Preface
How does one write a history of Christian missions—a history that entails tens of thousands of noteworthy professionals sent out by hundreds of mission societies to every country in the world over a period of some two thousand years? It is an enormous subject that has unfortunately been almost destroyed by historians who have attempted to squeeze too many dates, events, organizations, and names into one volume. But the history of missions is not a compilation of arid facts. It is a fascinating story of human struggles and emotions, intertwined with tragedy, adventure, romance, intrigue, and sorrow.
It was only through the tireless efforts of its missionaries that Christianity became the world’s largest religion, a factor that has changed the face of the globe. “World Christianity,” writes Lesslie Newbigin, “is the result of the great missionary expansion of the last two centuries. That expansion, whatever one’s attitude to Christianity may be, is one of the most remarkable facts of human history. One of the oddities of current affairs … is the way in which the event is so constantly ignored or undervalued.”
But if the remarkable expansion of Christianity has been ignored and undervalued, so have the men and women who have been responsible for its expansion. They were single-minded people, wholly equal to the task they accomplished, driven by a sense of urgency that is rarely seen even within the most patriotic and militant of causes. “The early missionaries were born warriors and very great men,” wrote Pearl Buck (who could hardly be termed a missionary enthusiast). “No weak or timid soul could sail the seas to foreign lands and defy death and danger unless he did carry religion as his banner, under which even death itself would be a glorious end. To go forth, to cry out, to warn, to save others—these were frightful urgencies upon the soul already saved. There was a very madness of necessity—an agony of salvation.”
Who were these missionaries who sacrificed so much to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth? Were they spiritual giants who gloriously overcame the obstacles they confronted? No. They were ordinary individuals, plagued by human frailties and failures. Supersaints they were not. Like the colorful cast of biblical characters beginning with the book of Genesis and continuing on through the New Testament, they were willing to be used by God despite their human weaknesses, and it was in that sense that they were able to make such an indelible imprint on the world.
When thinking of the great missionary force that spread out over the world during the past centuries, the names that generally come to mind first are those of great men—David Brainerd, William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, or Hudson Taylor. But women—single and married—constituted almost two-thirds of the North American missionary force. Family life and children had a significant bearing on missionary work. “Family problems,” writes Harold J. Westing, “are the number one cause on the missionary casualty list.” Thus, a strong emphasis on family life is fully warranted in a historical account of Christian missions.
The most difficult challenge in developing a biographical history of the Christian missionary movement has been to limit the number of people to be dealt with. In the final analysis, the choice of the individuals covered and the issues and incidents in their lives that are emphasized is a subjective decision of the author. A number of great missionaries and mission societies have been left out; others with fewer credits to their names have been included. Hopefully, this account covers a representative and significant cross section of those who so valiantly served in the front lines of the Christian advance.
That biography should be the element that binds a history of Christian missions together is only fitting. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said there is “properly no history, only biography,” an insight that is essentially true of any field of history. But biography is especially suitable for portraying the history of missions. The Christian missionary movement through the centuries has been perpetuated by missionary biography. In fact, writes Geoffrey Moorhouse, it “became the most fruitful … stimuli” to the vocation during the nineteenth century. It is hoped, then, that this book will not only inform and instruct but also inspire readers to be willing to be used of God in this, the greatest cause in all human history.