History of Missions

from Laura

I just finished reading the book From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: a Biographical History of Missions by Ruth A. Tucker.  (She is, by the way, a professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, which I found extra cool, being a Calvin grad myself.  She also has a blog about the book.)  The book was recommended to us last summer by the Danylaks, a (now former) missionary couple to whom we turned for wisdom and advice when we began the process of becoming missionaries ourselves.  I got it for Christmas and have been working my way through it ever since, in small chunks.  I now want to pass the recommendation on to you!

In terms of content, this is a great book for anyone who wants to know more about the history of missions.  Tucker writes in short biographies of a wide variety of missionaries, clustered into sections by geography or chronology.  This format means you can read it in chunks, as stories.  The section introductions provide a broad sweep of God’s work in a particular era or area, and the stories flesh it out.  Tucker does a nice job of being both intellectual and understandable for the general public.

Deeper than information, though, are the messages carried in the stories of past missionaries, and this is really why the book is worth your time.  I was struck by the simultaneous frailty and strength of the missionaries God has sent.  Every one of them was human—flawed or annoying or just plain weird—and each was convinced that God wanted more people to know Him.  They did amazing things and dumb things and sacrificial things and disrespectful things, trying to carry God’s Word where it was not known.  And because God is God, He made use of pretty much ALL the things they did to draw people to Himself.  It was so sad to read about how missions work sometimes became a part of the degradation of a people or the disintegration of a culture.  Satan has used openings where he could.  But much more often, things that should NEVER have worked, worked out for good anyway.  That’s the reality of God’s stories.  That’s the kind of Boss we have!  It makes me feel a whole lot better about being human—flawed and annoying and just plain weird—and still trying to do something to bring God’s kingdom to people who don’t have it, or to strengthen God’s hold on the hearts of His kids.  That’s what we’ve all been called to do; that’s what God's people have been doing, all along; and that’s the route God has chosen to do a lot of His kingdom work.  If you don’t believe me, just pick up Ruth Tucker’s book!  The history of missions should be proof enough for anyone and encouragement for all God’s people that He will use a submitted life—yours included—for His glory.