From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions

God has used the lives of saints—both men and women—throughout history to take the message of salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. The accounts of these men and women that have been recorded are immense sources of joy and encouragement for believers today. Outside the Bible, biographies of saints—especially missionaries—from history provide Christians today with the most motivation, inspiration, and even strategy for evangelism and missions. Missions in the 21st century is greatly impacted by the biographies, journals, and other writings of those missionaries from the previous twenty centuries.Ruth Tucker has taught missiology and church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Calvin Theological Seminary. She is the author of numerous books including Another Gospel, Daughters of the Church, and most recently, Parade of Faith.A Unique Biography of MissionsFrom Jerusalem to Irian Jaya is an award-winning biographical history that sketches the history of Christian missions, but it is accomplished in a unique way. Tucker gives biographical information about Christian missionaries from the earliest Christians all the way into the 20th century. This book, therefore, describes and details not only the major movements of Christian missions, but it also more specifically describes the work and lives of the individuals who were used by God to make his name known among the nations. Well-known missionaries are documented alongside some unsung heroes of the expansion of the kingdom. And while this volume is a large collection of historical biographies, it is a highly readable work that flows much like a story–a grand story embedded in the eternal story of God’s salvation of sinners.Popular missionaries such as David Brainerd, the Moravians, William Carey, Adoniram and Ann Judson, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, CT Studd, Jim Eliot, John and Betty Stam, Brother Andrew and many others are all discussed in brevity, but with sufficient detail.In this book there are countless accounts of many men and women who have extended the grace of God and by doing so, exalted the glory of God in their God-given desire to see those who had not heard of Christ, come to know him. There were a few individuals that jumped off the page as I read. I will mention one lesser-known (at least to me) missionary to whet your appetite for the rest of the book. The account of Vibia Perpetua stood out and struck a chord in my heart and soul.Vibia Perpetua (pp. 32-34)Namely, the passion and unwavering submission and loyalty of Perpetua to Jesus led me to greatly examine my own life, faith, and also to ask myself a few vital questions as I view my current ministry and possible future ministries. The story of Vibia Perpetua was previously unknown to me, but it is a story that deserves to be told and re-told. Her life is marked by her devotion to Jesus and her desire to follow him at all costs.Living as a Christian in the midst of severe and harsh Roman persecution of Christians in the early 3rd century AD would put the faith of Perpetua to the test and she has provided us with a model of what obedience to Christ looks like when suffering and persecution comes against us. I immediately thought of and even turned to Matthew 10 after reading her account and martyrdom. Perpetua was arrested for her faith, denied the pleas of her father to renounce her faith, was led to be tortured by a bear, a leopard, and a wild boar, renounced her family rather than her Savior, and was beheaded in shame all due to a God-man whom she had given her full allegiance.I was most challenged by one statement that Vibia Perpetua made after her father gave one last desperate effort to get her daughter to renounce Christ and be freed and saved from her persecutors. “Then the father laid her child upon her neck and he…said, ‘Be merciful to us, daughter, and live with us!’” She responded while throwing her child to the side with words that gripped my soul, “Be gone from me, enemies of God, for I know you not!” This is not some stranger that she uttered these very strong words to. No, this was her own father who deeply loved her. Indeed, the love of her father is the reason that he is pleading so ardently with her to renounce this Jesus she is so passionately following.Living in the relatively safe West, I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to be placed in a position to choose Jesus or my dad. I have a very strong and good relationship with my father and if my allegiance to Christ came into conflict with my relationship with him, I know that I must have the courage and resolve of Perpetua to renounce my father, if necessary, instead of renouncing my God and Savior King.It is very easy and a dangerous tendency when living in safety and comfort to become lukewarm and complacent in obedience to Jesus. Living in hostile environments would eliminate nominal Christianity very quickly. No one would nominally adhere to someone if being associated with him means you will be imprisoned or killed. I was greatly challenged through reading the account of Perpetua to ponder whether I would show similar unwavering faith in Jesus and trust in the unshakeable hope I have in him.In fact, from reading this, I am resolved to remind myself daily of the gospel of Jesus and the certainty of the hope I have in him. As I consider the possibility that God could call me to preach his gospel among an unreached people group in the Middle East, for example, I pray that I would be given the grace to have an unwavering and solid faith in my suffering Savior and Lord who is worthy of absolute allegiance and obedience even through suffering. May I, like Perpetua, be prepared to suffer well for the sake of Christ and the advance of his gospel and kingdom. To her death, Perpetua desired to exalt God and his glory and I pray my last words and pleas would be similar to hers:“Give out the Word to the brothers and sisters, stand fast in the faith, love one another, and don’t let our suffering be a stumbling block to you.”

Ruth Tucker published From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions to chronicle missions activity, but it also chronicles cultural conflicts. Tucker's book is a missions survey from the time of Paul through the 1970s. Most interesting is the cultural phenomenon that ensued during the 20th century as a changing America became the prime missionary sender. Issues like women's rights and the waning primacy of evangelism in mission work became controversial, but they spilled over onto the mission fields. Because it is clear that these cultural issues of the sender affected the field during the 20th century, there is a question as to how much cultural issues of the 21st century will affect missions today.Single Women in MissionsGender discrimination in the late 19th century was met with some missionary activism, notably by Lottie Moon. Although some missions groups created entire "female agencies" (p. 232), the Foreign Mission Board had to contend with an independent streak in Miss Moon that caused a significant amount of contention with supervisor T. P. Crawford. Outspoken on women's rights and equality, Miss Moon wrote forcibly in her letters about the needs for single women to be treated on the same level as ordained men.Her plight raised the question as to the effectiveness of a single woman on the mission field. There are some advantages to being free from family responsibility. But loneliness and depression often overtake singles. We don't know whether Moon ordained men to be pastors, but she did start churches. This is not necessarily acceptable in all cultures, so the role of a single woman serving under authority raises the question as to just how much can be accomplished without the presence of a man. Regardless of her poor interpersonal relationships on the mission field and aversion to mission authority, Lottie Moon was successful later in her mobilizing more women to go to the mission field. Working out a theology of missions based on Scripture demands some restrictions to be placed upon certain activities of women in church planting still today.Evangelism Replacement in MissionsThe story of John Mott and his insistence on the primacy of evangelism in missions became a sore spot for the work of the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM). If missions' "aim should not be conversion" (p. 273), then social ministry, anthropology or ecumenism replaces the unique claims of the gospel and thereby invalidates missions. But this liberal element that affected SVM during the early 20th century bled over into the mission field, and many missions efforts began to be defined by their benevolent work or student activity rather than by souls saved or churches planted. Unfortunately, there are still elements of this displacement today as missionaries question the validity of missiometrical reports on annual salvations and baptisms. Tucker inadvertently raises the issue of what constitutes real mission work if there is no gospel shared.Nationalization in MissionsYet another missiological issue that Tucker raises is the growing trend of nationalization among those who are being saved. MacGavran and Winter were key players in the late 20th century in the indigeneity debate. America began to transition from a colonialistic model of missions to more contextualized and indigenous work. Although this has been a welcomed change, it raises crucial questions regarding what elements the indigenous cultures will now throw into their own theologizing and missions endeavors. More missionaries are now embarking from what was once considered mission fields themselves, and they will be taking with them their own culturally controversial ingredients.ConclusionA major contribution of this book to missiology is not just the historical mini-biographies but the lessons that each teaches for future work. Issues like women's rights and the minimalization of verbal evangelism blush at the mention of some more recent cultural controversies of the western church. As the sending of missionaries is shifting from the West to other cultures, these new senders should become aware of and learn from the mistakes of the American past century. Hopefully, some errors can be avoided in doing so.

From the Apostle Paul and the sub-apostolic fathers, to St. Patrick, Boniface and Francis Xavier of the early centuries, through the Moravian pietistic advance and the classic pioneers of missions such as William Carey in India and Adoniram Judson in Burma, to Robert Moffat, Mary Slessor and David Livingstone in Africa (The white man's graveyard), to Roert Morrison, J. Hudson Taylor and Jonathan Goforth in China, as well as Korea and Japan, this book gives a superb view of the history of missions by the people who made missions history. It has a special section on outreach to American Indians in the colonial era, the Pacific Islands, and the Muslim world featuring Henry Martyn, Samuel Zwemer and others. It discusses the entrance of single women into the missions force, and the role of the student volunteers, as well as the "faith" missionaries and the rise of medical and technical missions of more recent times. It even has a section of missionaries originating in the "third world" such as Pandita Ramabai of India and John Sung of China. It also gives sketches of more contemporary missionary celebrities such as Bruce Olson and Mother Teresa. This book gives an eye-opening preview of the key personalities of missions and provides a glimpse into their struggles, shortcomings and achievements. This book, along with "100 Most Important Events in Christian History" are required reading in our Christian High School.

I love this book and often dip in and out as references and study purposes.

A great read. Wonderful overview of the work of God in reaching throughout the world.

Very uplifting and powerful testimony of a Muslim upper class women who became a Christian despite the opposition she faces from her culture,she grows in faith, obedience and trust to God, and sharing her faith with others.

As expected