Ministry

Alan T. Baker describes one pastor’s ministry transformation: “Whereas [he] once served out of his words and deeds, he now ministers from his wounds.” [1] Words and deeds matter, but this source of service offers a whole different “deep calleth unto deep.” In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul tells...

Marianna Slocum – Bringing the Good Seed to Mexican Tribes. Marianna Slocum was excited about her upcoming wedding to Bill Bentley, a missionary she had met two years earlier. The big date was only six days away. They had just returned to her home after Bill’s speaking engagement in New Jersey and...

In his book, A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm, Phillip Keller shares that, “Sometimes … a shepherd will actually hold his staff against the side of some sheep that is a special pet or favourite, simply so that they ‘are in touch’. They will walk along this way almost as though it were ‘hand-in-...

Sybil Mosely Bingham and the Challenges of Missionary Life in Hawaii Sybil’s admission to the mission field reminds me of a scene of a movie. She was asking for directions to her accommodations when a young man offered to take her there. The man, Hiram Bingham, was preparing to leave as a...

Sarah Lanman Huntington Smith – Missionary to Mohegans and Syrians The idea that many of the Mohegans who lived in her region had never heard the gospel bothered Sarah Huntington (1802-1836) so much that it turned into a source of anxiety. Few people shared her sentiments. She could just imagine...

Liu Jingwen and Her Quiet Strength The saying is well-known: “Behind a great man there is a great woman.” In the case of Chinese pastor and theologian Wang Mingdao, someone suggested that eighty percent of Wang’s achievement was due to his wife. Was it an exaggeration? A Mature Young Lady Liu...

Boniface and Leoba Some have the impression that, after Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313, everyone in the Roman Empire became Christian (and lived happily ever after). At least, this is what we might get from a cursor reading of church history. In reality, as late as the ninth or tenth century,...

Hannah Marshman – A Pillar of the Serampore Mission Did Hanna Marshman know, when she left England for India, how much the missionary community would depend on her for wisdom and strength? It’s hard to imagine what she expected to do or find. As one of the first female missionaries, she had few...

Ramon Llull – The First Missionary to the Muslim World Eugene Stock, 19 th -century editorial secretary of the Church Missionary Society, called him “the first and perhaps the greatest missionary to the Mohammedans,” adding that “there is no more heroic figure in the history of Christendom.” [1] If...

Behari Lal Singh and His Vision for Missionary Training Only one representative from Asia appeared in 1860 at the overwhelmingly British Conference on Missions in Liverpool. It was Behari Lal Singh, who had become a Christian under the guidance of the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff. By then,...