Mission and Evangelism

Since the seventh century, Christians living under Muslim rule are permitted to convert to Islam but forbidden from proselytising to Muslims. Policies favouring Muslims, including in the areas of taxes, marriage, and inheritance, also contributed to the gradual decline in Christianity in North Africa and West Asia. Protestant and Catholic missionaries arrived in the eighteenth century but largely converted members of existing indigenous Christian traditions. Female Western missionaries, local Christian evangelists, and Bible women all played important roles in this movement. Following the emergence of modern Islamic states, long-distance evangelism often takes place through new media technologies, such as radio, television, and social media.