend Lovejoy tricks Homer into becoming a missionary for a South Pacific island.

* Creator/GrahamGreene's ''A Burnt-out Case'' had Christian missionary work as a sneering sort of background to the overall story.

* Mightily Oats, at the end of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', sets out to be this in Uberwald. In the BackStory of ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', we learn that he succeeded.

* Chinua Achebe's ''Literature/ThingsFallApart'' is partly about the conflict between missionaries and the native Africans they're trying to convert. There are two missionaries present in the narrative: the respectful and fairly well-liked Mr. Brown, who builds a school and hospital and respects the Igbo beliefs, and the harsh Reverend James Smith, who forces his beliefs on others and incites conflict between his congregation and the non-believers. Missionaries are not shown to be simply good or bad, it just depends on the sort of person they are.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series from at least IV onward incorporate a religion system that can spread across the game world. Both passive (via proximity and trading) and active means of religion spreading exist, with the latter using missionary units that the player can send to spread their religion to a specific destination.

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*** The sequel ''God's Army 2: States of Grace''