Tag Archives: missionaries

New lyrics to “So Send I You”

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When I was a teenager, the hymn “So Send I You” was sung sometimes when a missionary was there to speak at a service or, more often, at a service when the emphasis was a call to “full-time” Christian ministry. I didn’t think the lyrics  were depressing at the time: they just seemed like a serious and sober look at a calling that would probably be hard. But they do seem to emphasis the hardships and neglect the joys:

So send I you to labor unrewarded,
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing-
So send I you to toil for Me alone.

So send I you to bind the bruised and broken,
O’er wand’ring souls to work, to weep, to wake,
To bear the burdens of a world aweary-
So send I you to suffer for My sake.

So send I you to loneliness and longing,
With heart ahung’ring for the loved and known,
Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one-
So send I you to know My love alone.

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labor long, and love where men revile you-
So send I you to lose your life in Mine.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, tho’ it be blood, to spend and spare not-
So send I you to taste of Calvary.

As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you.

Evidently the author, Margaret Clarkson, eventually recognized the lack of balance in the hymn and penned new lyrics later in her life.

She was born into an unhappy home, was bed-bound with juvenile arthritis when she was three, and suffered migraines and vomiting. Pain was a constant companion, but she was able to attend school and become a teacher. She couldn’t find a position until she accepted one at an isolated mining camp, where general loneliness was a factor, but spiritual loneliness especially overshadowed her as she said she had no real Christian fellowship for about seven years. “So Send I You” was written at this time, colored by her loneliness and pain, and probably pretty accurate for her circumstances at the time.

Some years later, though still battling pain, she found other teaching positions and began having her writing published. She came to believe “So Send I You” was one-sided, and wrote new lyrics that she felt were more biblically balanced between the trials and joys of the Christian life under-girded by God’s grace:

So send I you-by grace made strong to triumph
O’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death, and sin,
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer-
So send I you, my victory to win.

So send I you-to take to souls in bondage
The word of truth that sets the captive free,
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death’s fetters-
So send I you, to bring the lost to me.

So send I you-my strength to know in weakness,
My joy in grief, my perfect peace in pain,
To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence-
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.

So send I you-to bear My cross with patience,
And then one day with joy to lay it down,
To hear My voice, “well done, My faithful servant-
Come, share My throne, My kingdom, and My crown!”

“As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you.”

It does make a difference where our focus is.

A longer biography of Margaret is here.

I found a simple but nice rendition of the new lyrics here (I’m not familiar with the singer):

I had wanted to include this in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories, but ran out of days. 🙂 I hope it’s a blessing to you.

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Pedestals?

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We’ve come to the 31st post of this 31 day series (I started a day late, thus ending Nov. 1), and I am feeling a little like the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11, verse 32:  “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of” David Brainerd, David Livingstone, Ida Scudder, William Borden. Henry Martyn, Ann Judson, Margaret Paton, and many more. Maybe from time to time I’ll post some of their stories, although I am sure you could find some information about them online.

I’ve tried to bring a variety in this series of “classic” missionary stories and newer ones, some from the jungle, some from the city, etc. I suppose if I had thought and planned for this enough ahead of time, I could have done them in chronological order. As it was I just went from day to day with whichever one was on my heart.

mission_biosI wanted to leave you with a list of missionary biographies I have enjoyed. Some are older and out of print, but I have had great success buying used books for just a few dollars via Amazon.com (this isn’t a commercial for them – I am not in their affiliate program, though I should probably check into it, as much as I link to them!) Any links in this list are to previous posts here on this blog.

Before I get to that list, I wanted to leave you with a quote of Elisabeth Elliot in A Lamp for My Feet:

Pedestals

A student asked me whether I thought it was a problem that we tend to place missionaries on pedestals. My answer was that indeed we do, but servants of the Lord ought to be models of the truth they proclaim. Paul was bold enough to say, “Be followers of me” (l Cor 4:16).

At the same time let us always remember that the “excellency of the power” (2 Cor 4:7 AV) is never ours but God’s. It is foolish to imagine that the missionary, or whoever the hero is, is sinless. God uses sinners–there is no one else to use.

Pedestals are for statues. Usually statues commemorate people who have done something admirable. Is the deed worth imitating? Does it draw me out of myself, set my sights higher? Let me remember the Source of all strength (“The Lord is the strength of my life,” says Ps 27:1 AV) and, cheered by the image of a human being in whom that strength was shown, follow his example.

Admittedly some of the older missionary books make missionaries look a little more saintly and unflawed. I think perhaps the authors didn’t want to gossip, or perhaps they assumed everyone knew everyone else had flaws without having to lay them out for everyone to see. Perhaps because “love covers over a multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8), they didn’t feel at liberty to divulge those of their subject (I’ve found many an autobiography to be much more frank about the author’s failings.) But I do understand it does help us to relate better to someone when they seem more real to us, as flawed as we are, and even the Bible tells us how people failed as well as how they followed the Lord. I’ve known some people who didn’t like to read missionary biographies because they thought they were too perfect: just understand that they’re not, they would never claim to be, and be inspired by the rest of their story.

Another thing to keep in mind when you read biographies is that you might come across things you disagree with: for instance, there was a time when most missionaries, especially in more remote fields, would send their children to boarding school at a certain age because there were no other schools available. With the advent of an abundance of home schooling materials and a change in mindset over the years, most would find that unthinkable now. I wouldn’t try to justify, condemn, or defend the practice: just understand that that was the way it was then. Probably some of the very problems and sorrows inherent in that practice led to the changes we have today. Similarly, a lot of older missionaries, especially in primitive areas, would hire servants. This wasn’t so they could live a class above the people they were ministering to: it was just simply to help the missionaries with the everyday tasks that in that time and culture could literally take up all of their time, especially as, being new to the field, they might not know how to do some of the things. Hiring some helpers freed them to minister more. Also, in that way they could help a new convert whose family might have turned against them. In addition, you might find some language we would not regard as “politically correct” these days, but we can’t expect them to have the sensibilities and sensitivities that have developed over hundred of years.

Some years ago when I read 50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe, I was struck by the fact that the 50 he mentioned, though they agreed on the core, fundamental doctrines, like the inspiration of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, the way of salvation being by grace through faith in Him, etc., they were on either side of a multitude of fences on other issues, yet God used each of them. That doesn’t mean those issues aren’t important: each of us is responsible to study them out before the Lord. But people can differ on some side issues and still be friends and love God and be greatly used by Him.

On the other hand, we can get too enthralled and feel we need to do everything just like they did. When I started reading biographies as a young Christian, I would read how one person had their devotions, think that was a great idea, and then do the same — until I read the next book and saw how someone else did it differently. 🙂 Some of them might have employed some practices that would be good to try, if we feel led, but we don’t need to feel compelled to copy everything they did.

On to the list. I have read all of these (some multiple times) in the last 35 years:

I compiled a list of missionary books for children here.

I know I have also read biographies of William Borden, David Livingston, David Brainerd, and Ida Scudder, but that was before the days that I wrote these things down and I can’t remember which books I read about them. And there are probably some I am forgetting. But there are some wonderful, inspiring, challenging stories there, and I hope you can find and read some of them.

I’ve enjoyed much this 31 day series, but if I do it again I think I’ll do 31 one-liners or quotes or something a little shorter. 🙂 Thankfully some of these were written years earlier for a ladies’ church newsletter and only needed a little tweaking, and some had appeared on the blog before, but some were new or were woven together from a couple of other posts. It has been so good, though, to go back over these stories of how people walked with God and how He met with them and ministered through them. I hope you’ve enjoyed the series as well.

(You can see a list of other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Supporters Back Home

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I can’t conclude this series without mentioning the support system a missionary needs back home.

Older woman prayingIf you ask almost any missionary what he or she mostly needs from the churches and individuals who support them, the first response would be “Prayer.” David Hosaflook, missionary to Albania, writes in Gospel Meditations For Missions, “The ‘Gospel-destitute areas’ see us as criminal combatants, not friends (Colossians 4:2-4). We’re up against reigning principalities, religious powers, radical politicians, and recurring persecution. We get attacked from the front, from the rear, from the sides, and, yes, even from within (2 Corinthians 7:5).” He continues, “Sure, pray for our safety (Romans 15:30-31, 2 Thessalonians 3:2), but please don’t exert all your time there. Jesus made it clear that mission work is exceedingly unsafe, so we’re already past that hump. We’d love to avoid pain, but not at the expense of boldness; Christ must be lifted up at any cost (Philippians 1:20-21). So pore over our prayer letters (and reply once in a while). And when you pray, pray the prayer that Paul requested: that the word of the Lord would spread quickly and be glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1). That’s the crux of the matter. That’s the reason we came.”

When you read missionary biographies, you come across numerous instances of a definite answer to prayer at a certain time that someone was praying. Here are just a few examples:

In Goforth of China, Rosalind Goforth tells how her husband Jonathan had a terrific struggle with the language, though he put in many hours studying. When he preached, the Chinese would point to his colleague, Mr. Donald McGillivray, and ask him to preach because they couldn’t understand Goforth. Things came to a crisis one day. Jonathan told his wife, “If the Lord does not work a miracle for me with this language, I fear I may be an utter failure as a missionary!” Rosalind writes that he looked heartbroken, then picked up his Bible and started off to the chapel.

Two hours later he returned, saying, “Oh, Rose! It was just wonderful! When I began to speak, those phrases and idioms that would always elude me came readily. The men actually asked me to go on though Donald had risen to speak. I know the backbone of the language is broken! Praise the Lord!”

Rosalind goes on to write, “About two months later, a letter came from Mr. Talling (his former roommate, still in Knox College), saying that on a certain evening after supper, a number of students decided to meet in one of the classrooms for prayer, ‘just for Goforth.’ The letter stated that the presence and power of God was so clearly felt by all at that meeting, they were convinced Goforth must surely have been helped in some way. On looking in his diary, Mr. Goforth found the students’ prayer meeting coincided with the experience recorded above.”

 Another time when Mr. Goforth was on furlough in London, “he was taken to see an invalid lady. She told Mr. Goforth that when she heard of his proposed meetings in Manchuria, she felt a great burden laid upon her to pray for him. She then asked him to look at her notebook, in which was recorded three dates when a special sense of power in prayer had come upon her for him. A feeling akin to awe came upon Goforth as he recalled those dates as being the very days when he had witnessed the mightiest movements in Manchuria.”

Isobel Kuhn wrote once of a difficult situation in one of their churches in China that could have caused great division, but worked out better that expected. Some months later they learned that someone was specifically burdened to pray for them at that time.

Sometimes it is daunting to begin to pray for a whole list of the missionaries your church supports without using generalities, and there are certainly things you can pray for them as a group (like Colossians 1:9-14 or Philippians 1:9-11). But you could also pray more particularly for one missionary a day (one friend’s family used to keep a stack of missionary prayer cards and rotate them them as they prayed for one missionary a day during family devotions) or choose just one or two that you want to keep up with and pray for and write to. Some churches have an “adopt a missionary” program for that purpose. My own tendency is to stop and pray for someone right when I receive their prayer letter or an e-mail request so I don’t forget later on.

Besides prayer, there are a number of thing one can do to help and be a blessing to missionaries. Some years ago I attended a Bible conference in which a man named Ronald Van Hee preached a message called “The Doctrine of Escorting” from III John 5-8: “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which have borne witness of they charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.” He said the words “bring forward” in Greek mean: “to escort, to conduct, to send forth, to accompany, to bring on one’s journey, to aid in travel, fitting him out with requisites” and can be found in other passages (Genesis 18:16; Acts 15:3, 21:5-6; I Corinthians 16:5-6; II Corinthians 1:16; Romans 15:24; and Titus 3:13) using the phrase “being brought on their way.” It has the idea of providing what they need to enable them in their travels. It might include having them in your home while they are on furlough or deputation, providing a meal, loaning a car, giving gift bags of travel-friendly toys to the children or gift cards to the family to a restaurant or store, etc. I knew of one church that paid for an eye exam and new glasses for a missionary who particularly needed it, and of mechanics in the church doing some needed repairs to a missionary’s car. Some churches have a missions closet ministry for their missionaries to stop in when they visit: I wrote the details of a one of our former church’s missions closet ministries here. They are kind of falling out of fashion now, giving way to a W-Mart gift card, which may be just as well. But they can be fun. It was such a blessing to see a missionary pick up something I had bought at random for the closet and hear them say, “We were just needing this!” What a blessing it is to know that however we can help a missionary along the way, “we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.”

This kind of ministry, as well as any other, needs to be conducted sensitively and prayerfully. You might wonder, for instance, if the missionaries you invited to stay with you would rather stay home and rest or go out and sight-see. It just depends – on their personalities, on what else they’ve had going on, etc. If in doubt, just ask, or present options: “Would you all like to  rest this afternoon, or would you enjoy doing….?”  Some friends who are Indian missionaries to India said that when they are in the States, many people like to take them to Indian restaurants, when they’d really love to eat American food while here. In Rosalind Goforth’s book Climbing, she tells of many well-meaning people trying to help them while on furlough who put her in awkward positions (she wasn’t trying to complain: she was asked to relate these stories, and they are really eye-opening). In that day missionaries were much longer than four years between visits back home, and there was no Internet to keep up with what was going on in the rest of the world and no Western stores to buy clothes in before they came home, so the styles might have changed drastically since they last came. One lady offered to outfit Rosalind for their time on furlough, and everything she bought was what she apparently thought was a very proper black. Someone told Rosalind she looked like she was in mourning, but she didn’t want to hurt the woman’s feelings. Another lady bought her a hat that caused another friend to exclaim, “Rosalind! Why are you wearing that thing!” The situation is a little different these days, but we need to be gracious in what a missionary has on and wise and sensitive in what we offer them. We also need to be careful that we don’t embarrass them: one friend told me a ladies’ group “honored” her by having her stand holding an offering plate while they filed by and put offerings in. While she appreciated the thought and the willingness, that was such an awkward way to conduct a love offering.

The high cost of postage has made it difficult to send things to missionaries on the field. Churches we have been in have had various methods of sending things to their missionaries: one focused on a couple of missionaries a month, another sent Christmas packages, both after asking ahead of time what they might need, what things they can’t get on their field, etc. (I remember at the time they couldn’t get chocolate chips or construction paper in South Africa, so we always sent those items to those ministering there. I don’t know if they can get them now.) But when the Post Office did away with the lower mailing rate that went by ship and went to air mail only overseas, sending a simple box of kitchen items began to cost much more than the contents were worth, so we had to resort to sending money instead. But there still might be little things that could be sent that aren’t so expensive. Always check with your missionary or their mission board and the Post Office before sending any kind of package: some have to pay customs rates on their end, making any kind of package expensive to receive, and every country prohibits certain items being sent in the mail.

Another big encouragement to missionaries is just to read their prayer letters and be aware of what is going on with them, not only so you know how to pray, but also when you talk to them or write to them, you can ask intelligent questions that let them know you’re truly interested and aware of their work. Many missionaries have web sites or Facebook pages or send their prayer letters out by e-mail, making it easier than ever both to keep up with them and to jot them a note.

Of course, missionaries need financial support as well, both for everyday living and for special projects and needs, and as I mentioned yesterday, sometimes a short-term mission trip can be a help and encouragement. Such a trip needs a lot of information-gathering and prayer beforehand to make sure that the time you are coming and what you want to do is actually a help and not a problem for the missionary. While they love to receive visitors, they have busy times as well: you wouldn’t want to arrive to work on a building project right in the midst of their VBS or camp week, for example.

I hope this gives you some ideas and encouragement about how to pray for and bless your missionaries.

I’ve had the second stanza of this poem in my files for ages and have used it many times, but I just discovered yesterday that it is part of a larger poem. It’s a little old-fashioned, but it does convey how much our prayers support those in the ministry.

A Missionary Appeal

Oh, dark is the land where the Evil One reigns,
And strong is his citadel there!
Oh, deep are his dungeons, and heavy the chains
That his long enthralled prisoners wear!
What can brace up the arm and confirm the weak knee,
The Strong One to meet and o’ercome
Like the message of cheer wafted over the sea:
“There’s somebody praying at home!”

There are times when the enemy seems to prevail,
And faintness creeps over the heart:
When courage and confidence quiver and quail
At the glance of his fiery dart.
There are times when, exhausted, we can but stand still,
When the sword-arm hangs nerveless and numb,
Ah, then to the soul comes a whisper so chill;
“Are they weary of praying back home?”

Oh, brothers, ye toil in the twilight, perchance:
Remember, we wrestle in night:
Cry unto the Lord, would ye have us advance
And claim for us heavenly might.
Then, back to the arm will its vigor be given,
And lips, that in anguish were dumb,
Shall shout, as the foe from his stronghold is driven:
“‘Tis because they are praying at home!”

Then away to the mountain top! Lift up your hands!
Let the strong breath of prayer never cease!
Only thus, as ye follow our Captain’s commands,
His kingdom shall grow and increase.
If ye, while we fight, “strive together by prayer,”
The hour of vict’ry will come,
When we in the vanguard our gladness will share
With those who are praying back home

~ Author Unknown

(You can see a list of other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here. Since I didn’t start this series until Oct. 2, I have one more post tomorrow to wrap up.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Not Only Preachers Are Called to be Missionaries

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“Missionary work” isn’t always just preaching and soul-winning.

In 1891 when Mary Slessor was in Scotland on furlough, she told a church, “We need dedicated, affectionate women missionaries who are not afraid to work. After all, whitewashing a wall or patching a roof is almost as important as teaching a child to read or conducting a church service. And we want women who can tend a baby or teach a child to wash his face and hands — as well as teach him to read and write. We want women with tact who can smooth things over or even cheerfully ignore a snub if they have to. These women must be willing to work anywhere, do any job for Christ. Smile and persevere. In the wilds like Okoyong, we must teach the first principles of everything!” (Mary Slessor, Queen of Calabar by Sam Wellman.)

After Amy Carmichael became aware of the plight of children being sold to temples for immoral purposes, she felt led to intervene to rescue those children. Then, of course, those children needed to be cared for. There was a Tamil proverb which said, “Children tie the mother’s feet,” and she found that to be true, and began to question whether God had really called her to be a “nursemaid” when there were so many other needs and ways she could be used. “It was then that she read the words from John 13, how the Lord of glory ‘took a towel and girded Himself.’…never again did she question whether her gifts were being wasted. She knew that the Master never wastes the servant’s time.” (Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton)

Mr. Houghton also writes that, “Occasionally someone suggested that character-training of boys and girls…or, still more, the erection of buildings to house them, was not evangelistic work, and therefore not worthy of support.” Amy wrote, “Well, one cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven…and as for buildings, souls (in India, at least) are more or less securely fastened into bodies. Bodies cannot be left to lie about in the open, and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together.”

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Photo courtesy of morgueFile.com

I’ve been glad to see contractors taking people to mission fields for short-term building projects in recent years and teachers going overseas to minister, sometimes to a missionary family’s children, sometimes in a school or even a college. One friend teaches composition in the music department of a college started by missionaries. Medical missionaries have been going for a long time: doctors, nurses, and all the other personnel needed to run a clinic or hospital. Some fields have, or need, printing ministries. We knew one woman who started a crisis pregnancy center in an Eastern European country. Some people go as “tentmakers,” an idea taken from Acts 18: 1-4, where Paul worked at making tents for a while with Priscilla and Aquila. These folks might work at a secular job to support themselves but then help in a church or ministry.

Of course, missionaries train some of the people there on the field for some of these positions just as they train them to become teachers and preachers and workers in the church.

A former pastor once said something to the effect that we need to send not just preachers and evangelists to the mission field but rather “the whole body of Christ” — those gifted in other areas of ministry as well.

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Hudson Taylor, Pioneer Missionary

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J_Hudson_TaylorI wasn’t going to mention Hudson Taylor because I felt most people would know of him, but in looking at an old post of some of his quotes, a friend commented that she hadn’t read anything about him. His is one of the premier missionary stories (though he would cringe to hear anyone say that) both because of his example in his walk with the Lord and his influence on missionary thought and outreach.

One day as a boy he came across a tract in his father’s office. He casually sat down to read it, and at that the same time his mother, some seventy miles away, felt an urgent burden to pray for her son. As Hudson read, he puzzled over the phrase “the finished work of Christ,” wondering what it meant, what was “finished.” He realized Christ had accomplished everything needed for his salvation, all his efforts at “trying” to be a Christian were for naught: all he had to do was believe. His mother prayed for hours until she felt sure that her prayers had been answered. When she came home, she was so sure that he had been saved while she was gone that he thought his sister had told her.

He was a pioneer missionary to China in the 1800s during a time when China was especially hostile and suspicious of foreigners. He wanted to convert people to Christ in their own culture rather than converting them to Western culture. He dressed as a Chinaman, much to the dismay and criticism of the overseas European community and even other missionaries, simply because he found that the most effective way to work with the Chinese. A missionary coming into a town dressed as a European was likely to be attacked and cause a riot. (He would not have said that dressing like a native is something all missionaries in every time and place should do, though. Elisabeth Elliot in No Graven Image makes the point that sometimes such a practice is not well-received. It just worked best for Taylor at the time and place he ministered.)

He suffered much hardship uncomplainingly and purposefully lived as simple a life as possible, even before going to China, to train himself.

Probably the most notable aspects of Hudson, however, were his simple childlike (but not childish) faith and his unswerving obedience to what he perceived God wanted him to do. Once, before going to the field, he heard of a family in dire need and went to visit them. He felt he should give them the last money he had, but wrestled with himself over it. Finally he yielded. The next day he received in the mail several times more than he had given.

He did not set out to start a mission agency, but the agency which sent him out failed miserably: they failed to advise or prepare him, failed to forward funds and communicate with him when he was on the field, causing other mission agencies to step in and help him and others, and then they had the gall to criticize other mission agencies in the periodicals of the day. The necessity of a mission agency attuned to the needs in China and responsible in its habits led to Hudson beginning the China Inland Mission. There were a few missionaries in the bigger cities, but he wanted to go inland where the gospel had not been preached.

The following excerpts come from It Is Not Death to Die: A New Biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty.

Before he went to China, the girl he had planned to marry refused his proposal because she did not want to go to China. He wrote to his mother, “Trusting God does not deprive one of feelings or deaden our natural sensibilities, but it enables us to compare our trials with our mercies and to say, ‘Yet notwithstanding, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation’” (p. 55).

Once during a storm on the way to China in a ship, he took off a life jacket because he felt he was trusting in it rather than the Lord. Later he realized that was wrong thinking and wrote, “The use of means ought not to lessen our faith in God; and our faith in God ought not to hinder whatever means He has given us for the accomplishment of His own purposes…When in medical or surgical charge of any case, I have never thought of neglecting to ask God’s guidance and blessing in the use of appropriate means…to me it would appear presumptuous  and wrong to neglect the use of those measures which He Himself has put within our reach, as to neglect to take daily food, and suppose that life and health might be maintained by prayer alone” (p. 99). He was later said to be “a man of prayer, but it was prayer associated with action…’He prayed about things as if everything depended upon the praying…but he worked also, as if everything depended upon the working’” (p. 329).

To live in inland China at that time meant giving up what would be considered Western luxuries, and Hudson tried hard to give a real picture of the mission field before new missionaries came over. “The only persons wanted here are those who will rejoice to work — really to labour — not to dream their lives away; to deny themselves; to suffer in order to save.” (p. 294). He wrote to applicants, “If you want hard work, and little appreciation of it; value God’s approbation more than you fear man’s disapprobation; are prepared, if need be, to seal your testimony with your blood and perhaps oftentimes to take joyfully the spoiling of your goods…you may count on a harvest of souls here, and a crown of glory that does not fade away, and the Master’s ‘Well done’…it is no question of ‘making the best of both worlds’ — the men who will be happy with us are those who have this world under their feet” (p. 303).

At one time he said. “My soul yearns, oh how intently for the evangelization of these 180 millions of the nine unoccupied provinces. Oh that I had a hundred lives to give or spend for their good…Better to have pecuniary and other outward trials and perplexities, and blessing in the work itself, souls being saved, and the name of the Lord Jesus being magnified, than any measure of external prosperity without it” (p. 297).

He was known to be a humble and unassuming man. Many meeting him for the first time were surprised that he didn’t “stand out,” but looked at first like a regular Chinaman. Spurgeon wrote of him, “Mr. Taylor…is not in outward appearance an individual who would be selected among others as the leader of a gigantic enterprise; in fact, he is lame in gait, and little in stature; but…his spirit is quiet and meek, yet strong and intense; there is not an atom of self-assertion about him, but a firm confidence in God” (p. 329). Many times he quietly and unassumingly helped and ministered to others, especially new arrivals. Once when a group he was with had to spend a night on a boat with a leper, and someone complained about the stench of his bedding, Hudson spent the night in his cabin uncomplainingly and bought him new bedding the next day. Another time when an exhausted group of travelers fell into bed without eating, Hudson prepared omelets for them all. Once when he knew of a paper that was critical of him, almost derogatory, he said, “That is a very just criticism, for it is all true. I have often thought that God made me little in order that He might show what a great God He is” (p. 400).

In one meeting, Hudson said, “What we give up for Christ we gain, and what we keep back is our real loss…Let us make earth a little less homelike, and souls more precious. Jesus is coming again, and so soon! Will He really find us obeying His last command?” (p. 383).

Some of the sayings he is most well-known for:

“Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attempt very little and they always fail. All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.” – Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission; The Growth of a Work of God, Chapter 19

“After proving God’s faithfulness for many years, I can testify that times of want have ever been times of spiritual blessing, or have led to them.” – A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Five: Refiner’s Fire.

Brighton, 25 June 1965: “All at once came the thought – If you are simply obeying the LORD, all the responsibility will rest on Him, not on you! What a relief!! Well, I cried to God – You shall be responsible for them, and for me too!” – A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Three: If I Had a Thousand Lives.

If God places me in great perplexity, must He not give much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength. As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult, but the weight and strain are all gone. His resources are all mine, for He is mine. – Hudson Taylor (inscribed in Dal Washer’s Bible)

God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.

Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.

I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me.

In a letter to Jonathan Goforth: “Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.” Rosalind Goforth, How I Know God Answers Prayer.

The definitive biography of Hudson Taylor is a two-volume set, Hudson Taylor in Early Years: The Growth of a Soul and Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Work of God by his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, first published in 1911. But the first volume is over 500 pages and the second well over 600, which can be quite daunting, plus they are out of print. They are excellent and easily readable even though they were written over a hundred years ago, and you can find used copies online. The other well-known biography of Taylor is Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, also written by his daughter and son-in-law, but much more compact at 272 pages and still printed regularly today. A newer one is the above-mentioned It Is Not Death to Die: A New Biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty. I am sure there are others, but these are the ones I have read, plus there is much information about him online. His life is definitely worthy of study.

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Jim Elliot’s Journals

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I can’t not mention Jim and Elisabeth Elliot in a series like this. The first missionary book I can recall reading is Through Gates of Splendor, about Jim and four other men who were killed by the Indians they were trying to reach with the gospel, and the subsequent opening Elisabeth and Rachel Saint, sister to one of the other men, had with the same tribe. That touched off reading almost everything Elisabeth ever wrote plus many another missionary biography. Elisabeth, as many of you know, remarried after Jim died, lost that husband to cancer, and then remarried Lars Gren, but she kept Elisabeth Elliot as her pen name. She put out a newsletter for several years, and some excerpts from that and from some of her books were used in a daily e-mail devotional that used to be sent out by Back to the Bible. You can see those devotionals now on her website here. Lars posts updates every now and then here.

Incidentally, I just discovered that Jim and Elisabeth’s daughter, Valerie Elliot Shepard, wrote a children’s book about her childhood in the jungle titled Pilipinto’s Happiness. It is definitely going on my To Be Read list!

Journals of Jim ElliotSince I just reread and reviewed Through Gates of Splendor here at the end of June and included a lot of links and resources, I won’t repost that information, but I thought I’d include a few excerpts from Jim’s journals, as quoted by Elisabeth a a chapter titled “Not One Thing Has Failed” in her book Love Has a Price Tag. She edited and published the bulk of them in The Journals of Jim Elliot and included some excerpts and letters in her biography of him, Shadow of the Almighty, but here are just a few snippets. She explains:

Jim started his journal as a means of self-discipline. He began to get up early in the morning during his junior year in college to read the Bible and pray before classes. He was realistic enough to recognize the slim chances of fitting in any serious study and prayer later in the day. If it had priority on his list of things that mattered, it had to have chronological priority. To see that he did not waste the dearly-bought time, he began to note down on paper specific things he learned from the Word and specific things he asked for in prayer.

He recorded:

It is not written as a diary of my experiences or feelings, but as a ‘book of remembrance’ to enable me to ask definitely by forcing myself to put yearnings into words. All I have asked has not been given and the Father’s withholding has served to intensify my desires…. He promises water to the thirsty, satiation to the unsatisfied (I do not say dissatisfied), filling to the famished for righteousness. So has His concealing of Himself given me longings that can only be slaked when Psalm 17:15 [‘As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form’] is realized.

Elisabeth writes:

“All I have asked has not been given.” Not, that is, in the way or at the time he might have predicted. Jim beheld the longed-for Face much sooner than he expected. It is startling to see, from the perspective of nearly thirty years, how much of what he asked was given, and given beyond his dreaming.

When Jim prayed for revival he was instructed by reading in David Brainerd’s diary how a revival came when Brainerd was sick, discouraged, and cast down, “little expecting that God had chosen the hour of his weakness,” Jim wrote, “for manifestation of His strength.”

 “I visited Indians at Crossweeksung,” Brainerd records, “Apprehending that it was my indispensable duty…. I cannot say I had any hopes of success. I do not know that my hopes respecting the conversion of the Indians were ever reduced to so low an ebb . . . yet this was the very season that God saw fittest to begin His glorious work in! And thus He ordained strength out of weakness . . . whence I learn that it is good to follow the path of duty, though in the midst of darkness and discouragement.”

Jim saw, in reading Brainerd, the value of his own journals. He also “was much encouraged to think of a life of godliness in the light of an early death…. Christianity has been analyzed, decried, refused by some; coolly eyed, submitted to, and its forms followed by others who call themselves Christians. But alas, what emptiness in both!

 “I have prayed for new men, fiery, reckless men, possessed of uncontrollably youthful passion–these lit by the Spirit of God. I have prayed for new words, explosive, direct, simple words. I have prayed for new miracles. Explaining old miracles will not do. If God is to be known as the God who does wonders in heaven and earth, then God must produce for this generation. Lord, fill preachers and preaching with Thy power. How long dare we go on without tears, without moral passions, hatred and love? Not long, I pray, Lord Jesus, not long.” I read these prayers now with awe–new men, new words, new miracles all granted as a result of this young man’s death.

He wrote in 1953 of watching an Indian die in a jungle house. “And so it will come to me one day, I kept thinking. I wonder if that little phrase I used to use in preaching was something of a prophecy: ‘Are you willing to lie in some native hut to die of a disease American doctors never heard of?’ I am still willing, Lord God. Whatever You say shall stand at my end time. But oh, I want to live to teach Your word. Lord, let me live ‘until I have declared Thy works to this generation.”‘

 Elisabeth concludes this chapter by marveling at how God answered Jim’s prayer “‘exceeding abundantly above all‘ that he had asked or thought” in so many who have been touched and spurred to consecrate themselves to God by the testimony of “the record of his young man-hood–the days which seemed so sterile, so useless, so devoid of any feelings of holiness, when God was at work shaping the character of a man who was to be his witness; the prayers which seemed to go unheard at the time, kept–as all the prayers of all his children are kept, incense for God–and answered after what would have seemed to Jim a long delay.”

 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
Joshua 23:14

Here are a few other isolated quotes Jim Elliot is known for:

“I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.”

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

“Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living.”

“When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.”

To those who thought he could be better used as a preacher at home, he wrote: “I dare not stay home while the Quichuas perish. What if the well-filled church in the homeland needs stirring?  They have the scriptures, Moses, and the prophets and a whole lot more.  Their condemnation is written on their bankbooks and in the dust on their Bible covers.”

“[He makes] His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this my soul—short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him.”

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Verda Peet: Sometimes I Prefer to Fuss

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I wasn’t originally going to repost this review – I am finding I have more that I want to include for this series than I have days for. But as I was rereading it, I felt I really needed to, and it has been six years since it originally appeared here, so it will be new to many of you.

Sometimes I Prefer to Fuss_Some years ago I read and enjoyed a book titled Sometimes I Prefer to Fuss by Verda Peet. When I tried to find a copy of it, though, I found it was out of print. I’ve kept an eye out for it ever since, and discovered it in Amazon.com’s used books for just a few dollars (some copies are just a penny).

The premise of the book can be found in the introduction:

The idea that missionaries are haloed saints, mature and perfected, above the sins of most mortals and so not needing much prayer, has done great disservice to the missionary cause. If you ever lived with missionaries you would know that their halos are askew. If I were to say that a missionary preaches the gospel, may (if female) put curlers in her hair, likes ice cream, travels a lot, longs for letters from home, can be thoughtless or domineering or depressed, perspires, has cakes that don’t always rise, never gets beyond the need of the Lord’s teaching, is concerned about her children’s upbringing and education and feels irritable in the heat, your first thought would be, “Sounds like a description of me.”

Exactly. James tells us Elijah was a man of like passions but we have trouble believing it. Our glamorization of missionaries blinds us to the need of down-to-earth prayer for down-to-earth details.

The title comes from the fact that God does send help when needed, even for “small” irritations like excessive heat, perspiration, and sticky clothes — but sometimes we prefer to “fuss” instead.

Mrs. Peet and her husband were missionaries in Thailand for about thirty years. Her book is an honest and often funny look at missionary life, but its lessons of faith are applicable to anyone.

There are so many places I marked in the book — I wish I could share them all. One thing that came up often was the need for wisdom in so many areas and the possibility of misunderstandings. For instance, even the simplest living arrangements of Americans can seem extravagant in jungle or tribal areas. One missionary who wanted to live as much like the people as possible did without a refrigerator, then overheard two of the nationals commenting that she did not get one because she was stingy. Another family who saved some of their best “goodies” from home to serve a visiting VIP heard that he later spread the word that the missionaries “lived too well.” So often they would like to just give the people material things they need, and they often do, but they don’t want to foster dependence on the missionary instead of the Lord.

Satan throws innumerable obstacles to keep people from believing or to stifle them when they do believe. The missionaries have to learn patience with a new believer’s struggling to “walk” in a faith totally foreign to anything he knows — just as a child stumbles and falls, so will a new believer as he matures. Practices that seem obviously wrong to Westerners with a heritage of a Judeo-Christian background, like premarital sex and using and selling opium, can take a while for a new believer from a different background to recognize as wrong. Then a new believer, or even one just showing an interest in Christianity, can face ridicule, ostracism, and persecution. There are thorny questions about what old practices are wrong, what a new believer should do when the demon priest declares an area or a day “taboo.” The consequences of violating a taboo are very real, but the believers can eventually learn to trust in God for protection.

With all the disappointment and heartache of those who “trusted” the Lord for the wrong reasons (like healing from a sickness when the demon rituals didn’t help) or those who did believe but fell away due to family pressure, there are also gems who have endured the refining fires to shine like diamonds. One believing lady, Celia, had a husband who was a professing Christian but not living very actively for the Lord. One day he showed up in their home with a second wife and moved her in, a common practice in their culture, but one that he should have known better than to practice as a believer. As a missionary lady came to comfort and encourage her through the Word, Celia said, “I thought I could never cook for her (the second wife) but I remembered ‘love your enemies,’ and because of these words I overcame, and I cook and call her to eat.” I was convicted at my lack of “overcoming” minor trials by comparison.

Another quote that stood out to me was, “The trial of our faith is not to point out how faulty it is but to prove how trustworthy He is. I had always pictured God testing me to show how little I believed, but He has a more positive purpose — to increase my capacity to enjoy His faithfulness.”

Another “lesson” was to trust the sovereignty of God to work even through fallible leaders. There was an elected field council as well as a superintendent who were good men, but human like everyone else, whose temperament, background, training, quirks, and pet theories may affect their decisions. When they make a decisions that seems wrong or unfair, there is temptation to blame them. “If we see ourselves in the hands of men, we can expect to be miserable, but if we know ourselves to be in God’s hands, subject to His decisions, we can go on in peace.”

There is so much more — grace through trials and how the Lord uses them, dealing with fear, care of children, etc. This book is a good “peek” into the under-the-surface, real everyday lives of missionaries, but it is also an example of how the Lord uses “all things” to work together for good and to grow His children in grace and knowledge of Him.

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Clint and Rita Vernoy: On Ethnocide and Raising Children in the Jungle

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VernoysClint and Rita Vernoy are missionaries that our church in SC supported. I found Rita’s blog through a link from Susan‘s, and as I looked around I realized that this was one of our missionaries! Rita blogged at The Jungle Hut for several years and then moved to Livin’ la Rita Loca. Both sites have some great windows into life as a missionary.

I met Clint a couple of times when they were home on furlough, but Rita was not able to come either time. They ministered in the jungles of Venezuela for several years until the Communist government forced all foreign missionaries out. This post tells of their heartbreak at leaving a people and country they had come to love. They currently minister in Paraguay.

I wanted to highlight a couple of posts of theirs that I think would be very helpful and informative to read.

Let’s Define Ethnocide! is Clint’s response to a comment that he was committing “ethnocide,” purposely destroying an ethnic group or culture, by his missionary activities. I have mentioned a couple of times in this series that this sentiment is increasing in our culture these days, and Clint’s answer is a great one to read to inform yourself not only for your own information, but to answer these accusations when you come across them. Besides the spiritual benefit, which is huge but of course unrecognized or unacknowledged (or condemned) by a secular culture, missionaries generally also improve the hygiene, health, and quality of life of those to whom they minister while still keeping the culture intact. Who among us would still want to live as people did during the American Revolution or Little House on the Prairie days without the improvements and progress we have experienced since then? Rita also expanded on this in What About the Culture? I strongly encourage you to read both of these posts.

Another post I wanted to highlight is Rita’s daughter’s response to an anonymous commenter who said “that we had raised our children in an abusive environment by forcing them to live in the jungle in a mud hut without the amenities of civilization.” She assures, “While we appreciate your concern about our childhood, rest assured…we’re fine. Not a single one of us regrets our childhood, it was an awesome adventure, and we are grateful.” The rest of the post expands on some of the advantages and results of having grown up in the jungle.

I don’t know if anyone in the family has written a post on this yet – I haven’t seen one –  but I’d love to read Clint’s story of eating grub worms for the first time. 🙂 It was hilarious when he told it at church, though I am sure it didn’t feel so funny when it happened.

And if you have time, another great and thought-provoking post written for their mission board’s magazine is How Far Is Enough?

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Margaret Stringer: A Merry Heart and a Faithful Spirit

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Margaret Stringer

Margaret Stringer has been one of my favorite people for years. The church we attended in SC supported her in Indonesia (formerly known as Irian Jaya, now West Papua). She was there for a little over 40 years, and she “retired” (I always put that in quotation marks, because she is one of the most active retirees I know, traveling often to churches and missions conferences) not too far from our church, so we invited her to speak at least once a year to our ladies’ group. She would have us just rolling in the floor telling about situations which I’m sure weren’t funny when they first happened.

I’ve appreciated not only her merry heart, but also her faith and obedience. Many of us can’t imagine being the lone woman to go to visit a village of cannibals at the possible risk of our own lives. That sounds like something missionaries did way back, like Mary Slessor. But there are still people who haven’t heard of the Savior, and God’s ability to meet their needs as well as the needs of His messengers are still the same.

from_cannibalism_small.jpgA few years ago she wrote a book titled From Cannibalism to Christianity: The Vakabuis Story, which tells mainly how the Lord opened one particular group of villages, from first contact to the establishment of a full-fledged church. There are hilarious moments as well as frightening ones. But what joy there is in seeing the light of understanding dawn after repeated sharing of the gospel. I don’t remember if Margaret said this in the book, but I know I heard her say while speaking to us that there were moments when she thought, “This isn’t going to make sense to them.” Imagine sharing the Word of God with someone who doesn’t know anything about it and doesn’t know who God is. Yet they did share God’s Word by faith, and the Holy Spirit gave understanding and conviction.

Secularists don’t have to worry about the people’s culture being infringed on. The people still have their own traditions and culture. But they also have hope and life. As I said in an earlier post, I don’t know why anyone, even the most unchristian person on the planet, would have any objection to helping people get rid of traditions like cannibalism and killing a twin baby. I appreciated the way Margaret endeavored to help them not to be too dependent on her. When they asked her to name the church, for instance, she told them they should name it.

One of her major accomplishments while there was reducing two languages to writing and translating the Bible into them.

When she retired she thought she would never have an opportunity to go back, but she was able take a few trips back. One night at our ladies’ group she showed some video footage (24 minutes condensed from 5 hours) while she told us what was going on, interspersed with some history here and there of the people. I tell you — seeing footage of former cannibals and headhunters now singing hymns, hearing about the most powerful and feared witch doctor in the area who became a believer and whose son is now the head of the church — that just does something to your heart.

She told us about one man during a visit who said something like, “When you left us, I was very sad for a long time. But you told us you were leaving God here, and He helped me. So when you leave this time, I will be sad, but not for as long a time, because God is here with me.” She said that’s not exactly how she put it to him, but it was so neat he got the concept that God was still there and didn’t leave when she did, and he could depend on Him.

I was amazed at her fearlessness. In one piece of footage, she was getting out of a boat to see one of the villages she used to work in, and one man took her hand and began leading her away. Her friend said, “Where are you going?” She said, “I don’t know!” As people came to greet her and hug her, the man would stop for a few minutes, and then take her hand and lead her away again. Finally he led her to his house, where he had prepared lunch for them.

One of my favorite stories she tells is not in the book but is so characteristic of her. She was new to the field, which of course was an adjustment, and she was pretty low. A number of trying things had happened, one of them a big storm that had blown through the glassless windows and ruined about 95 % of her work of language analysis. After she went to bed, something fell off the wall and hit her on the head. That was the last straw: if I remember correctly, she “fussed” in her spirit at God, saying things like, “I thought you loved me! I thought you promised to take care of me!” She got a light to see what had fallen, and it was a plaque that said…”He cares for you.” That’s one way to get the message!

Margaret has also written several articles about becoming and working as a missionary here. This video, narrated by Margaret, tells the Vakabuis story in condensed form, well worth the 30 minutes it takes to watch:

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

31 Days of Missionary Stories: Dallas and Kay Washer, Candles in the Darkness

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The names of Dallas and Kay washer were legend when I was in college. At that time I only knew they were missionaries in Togo, West Africa. I never had the opportunity to meet Dallas or hear him speak, but I was privileged to meet Kay several years later when my family lived in SC and two of her grandsons (Mike Washer of National Hoops and Jonathan Washer of National Goals, for those of you who know them) were youth pastors at our church. Kay became “Grandma Washer” to our ministry, speaking to the youth group a number of times and to the ladies once or twice. one-candle-lg.jpg

One saying Dal is known for is, “I have but one candle of life to burn and would rather burn it out where people are dying in darkness than in a land which is flooded with light.” (I had thought this saying was original with him, but it was a quote from John Keith Falconer.) So a few years ago when I saw Kay’s daughter-in-law at church with a stack of books with the title One Candle To Burn, I immediately went to her and asked if Kay had written a book. And she had! I bought one on the spot.

It was pure joy to read. It begins with Dallas and Kay’s childhood and call to the ministry, how the Lord led them together (she at first thought her sister was just right for him), a year of learning the language and Muslim customs in Algiers, then ministry first in Niger and then in Togo. There are many stories of open doors of ministry, people turning from darkness to light, and answers to prayer such as provision of land and finding a source of water for land for a hospital during the last attempt to drill for it. Compassion for the blind, who could only provide for themselves by begging, led Kay to take courses in Braille during one family vacation, then to teaching a few blind boys how to read, then eventually to the establishment of blind school where students get a regular academic education plus learn certain crafts or skills. She was surprised to be honored with the civilian medal of honor by Togo’s President Eyadema.

You get some idea of where the Washer adventurousness comes from when you read of Kay lying on her stomach strapped to the floor of a small plane with the door removed so she could film the maiden voyage of boat used as a floating mission station.

When people asked about her children’s safety and exposure to disease, she told them about an lawn mower accident resulting in the loss of toes of one of her sons — in America.

My heart was especially touched by the chapters dealing with Dallas’s death and later Kay’s serious fall which resulted in a broken arm and two broken bones in her leg and the long, complicated recovery period. At first she chafed under what felt like imprisonment, but later came to accept that this was God’s will for her at the time and to allow Him to work in and through her for a different kind of ministry.

There are many remarkable stories tracing God’s hand at work, laced with good humor and touching moments and lessons learned — all the more remarkable because the events are true. Love for God, for family, and for the people of Africa shines throughout.

I have been so glad to see this book. As much as I love the missionary classics, I believe it is incredibly important for missionaries of our time to record what the Lord has done. The same God who worked through Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael is still at work today!

You can read a bit more about Kay Washer here.

(You can see other posts in the 31 Days of Missionary Stories here.)

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)