Evangelism spread Christianity throughout the world.

By the end of the first century Christians had planted congregations around the eastern half of the Mediterranean. These congregations included both Jewish and Gentile Christians. Greek almost immediately became the primary theological language of the church, but among ancient Christians prayer, public worship, and argument occurred in many other languages as well. By 300 there were congregations around the entire Mediterranean basin and Christianity had begun to expand beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire. Christianity spread through the witness of ordinary Christians and through the work of evangelists dispatched from settled Christian congregations. Christians who fled persecution in various parts of the Roman Empire also carried their faith from place to place. Unbelievers were attracted not only to the Christian message but to the moral life of the early Christians who became known for both compassion and rigor in their daily lives. Christians of this era developed a wide variety of customs, liturgies, and theologies to suit various localities and cultures. Efforts to translate the Bible into vernacular languages also supported evangelism. Syriac, Coptic, and Latin versions of the New Testament or portions thereof were among the earliest vernacular renditions of the Christian Scriptures.