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Missionary efforts during the nineteenth century had led to a massive expansion of the Church and Christianity, and the first several decades of the twentieth century saw several international and inter-denominational conferences regarding the evangelical need for other missionary efforts and the practical means of carrying them out. Robert Speer was one of the most dedicated missionaries at these conferences, exhorting others with a great zeal that he exhibited in his actions, as well. The gains of the nineteenth century, however -- as well as some of those in the twentieth century -- had come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Christian lives confirmed the unfortunate truth "that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." The death of these martyrs had largely ended by the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910, which established a new consciousness regarding the missionary purpose and pursuit.

Chapter 13

Though it is difficult to determine with precision the most important turning points in the history of Christianity in the twentieth century from such a close vantage point, but several key events and trends can be singled out. The rise of Pentecostalism throughout the twentieth century was certainly significant, with signs of the Holy Spirit felt by millions more today than ever before in Christian history. The Second Vatican Council and its decisions also had enormous ramifications for the Church in the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond, and major political and economic events that took place in the world -- the great Depression, the two World Wars, etc. -- also had large religious ramifications.