Topic Archives: Missionary Biography

On October 28, 1949, twenty-two year old Jim Elliot, then completing his studies at Wheaton College, Illinois, wrote in his journal: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. In less than seven years he had given his life as a missionary in Ecuador, attempting to […]

Born in June of the year of the French Revolution, in the then village of Basildon, Essex, Allen Gardiner longed to go to sea, to fight the French, and to follow Mungo Park in exploring the interior of Africa. By 1810 he was at sea and engaged in fighting in the Pacific in the Phoebe […]

A brief account of the early life of this remarkable preacher, assembled by T. H. W. Scott. Lying, filthy talking, and foolish jesting I was much addicted to, even when very young. Sometimes I used to curse, if not swear. Stealing from my mother I thought no theft at all, and used to take money […]

July 13, 2013, will mark the 200th Anniversary of the arrival in Rangoon of Adoniram and Ann Judson. More than a year earlier they had set sail in the brigCaravan from the safety of New England, but their lives were dedicated to Christ and to taking the gospel to the Burman empire. Their plan had intially […]

No one ever became a missionary by a journey across the seas. One shows that one has truly been called to be a missionary by how one lives and speaks where ‘one is at,’ today. Hudson Taylor was one of the greatest missionaries in the whole history of the Christian church. He was born in […]

Mary Moffatt was a remarkable woman. Wife of Robert Moffatt, mother-in-law of David Livingstone, she and her husband served as missionaries in Bechuanaland for 45 years. The early years were hard, their labours resulting in not a single convert. Yet Mary was undaunted. When a friend wrote, asking what useful gift could be sent from […]

Pakistan is an Islamic country with 97% of the population considered to be Muslims. Christians are a very small minority and Protestants a small proportion of this. To be a Protestant Christian in Pakistan is costly. Employment becomes difficult and reproach and persecution are the expected result for those who profess faith in the Lord […]

The Wayfarers – And the Challenge of the Great Dragon River By Ruth Asp-Odlander Burleigh, Queensland: Zeus, 2009 274 pages, paperback ISBN: 978 1 92157 415 3 Among missionary biographies of recent years, this has to be one of the most challenging. Without the least attempt at the sensational, the author (b. 1935) tells the […]

By Brian Ellis, Manila, Philippines. What do I mean? I must start with some personal testimony so that I can explain. My interest in religion began when I was in the 6th form at Grammar School and I began to attend the Student Christian Movement meetings each week. There we discussed all manner of matters […]

Victor Atallah, General Director of Middle East Reformed Fellowship (MERF), writes: The Republic of South Sudan just divided from the north to become the newest African nation. Hundreds of thousands there are recent Christian converts from tribal animism. Bibles are few. Pastors hike long distances to minister to many villages. Since 2003, Reformed pastors and […]

THE ANNUAL EVANGELICAL LIBRARY LECTURE, 2011 This year sees the 250th anniversary of the birth of the pioneer missionary William Carey. On Monday June 6 at the Evangelical Library around 40 people gathered for the Library’s Annual Lecture and to hear Pastor Austin Walker of Crawley give an interesting and stimulating paper on ‘William Carey […]

In May 2001 a few people first met in a little flat in West London to pray and think about a ministry for Russian speakers in London. At that time I was in my first year at London Theological Seminary, seeking God’s will for the work that he would call me to do. It would […]

The first individual is André Kizito, pastor of an Evangelical Assembly of God congregation. Kizito is a highly motivated, well educated man who led a corrupt life in the military before being saved and radically transformed by the Lord. He is one of those believers who seems never to have lost his first love, and […]

Achill Island lies off the west coast of Ireland. It is a small place, now reached by a bridge from the mainland. In the mid-nineteenth century this island was the scene of a remarkable work of God’s grace in which hundreds of islanders were drawn to saving faith in Christ. The ethos of the island […]

William Knibb was not only a great preacher but he also played a great part in the abolition of slavery. In fact in 1988, on the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government. On 7th September 1803 William Knibb and his twin sister […]