Three Missionary Biographies That Have Shaped My Life

The first missionary biography I remember reading was William Carey, written by his great-grandson, S. Pearce Carey. With that book in my hands, I felt I was reading thunder and lightning somehow transferred to ink on paper. Thus began my love for missionary biographies. The convictions and actions of these missionaries bring to life the kind of zeal for Christ all followers of Christ should have, even if they are not serving in a foreign land. Several biographies have deeply shaped my own views of the Christian life.

William Carey’s influence on the church has long outlasted his earthly life. He is considered the father of modern missions for helping restore a missionary drive to an apathetic church. Two hundred years after Carey, many evangelical churches believe The Great Commission is their main marching order, in large part due to Carey’s crusade to show that the Lord Jesus expects his church to make disciples until he returns. Carey’s conviction sprouted wings when he sailed from the shores of England to the shores of India, where he would spend the rest of his life laboring for the advance of the gospel. His words to the sending churches upon his arrival embody the lightning-like energy for the expansion of missions: “I hope … that multitudes may hear the glorious words of Truth. Africa is but a little way from England; Madagascar but a little further; South America and all the many and large islands in the Indian and Chinese seas will, I hope, not be forgotten. A large field opens on every side, and millions tormented by ignorance, superstition and idolatry, plead with every heart that loves God. Oh, that many labourers may be thrust into the vineyard, and the Gentiles come to the knowledge of the Truth” (131).

After reading William Carey, I came across the 19th century story of six university students and their professor who formed a student missionary society, recounted by Stuart Piggin and John Roxborough in The St. Andrews Seven. These six students, some of whom were teenagers, diligently studied the Scriptures to discover what the Bible said about missions and sought to inspire the student body to accept the biblical conclusion that missions is a mandate. Their study of missions led them to conclusions about this basic fact of discipleship: “They maintained that unreadiness for self-sacrifice is evidence, not of weakness of faith, but of the absence of faith.” John Adam, one of the six, stated, “If it be but for the name of Jesus, all shall be well, and I am persuaded that on a death bed, it will not cost us one regret, to have forsaken all for Christ.” Each of the six moved from a romanticized view of the glory of missions to a simple commitment to obey Christ. “Only one thing seemed to matter,” they believed: “to discover God’s will and do it.”

Carey helped me see the mandate for missions; the St. Andrews students helped me see absolute devotion to Christ; and John Paton helped me see compassion for the lost. Paton recounts in his autobiography how he left his homeland of Scotland in 1858 to sail to a set of islands inhabited by cannibalistic tribes who were constantly at war and had no access to the gospel. Rather than shrink back at the thought of giving his life for such a brutal group of people, he could not bear the thought of their perishing in their sins without hearing the message of Christ while those around him were saturated with gospel opportunities. So, giving all into the hands of Christ, he left father and mother and lands to bring the gospel to those who would try to kill and eat him.

“I clearly saw that all at home had free access to the Bible and the means of grace, with Gospel light shining all around them, while the poor Heathen were perishing, without even the chance of knowing all God’s love and mercy to men” (56).

Compassion for the gospel poverty of the nations is a sign of a heart imparted by the compassionate Savior, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

So, if you are looking to have your heart stirred by the lightning and thunder of the gospel, take up and read a missionary biography.