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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheMission https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_e0034633_1329222.png]]]]

->''"Oh, the missionary man, he's got God on his side''
->''He's got the saints and apostles backin' up from behind''
->''Black-eyed looks from those Bible books''
->''He's a man with a mission, got a serious mind."''
-->-- '''Music/{{Eurythmics}}''', "Missionary Man"

To go with the more simple definition, a missionary is someone who travels far away from home on a religious expedition to another culture. The vast majority of the time, it is making efforts to convert the locals to their faith. While, obviously, dedicated to his religion, he can be anywhere on the range from SinisterMinister to GoodShepherd.

Just about any historical figure who founded a religion could be called a missionary, because they would have had to spread "The Word" to increase the numbers of the believers. The Apostle Paul in the Bible was most well known for his travels throughout the Roman Empire.

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, [[HumanTraffickers some missions involved trafficking 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.)

One common plotline 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 magazines]]. Modern missionaries are likely to be from one of two specific organizations:

* [[HollywoodJehovahsWitness Jehovah's Witnesses]]: Each member of this faith has made an extensive study of the Bible and dedicated his or her life to Jehovah God to do his will. Their main objective is using God's word to preach the good news of God. The stereotype is usually of someone knocking on your door early in the morning giving you a pamphlet about how the end times are coming.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]: Usually young men or women, but may also be older married couples. LDS missionaries are identified by name tags (usually black) and always work in pairs. The young men are typically seen wearing white shirts with dark pants and conservative ties, often riding bicycles.

Modern variants include HollywoodJehovahsWitness and KnockingOnHeathensDoor.

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!!Examples of Missionaries in Fiction

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* One of Jack Chick's ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' features some white missionaries who had done charitable work in DarkestAfrica end up going to Hell...because they tried to help people instead of accepting [[PowerGlows glowy]] [[TheFaceless no-face]] PureEnergy Jesus as their personal savior.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Mormon filmmakers have made several fictional films based on missionary experiences:
** ''Film/TheBestTwoYears''
** ''Film/GodsArmy''
*** The sequel ''Film/StatesOfGrace''
** ''Film/TheSaratovApproach''
* Creator/KatharineHepburn's character Rose in ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'' and ger brother Samuel are British Methodist missionaries in the village of Kungdu in German East Africa at the beginning of the First World War.
* The movie ''Film/BlackRobe'' depicts the adventures of a Jesuit missionary tasked with founding a mission in New France in the 17th century.
* The 1919 film ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'' features a Buddhist missionary working in a Western country... it [[TearJerker does not end well.]]
* Eric Liddel in ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' was born in China of Scottish missionary parents. His devout sister Jennie disapproves of Liddell's plans to pursue competitive running, but Liddell sees running as a way of glorifying God before returning to China to work as a missionary.
* ''Film/TheEndOfTheSpear'' recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American Christian missionaries attempted to evangelize the Huaorani (Waodani) people of the tropical rain forest of Eastern Ecuador.
* A TheVicar-like missionary appears in the third act of ''Film/HeartOfDarkness1958''. He comforts the escaped Marlow and expresses interest in administering last rites to Kurtz.
* ''Film/TheMission'' is about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America.
* Creator/MichaelPalin's ''Film/TheMissionary1982''. 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.
* 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.
* ''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.
* In ''Film/RamboIV'', a bunch of Christian missionaries were pretty much the MacGuffin for Rambo to go do his thing.
* In ''Film/RoosterCogburn'', Miss Eula Goodnight (Creator/KatharineHepburn) is the spinister daughter of missionary killed by outlaws who attaches to Cogburn when he goes in pursuit of the killers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AllanQuatermain'''s father was a Christian missionary in South Africa.
* Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}'s ''Literature/ABurntOutCase'' had Christian missionary work as a sneering sort of background to the overall story.
%%* ''The Canopy''
* In ''Literature/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.
* 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.''
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': 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.
* The Azadi Apostles in ''Literature/{{Dreamfall}}'' mix this with Church Militant.
* Creator/JulesVerne had a lone French missionary in ''Literature/{{Five Weeks in a Balloon}}''. Not a large part, but a sympathetic portrayal.
* In ''Literature/HittyHerFirstHundredYears'', Hitty the doll is purchased from a SnakeCharmer in India by a missionary couple for their young daughter, Little Thankful. Hitty lives with her in India for a few years until Little Thankful's parents send her to live with her grandparents in Philadelphia because they don't think the climate in India is healthy for her.
* ''Literature/JaneEyre'''s cousin St John aspires to be this.
* In Creator/RickCook's ''Literature/LimboSystem'', Father Simon starts to do this accidentally, while not thinking himself authorized.
* Played with in ''Missionaries'' (by Lyubov and Yevgeny Lukin). Caravels show up in Oceania, and there's missionaries in addition to adventurers. [[TheDungAges Not quite nice or cool people]]. Only, there's a catch. A few nerdy guys found a portal into the past (turned out to be AlternateUniverse instead) and tried to stop European colonization... via giving to-be-colonized [[NobleSavage savages]] a "[[BambooTechnology better fighting chance]]"... but local development [[HeWhoFightsMonsters overdid it]].
* ''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.
* Nathan Price from ''Literature/ThePoisonwoodBible'', with a dash of MightyWhitey.
* ''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.
* In ''Literature/TunnelInTheSky'', two of the students on the survival test, Bob and Carmen, intend to get married and become missionaries after the test.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Game]]
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'': 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]]

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


[[folder:Video Game]]
* 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.
* 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.
* The basic capping unit for the Sisters of Battle in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Soulstorm'' is called a Missionary. This being ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', he also has an eyepatch, a chainsword, and the ability to rain fiery retribution on the Emperor's enemies.
* ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' has the New Canaanites, who are post-apocalyptic Mormons known as one of the more benevolent societies by traders. One of them, a man by the name of Joshua Graham, ended up becoming one of the founders of [[TheHorde Caesar's Legion]] and would end up as one of the most [[TheDreaded legendarily feared men of the wasteland]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomic]]
* In ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00118.html after an unsubtle hint]], [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00120.html Brother Linnaeus undertakes this.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* 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.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Starvin' Marvin In Space" was a satirical version of missionaries in Africa.
[[/folder]]
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