Rufus Anderson (August 17, 1796 – May 23, 1880) was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.

He traveled in Latin America (1819,1823-1824), the Mediterranean and Near East (1828-1829, 1843–1844), India, Ceylon, Syria, and Turkey (1854-1855), and Hawaii (1863).

The end of the mission was to be "a scriptural, self propagating Christianity" the test of which is seen in evidence of a religious life, a genuine change in the church and the individual.

He wrote that Bible translation, literature, schools, press and all other activities should be directed to building a mature local church which evangelized and sent out others as missionaries.

He is remembered in Sri Lanka for shutting down American Ceylon Mission's popular Batticotta Seminary because it was not converting enough locals to Christianity.

[8][9] He traveled from Boston to the Hawaiian Islands in 1863, crossing the Panama Isthmus by rail, later describing the trip in a book.