What I’ve Learned From Early Missionaries

It’s obvious I’ve been buying and reading the entire series by Janet & Geoff Benge, Christian Heroes: Then & Now. To say I’ve been moved is an understatement.  These books aren’t lengthy—they’re just a snack to whet your appetite. I can tell you that I’ve even closed many of the books at night with tears streaming down my face and barely controlling sobs so as not to wake my already sleeping husband—and I’m not particularly emotional.  These missionaries have challenged me. I’ve complained about being tired...but I’ve not been stoned or had my feet hung four feet off the floor in prison.  I’ve complained about feeling overworked...but I’ve not had to endure walking for miles for days just to get to the people to minister to them.   I’ve complained about food I’ve been served...but I’ve not become emaciated due to little food and dysentery.  I’ve complained about confrontations in the church...but I’ve not had to face kings, chiefs, or warlords to remain in a country or to give up my life.  I've complained about working in the nursery...but I've not had to fight for the lives of  twin babies and their mother just because twins were considered a curse.

These people were pioneers and endured hardships we’ll never have to endure.  To get to their country of ministry, it took a month of traveling by ship (and braving the reality of pirates) when we complain about a 15-hour flight.  Their physical strength to endure building hut after hut and cutting through jungles with machetes amazes me. Their emotional strength to face losing 2 wives in a row and 6 children and burying them in a foreign country is astounding.  Their mental strength to learn multiple languages and then to translate the Bible, sermons, and books into those languages inspires me. Their spiritual strength to do the work alone as a single woman impresses me.  

I encourage you to read about these early missionaries.  The articles I’ve written don’t do them justice.  Oh!  And the comforting thing I’ve learned is that they were very much human—just like you and me. God didn’t ask or expect them to be perfect. They were imperfect humans with personality flaws like us who said, “Yes” when He said, “Go!”  The amazing thing I've learned as I've read one book after another is how there's a holy thread tying these people together through the centuries!  Their lives intersected and influenced one another. That holy thread is still stitching God's great work today through you and me. It's there for us to see if  we'll only take a look.