Missionaries in Egypt

The stories of Egypt are well known in the bible, Moses captivates us with the stories of the Red sea, Exodus describes the plagues that would fall down on Egypt. Both the New Testaments and Old Testament tell grand stories focused around Egypt geographically as well as people from Egypt. Although the bible tells stories of Egypt many people within its borders practiced a more polytheistic religion involving the Pharoahs and the many Gods who were connected to them. Egypt however was an open land where missionaries from all over traveled to bring the Gospel, and even missionaries from other religous groups passed through the country.

Many types of missionaries have brought their beliefs into Egypt, Anglican, Mormon, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Muslim. The push of missionaries first were noticed when Mark the Evangelist arrived around 33 A.D. With the Gospel arriving full force in Egypt telling grand stories of Jesus entering Egypt by 300 AD Alexandria become one of the great centers for Christianity. Egypt was an area that could be greatly influenced, Islam even sent missionaries into the area to push the work of Allah. Islam quickly became the official religion within Egypt leaving Christianity with a small portion of 9% of the population being Christian.

The location of Egypt is why we see the push of Christianity from the west and Islam from the east, it stands between to large religions. The missionaries which traveled into the Egyptian borders were able to have easy access due to the water ways that surrounded the land but also a settled people. Most of AFrica during the time that the Gospal was introduced in Egypt was unsettled and unestablished, Egypt however had been a strong nation for centuries and was more open for travelers. This allowed for many forms of Christianity and Islam to enter and impact the people of the land.
Although missionaries of Christ have been in Egypt for thousands of years, the word of God has not reached many of the people, Islam has been more successful in introducing their faith and Christianity should step forward and push for a better hold on the land that thrives.


sources:

Sharkey, Heather J. American evangelicals in egypt. Place of publication not identified: Princeton University Pres, 2015.
Reader, John. Africa. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2007