Tag Archives: Missionary biographies

What’s Cooking (May 2023)

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We will have a number of new books and ebooks coming out this summer. The highlight of this summer will be the two-volume biography of Gustav Herbert Schmidt, Songs in the Night. It tells the tale of a Pentecostal missionary who was captured by the Gestapo in 1940. His harrowing ordeal will tells us how to find hope in dark times.

Other titles in the works include more sermons by Louis Albert Banks, and a number of new biographies:

  • The Sinner and His Friends (Louis Albert Banks)
  • A Gentleman in Prison (Tokichi Ishii, with Caroline MacDonald)
  • Thinking Black: 22 Years in the Long Grass of Africa (Dan Crawford)
  • Back to the Long Grass: My Life with Livingstone (Dan Crawford)

From the Prescience Papers series of rare theological works, we have just released two new ebooks:

I hope to have several more coming soon:

  • Samuel Fancourt, An Essay Concerning Liberty, Grace, and Prescience (1729)
  • Samuel Fancourt, Apology, or Letter to a Friend Setting Forth the Occasion, &c., of the Present Controversy, 2nd ed. (7/27/1730)
  • (Anonymous), The Divine Prescience of Free Contingent Events, Vindicated and Proved (1729)
  • (Anonymous), Free Agency of Accountable Creatures (6/6/1733)

Please comment and let us know what books you are looking forward to most!

Review: Always Enough

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Author: Rolland and Heidi Baker are missionaries and itinerant speakers. They have planted churches in the United Kingdom and Mozambique. Heidi is also the CEO of Iris Global, a humanitarian organization they founded for work in developing countries.

Full Title: Always Enough: God’s Miraculous Provision among the Poorest Children on Earth

Overview:

Always Enough (2003) is the story of Rolland and Heidi Baker, focusing on their experiences in Mozambique as missionaries.

In Africa they experienced not only disaster and poverty on a national level, but national repentance and revival as Mozambicans responded to God. Miracles attended their message and are a major part of their story—especially healing and miraculous provision.

Through the Bakers’ delegation of responsibility and leadership, at least five thousand churches were started in Africa in less than a decade. I thoroughly enjoyed this inspirational book and recommend it highly.

Review: Ventures among the Arabs

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Ventures among the Arabs recounts the adventures of Archibald Forder, a missionary who worked among Arabs. Forder worked primarily in the lands we know as Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, but also travelled in many other areas, especially where Bedouins are found. He and his wife first went to Kerak, Moab (present-day Jordan) to fill a gap for William and Jane Lethaby while they travelled elsewhere.

Forder travelled alone into northern Najd, an area that was almost wholly untouched by Europeans. Alois Musil is perhaps the only explorer who overlapped closely with Forder in place and time, and they interacted with the same tribes.

Forder is known—like Musil—for adopting native language, dress, and lifestyle as much as possible. He lacked institutional backing and was forced by the Church of England to become independent, but he did not forsake his missionary outpost. He is refreshing for his lack of worldly prestige or ambition; he is simply a man with a message.

He pioneered among the Bedouin in present-day Jordan, and made visits to rural areas all over the northern Arabian Peninsula. Little or no missionary work was being done in most of the areas he visited, so that his accounts and his depictions, for the time in which they were written, were almost wholly unique.
In terms of day-to-day life, Forder did medical work, often aiding wounded Bedouin after tribal skirmishes. He also distributed Scriptures as a colporteur.

In his lifetime, readers of Forder’s books complained that he didn’t supply any personal details about his life, and he tried to remedy this in 1919 when he published In Brigands’ Hands and Turkish Prisons. Later books show how he pioneered a new mission among Palestine’s Bedouin (based in Jerusalem).

Ventures among the Arabs is a fascinating little collection of stories about Forder’s beginnings in his Arabian mission. I highly recommend all of his books for those interested in the history of missions among Arabs.

All-Time Top 25 Christian Non-Fiction

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For fun, I decided to post my all-time top 25 Christian non-fiction books. I could not order the biographies together with the others, so they are in two groups.

What about you? Are there any that I missed?

  1. Unspoken Sermons (3 vol.)
  2. Power through Prayer
  3. The Pursuit of God
  4. Orthodoxy (Chesterton)
  5. My Utmost for His Highest
  6. Spiritual Depression (Lloyd-Jones)
  7. Christianity Is Jewish
  8. The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person
  9. A Tale of Three Kings
  10. The Problem of Pain
  11. The Call (Guinness)
  12. The Practice of the Presence of God
  13. The Christ of the Indian Road
  14. The Company of the Committed
  15. Exodus (vol. 2 of The People’s Bible)

Biography:

  1. The Life of Adoniram Judson (by his son Edward)
  2. L’Abri
  3. Bruchko (originally titled For This Cross I’ll Kill You)
  4. God’s Smuggler
  5. George Müller of Bristol
  6. Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God
  7. The Peace Child
  8. James Gilmour of Mongolia
  9. The Hiding Place
  10. The Footsteps of Divine Providence

Some honorable mentions would be The Blue Flame (Boreham), G. Campbell Morgan’s expository sermons, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Burroughs), Vanya (a biography), many lengthy Puritan books which are admirable but difficult to finish, and the rest of The People’s Bible (28 volumes of Joseph Parker’s sermons, hard to classify as one whole).

I’ve intentionally left out theology and commentary which I think need to be handled based on subject matter (in the case of theology) or by canonical order (in the case of biblical commentary). I may start posting more commentary recommendations soon!

Review: The Romance of Missionary Heroism

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Rating: ★★

Author: John Chisholm Lambert (died 1917) was a Scottish minister most famous for his missionary adventure stories. He also worked on several Bible dictionaries.

Overview:

The Romance of Missionary Heroism (1907) is an illustrated compilation of chapter-long missionary stories. These stories were also printed in four smaller volumes, divided by region into Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific. Most chapters summarize the biography of a British missionary from the nineteenth century, which has been called the “Great Century” for Protestant missions. It does not cover the biggest names like David Livingstone or Hudson Taylor, but it summarizes the lives of many who were well known in Lambert’s day, but are forgotten in ours.

The book focuses on the difficulties many of them faced in travelling new territory for the cause of Christ. As such, it does not grapple much with the relational tasks of evangelism or church planting. In spite of this, some readers may find it a worthwhile read. Personally, I was underwhelmed.

The Romance of Missionary Heroism is a fun ramble but is lacking in the true spirit of pioneer missions. It focuses on the messenger at the expense of the message. Flexibility and endurance allowed the subjects of these vignettes to advance the cause of Christ, but we glorify the vessel and forget what it holds.

Many of these workers were integral to the cause of pioneer missions in the lands in which they worked: who, having read their stories, can forget souls like James Gilmour, Jacob Chamberlain, John Paton, Mary and James Calvert? Such short chapters merely whet the appetite for book-length treatments.

Other portraits, like that of Captain Allen Gardiner, are stirring but quite tragic; a few, like those of Annie Taylor, or A. B. Lloyd, are downright tiresome. Chapter XII, and the biography it’s drawn from, are among the most deplorable examples of white superiority complex that I’ve seen among missions books, and this coming from the twentieth century.

Ultimately, the cultural context that’s on display to some extent is a spirit of triumphalism. Sobhi Malek points out in his book Islamic Exodus (ch. 4), “a spirit of triumphalism appeals to many people and attracts them to Islam”—not Christianity. In reading the Bible, Muslims find it offensive that Yahweh “raises the poor from the dust” (Ps. 113:7). Theologian John Goldingay, in a book of reflections on living with his wife’s disability—points out that “the resurrection stories are non-triumphalist and not especially joyful.” (Walk On, p. 145)

It’s certainly interesting to learn stories of adventures missionaries went through, but, for that matter, one might as well read the life of Captain Cook, or, better yet, Treasure Island, if it is adventure you thrist for. I am hesitant to say whose stories have more value for a young boy to read—John Chisholm Lambert’s or Robert Louis Stevenson’s.

The Romance of Missionary Heroism would be a decent starting point for someone with no knowledge of nineteenth-century missions to explore new stories and find longer biographies of the ministers mentioned here. They are listed below; I’ve also included links to biographies I have published. Especially recommended are those of Gilmour, Chamberlain, the Calverts, Selwyn, and Paton.

  1. James Gilmour (Mongolia)
    James Gilmour of Mongolia; Among the Mongols; More about the Mongols; The Far East (A. Little)
  2. Jacob Chamberlain (Telugu states, South India)
    In the Tiger Jungle; The Cobra’s Den
  3. Joseph Neesima (Japan)
    Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima; A Maker of New Japan
  4. George Leslie MacKay (Taiwan)
    From Far Formosa
  5. Annie R. Taylor (Tibet)
    Pioneering in Tibet
  6. A. MacDonald Westwater (North China)
    [Here Lambert’s research is original.]
  7. Alexander MacKay (Uganda)
    MacKay of Uganda; The Story of MacKay of Uganda; Two Kings of Uganda
  8. James Hannington (Uganda)
    James Hannington; Lion-Hearted; Through Masai Land; Last Journals of Bishop Hannington
  9. Robert Laws (Malawi)
    Daybreak in Livingstonia; Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi; Among the Wild Ngoni; The Life of Robert Laws of Livingstonia
  10. François Coillard (Zambia)
    On the Threshold of Central Africa
  11. Fred S. Arnot (Congo River region)
    Garangeanze, or Seven Years’ Pioneer Mission Work in Central Africa
  12. A. B. Lloyd (Uganda)
    In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country
  13. John Horden (Ontario)
    Hudson Bay (Ballantyne); Forty-two Years Amongst the Indians and Eskimo; John Horden, Missionary Bishop
  14. James Evans (Manitoba)
    The Apostle of the North; Hudson Bay (Ballantyne)
  15. James and Mary Riggs (U.S. Great Plains)
    Mary and I: Forty Years with the Sioux
  16. William Henry Brett (the Guyanas)
    Mission Work in Guiana
  17. Allen F. Gardiner (Patagonia)
    Captain Allen Gardiner of Patagonia
  18. Allen W. Gardiner (Patagonia)
    The Story of Commander Allen Gardiner; The First Fruits of the South American Mission
  19. George Augustus Selwyn; John Coleridge Patteson (South Pacific islands)
    Memoir of the life and episcopate of George Augustus Selwyn; George Augustus Selwyn
    The Life of John Coleridge Patteson (Yonge); Bishop Patteson
  20. James Chalmers (New Guinea)
    Adventures in New Guinea; Pioneering in New Guinea; James Chalmers; Tamate
  21. Jozef De Veuster (Hawai’i)
    Father Damien, Apostle of the Lepers of Molokai
  22. James Calvert (Fiji)
    Cannibals and Saints; At Home in Fiji; Dawn in Fiji; The Story of Fiji; Mary Calvert
  23. John Gibson Paton (Vanuatu)
    Autobiography of John G. Paton; The Story of John G. Paton
  24. The American Mission to Hawaii (Hawai’i)
    Fire Fountains: The Kingdom of Hawaii

Read: If you want to read The Romance of Missionary Heroism, you can get the PDF for free, or you can listen to the audiobook on LibriVox.

Review: Afghanistan, My Tears

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Rating: ★★★★½

Author: David and Julie Leatherberry spent many years as Christian workers in Afghanistan. They have written two books about their experiences: Afghanistan, My Tears and Abdul and Mr. Friday.

Overview:

Afghanistan, like much of Central Asia, is a land of great linguistic and ethnic diversity. While Dari (or Afghan Persian) is the official language, most of the people Pashtuns (i.e., Pashto-speaking). The Leatherberrys felt God was calling them specifically to focus on working with Pashtuns, who number around 50 million worldwide.

In a world of flash and bang, this book is a simple account of a couple who trusted God and followed him for a people that desperately needed the gospel.

This book is a quick read. What I appreciated about it was that it does not create unrealistic expectations of life overseas. Many books make Christian work sound romantic. It is rare to find a book that presents the long view of leadership—cultures simply do not change overnight.

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4)

Review: God’s Joyful Runner

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Rating: ★★★★★

Author: Russell Wilcox Ramsey is an American athlete, writer, and a national security educator. He was decorated with the Bronze Star and is a National Record Holder in swimming (men, 55-59 age group). In addition to many books on national security, he has written several books related to Christian athletes and the Olympics, including God’s Joyful Runner: The Story of Eric Liddell (1987), the novel A Lady, A Peacemaker (1988), and the Christian living book From Mount Olympus to Calvary (2014).

Subject: Eric Liddell (1902-1945) was an Olympic Gold Medalist (400m, 1924) and a missionary in Northern China, from 1925 until he was put into a Japanese internment camp, where he later died. He was famously (although somewhat sensationally) portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire, which won Best Picture for 1982.

Overview:

This story really starts where Chariots of Fire ends: with Liddell’s missionary call. Eric Liddell not only overcame obstacles at the 1924 Olympics; he served the people of China dauntlessly in the 1930s and on into World War II, giving up any shot at an Olympic return. He served for two decades in a rural and poor area of Hebei Province, in northern China, and stayed there even after the United Kingdom advised its citizens to leave in 1941. Somewhat over against the strong sacred-secular divide that may result from misinterpreting the 1982 film, Liddell did also compete in athletics during his missionary service, but he only did so in East Asia, and in ways that did not interfere with his other duties.

Eventually, after several close calls, Liddell was placed in an internment camp in 1943, on a school compound, and he spent the last two years of his life there. He died suddenly of a brain tumor in 1945, at the age of 43, but with much more to show for his life than any gold medal could offer: many lives changed for God. He took the same physical determination and sense of duty to the mission field, and bore it without complaint, cheerful yet self-effacing, devout but without pretense.

Meat:

I was impressed, as I read this book, that Liddell’s physical prowess served him well in the mission field. He was in rural China, without much access to modern transportation methods. Ramsey tells several anecdotes which show what an asset his physical endurance was in serving the poor on the mission field. I remember in particular that Liddell had to carry an injured man by wheelbarrow for many miles.

There were two athletic anecdotes in this book that literally made my jaw drop:

The first occurs in the film Chariots of Fire. During a race (I believe it was only 400m, but I am not able to verify), Liddell was knocked to the ground. Not only did he get back up and keep running, he won the race. (Movie clip here.)

The second is not mentioned in the film because it occurs after Liddell left for the mission field. Liddell did not give up running forever when he left Scotland—in fact, he competed in the Asian Games in Japan while he was living in China. However, he had a steamer to catch so that he could teach Sunday school the next day. Having placed at the games, he stood and saluted while they played through British national anthem, and then the French national anthem. Finally, he said his goodbyes and ran out of the stadium. Arriving at the pier, the ferry had just cast off. Not willing to be stuck in Japan two more days, Liddell reared back, got a running start, and jumped onto the ship as it was departing the pier.

Bones:

God’s Joyful Runner is a great introduction to Eric Liddell’s life and has much more than can be summarized in a brief article like this. But there are some aspects of Liddell’s life that it doesn’t tell us much about. It doesn’t say much, for instance, about Liddell’s writings. If readers want greater detail, though, I believe they could find that in David McCasland’s longer book, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold.

Review: Apostle to Islam

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Rating: ★★★★★

Author: J. Christy Wilson (Sr.) (1891-1973) was an influential missionary in Persia. He published Apostle to Islam in 1952, the year after Samuel M. Zwemer died. (His son, J. Christy Wilson, Jr., (1921-1999), was a pioneer missionary in Afghanistan, and was also nothing to sneeze at.)

Samuel M. Zwemer (the subject of this biography) was a pioneer missionary among Arabs along the Persian Gulf. His later career was spent writing, teaching and mobilizing for missions among Muslims while he was based in Egypt for many years, and later at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Overview:

This is probably the most comprehensive biography involving Christian work in the Muslim world. It is engaging, multi-faceted, well-researched, and well-written.

Like Ion Kieth-Falconer and others, Zwemer’s life must be divided into several streams:

  • His academic career, which included a chair at Princeton Seminary in his later life.
  • His literary career, which spans 48 volumes—one writer quips that, like Luther, he “threw his inkpot at the devil”.
  • His pioneer work—Zwemer was one of the earlier student volunteers, and he held a position of influence in the movement—with Lansing and Cantine, he also founded the Arabian Mission, which was remarkable for its ambition and sacrifice.
  • His publishing work—Zwemer was the editor of The Moslem World Quarterly from 1911 to 1947.
  • His mobilization work, which, according to Ruth Tucker, was his most important contribution. Year after year, his annual schedule involved platforms and pulpits in three languages in America, India, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Persia, etc.

With so much travel and so many contributions, Wilson mainly focuses on his work; there is not much “table talk” or personal touch. This book is too big-picture for that. The biography itself reads as an account of the revival of interest in evangelical missions to Muslim-majority people groups, and for that reason it is indispensable.

Meat:

One of the high points for me was reading about Lucknow 1911 for the first time—a watershed moment in missions history, in which modern missions to Muslims became focused, intentional and organized.

Zwemer seems to have been steadfast, if a little grave; and orthodox, if a bit staunch. His life work is remarkable and unparalleled, and this is one of the best books it has been my high privilege to bring back into publication.

Bones:

Something that will disappoint some readers, as Ruth Tucker points out in From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, is that Zwemer had very few converts in his lifetime. He was an eagle in theology; a seer in writing; a “steam-engine” in mobilization, as his close colleague testified; but he himself did not win many people to Christ in the Arab world. For that reason, some reviewers take this book to be uninspiring; I felt—quite the opposite—that his mobilization work undoubtedly has resulted in innumerable converts through the next generation, and from this I took great encouragement as a missionary in an all-but-forgotten field.

Some personal takeaways from Zwemer’s life as a whole: I take a spur and a warning both from this biography. First, mobilization, writing, and conference work are critical elements of our global task. They must not be neglected. Second, the most important work in ministry will always be not publishing, but people—one at a time—and loving your neighbor is harder and more glorious than a mile-long trail of print. This is exactly why mobilization was Zwemer’s greatest contribution; because that is where he was relationally invested.

 

Free Missionary Biographies (150+)

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For publishing purposes, I created a database of hundreds of missionary biographies. Here are links to the 183 of them that are available for free online. Several websites assisted in the creation of this list, especially the Internet Archive, missiology.org.uk, and Wholesome Words.

NORTH AMERICA

The Parish of the Pines by Thomas D. Whittles (1873-?)

Canada
The Harvest of the Sea: A Tale of Both Sides of the Atlantic by Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940)
Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940)

Greenland
Amid Greenland Snows: The Early History of Arctic Missions by Jesse Page (1805-1883)

Jamaica
Memoir of William Knibb: Missionary in Jamaica by John Howard Hinton (1791-1873)

Missions among Native Americans
An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts: Containing Their Foundation, Proceedings and the Success of Their Missionaries in the British Colonies to the Year 1728 by David Humphreys (1689-1740)
A journal of the life, gospel labours, and Christian experiences, of that faithful minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman by John Woolman (1720-1772)
The Triumph of the Reformed Religion in America: The Life of the Renowned John Eliot by Cotton Mather (1663-1728)
An Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
By Canoe and Dog-Train: Among the Cree and Salteaux Indians by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
On the Indian Trail: Stories of Missionary Work among the Cree and Salteaux Indians by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
Stories from Indian Wigwams and Northern Camp-Fires by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
Oowikapun: Or, How the Gospel Reached the Nelson River Indians by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
Indian Life in the Great North-West by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
The Battle of the Bears: Life in the North Land by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
The Apostle of the North: Rev. James Evans by Egerton Ryerson Young (1840-1909)
Mirabilia Dei Inter Indicos, or, The Rise and Progress of a Remarkable Work of Grace amongst a Number of the Indians in the Provinces of New-Jersey and Pennsylvania, Justly Representied in a Journal Kept by Order of the Honourable Society (in Scotland) for Propagating Christian Knowledge by David Brainerd (1718-1747)
Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), David Brainerd (1718-1747), Sereno Edwards Dwight (1786-1850)
David Brainerd, the Apostle of the North American Indians by Jesse Page (1805-1883)
Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England, in the Year 1670 by John Eliot (1604-1690)

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

A Voice from South America by Captain Allen Francis Gardiner (1794-1851)
South America: The Dark Continent by Emilio Olsson

Argentina
Captain Allen Gardiner of Patagonia: The Dauntless Sailor Missionary by Jesse Page (1805-1883)
The Story of Commander Allen Gardiner by John William Marsh (1822-1882), Waite H. Stirling

Brazil
A Thousand Miles in a Dug-Out: Being the Narrative of a Journey of Investigation among the Red-Skin Indians of Central Brazil by Frederick Charles Glass (1871-1960)
Adventures with the Bible in Brazil by Frederick Charles Glass (1871-1960)

Guyana
In the Tropics: Scenes and Incidents of West Indian Life by Jabez Marrat (1833-1909)

EASTERN EUROPE

Memoir of Mrs. Stallybrass, Wife of the Rev. Edward Stallybrass, Missionary to Siberia by Edward Stallybrass
Jonas King: Missionary to Syria and Greece by F. E. H. Haines

AFRICA

The Flaming Torch in Darkest Africa by William Taylor (1821-1902)
Africa Waiting or The Problem of Africa’s Evangelisation by Douglas Montagu Thornton (1873-1907)
Back to the Long Grass: My Link with Livingstone by Daniel Crawford (1870-1926)
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone (1813-1873)
Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa by David Livingstone (1813-1873)
The Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa by Horace Waller
Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger; with a Narrative of a Voyage Down That River to Its Termination by Richard Lander, John Lander
Central Africa Revisited: A 16,000 Mile Tour Thoughout the Fields of the Africa Inland Mission in Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, Congo, Sudan and Egypt by Daniel Morison Miller (1888-1965)
Garenganze; or, Seven Years Pioneer Mission Work in Central Africa by Frederick Stanley Arnot (1858-1914)
The Life and Explorations of Frederick Stanley Arnot, F.R.G.S. by Ernest Baker
The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His Family by William Garden Blaikie (1820-1899)

Cameroon
Alfred Saker: The Pioneer of the Cameroons by Emily Martha Saker (b. 1849)

Congo River Region
Pioneering on the Congo by William Holman Bentley (1855-1905)
Life on the Congo by William Holman Bentley (1855-1905)
W. Holman Bentley: The Life and Labours of a Congo Pioneer, By His Widow by H. M. Bentley

Ethiopia
John Ludwig Krapf: Explorer-Missionary of Northeastern Africa by Paul Edward Kretzmann (1883-1965)
Eclipse in Ethiopia and Its Corona Glory by Esmé Ritchie Rice

Kenya
In the Heart of Savagedom: Reminiscences of Life and Adventure during a Quarter of a Century of Pioneering Missionary Labours in the Wilds of East Equatorial Africa by Eva Stuart Watt

Madagascar
Through Lands That Were Dark. Being a Record of a Year’s Missionary Journey in Africa and Madagascar by F. H. Hawkins (1863-1936)
Madagascar: Its Mission and Its Martyrs by Ebenezer Prout
The Martyrs’ Isle: or, Madagascar: The Country, the People, and the Missions by Annie Sharman

Malawi
The Life of Robert Laws of Livingstonia by William Pringle Livingstone (b. 1864)
Reminiscences of Livingstonia by Robert Laws (1851-1934)
Streams in the Desert: A Picture of Life in Livingstonia by James Horne Morrison (1872-1947)

Nigeria
The Romance of the Black River: The Story of the C.M.S. Nigeria Mission by F. Deaville Walker

Sierra Leone
Seven Years in Sierra Leone by Arthur Tappan Pierson (1837-1911)

South Africa & Botswana
Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country, in South Africa by Captain Allen Francis Gardiner (1794-1851)
Christina Forsyth of Fingoland: The Story of the Loneliest Woman in Africa by William Pringle Livingstone (b. 1864)
Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa by Robert Moffat (1795-1883)
Robert Moffat: African Missionary by Jabez Marrat (1833-1909)
Stewart of Lovedale by James Wells
Dawn in the Dark Continent by James Stewart (1831-1905)

South Sudan
New Frontiers in the Central Sudan by C. Gordon Beacham
Seven Sevens of Years and a Jubilee: The Story of the Sudan Interior Mission by Rowland V. Bingham (1872-1942)

Uganda
Two Kings of Uganda by Robert Pickering Ashe (1857-1944)
The Last Journals of Bishop Hannington by Edwin Collas Dawson (1849-1925)
James Hannington, First Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa: A History of His Life and Work (1847-1885) by Edwin Collas Dawson (1849-1925)
Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission by William Grinton Berry (1873-1926)
Mackay of the Great Lake by Constance Evelyn Padwick (1886- )
Mackay of Uganda: The Missionary Engineer by Mary Yule
Uganda’s White Man of Work by Sophia Blanche Lyon Fahs (b. 1876)
Chronicles of Uganda by Robert Pickering Ashe (1857-1944)

Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
Christians of the Copperbelt: The Growth of the Church in Northern Rhodesia by John Vernon Taylor
The Way of the White Fields in Rhodesia: A Survey of Christian Enterprise in Northern and Southern Rhodesia by Edwin W. Smith (1876-1957)

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Kamil Abdul Messiah by Kamil Abdulmasih (d. 1892)

North Africa
The Gospel in North Africa by John Rutherford (1816-1866)
I. Lilias Trotter, Founder of the Algiers Mission Band by Blanche Anne Frances Pigott (1849-1930)
Pioneering in Morocco: A Record of Seven Years’ Medical Mission Work in the Palace and the Hut by Robert Kerr (d. 1918)

Egypt & Sudan
A Master-Builder on the Nile: Being a Record of the Life and Aims of John Hogg, Christian Missionary by Rena L. Hogg
Douglas M. Thornton: A Study in Missionary Ideals and Methods by William Henry Temple Gairdner (1873-1928)
W.H.T.G. to His Friends by William Henry Temple Gairdner (1873-1928)
The Changing Sudan by W. Wilson Cash
The Sudan: A Short Compendium of Facts and Figures about the Land of Darkness by H. Karl Kumm (1874-1930)

Iraq & the Gulf
The History of the Arabian Mission by Alfred DeWitt Mason

Levant (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, etc.)
Christian Researches in the Mediterrannean, from 1815 to 1820, in Furtherance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society by William Jowett, James Connor
The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Valpy French by Herbert Alfred Birks
Lethaby of Moab: A Record of Missionary Adventure, Peril and Toil by Thomas Durley
Ventures among the Arabs: 13 Years of Pioneer Missionary Life in Arabia by Archibald Forder (1863-1934)
Fifty-Three Years in Syria: The Autobiography of Henry H. Jessup by Henry Harris Jessup (1832-1910)
Bible Works in Bible Lands: or, Events in the History of the Syria Mission by Isaac Bird (1793-1876)
Memoir of the Rev. Pliny Fisk by Alvan Bond (1793-1882)
Raymund Lull: First Missionary to the Moslems by Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867-1952)

Yemen
Memorials of the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer by Robert Sinker (1838-1913)

CENTRAL ASIA

Journals and Letters of the Rev. Henry Martyn by S. Wilberforce
A Memoir of the Rev. Henry Martyn by John Sargent (1780-1833)
Henry Martyn of India and Persia by Jesse Page (1805-1883)

SOUTH ASIA

Bangladesh
Bengal as a Field of Missions by Mrs. MacLeod Wylie

India
The Cobra’s Den by Jacob Chamberlain (1835-1908)
Men of Might in India Missions: Their Leaders and Their Epochs, 1706-1899 by Helen Harriet Holcomb
Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward by John Clark Marshman (1794-1877)
History of the Tranquebar Mission by Johannes Ferdinand Fenger (1805-1861)
In the Tiger Jungle and Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus of India by Jacob Chamberlain (1835-1908)
Biographical Sketches of Joshua Marshman by John Fenwick
Things As They Are: Mission Work in Southern India by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951)
A Memoir of Mrs. Margaret Wilson by John Wilson (1804-1875)
Memoir of William Carey by Eustace Carey
The Missionary’s Wife, or, A Brief Account of Mrs. Loveless of Madras; the First American Missionary to Foreign Lands by Richard Knill
Travels in North India by John Cameron Lowrie (1808-1900)
Two Years in Upper India by John Cameron Lowrie (1808-1900)
Two Standard Bearers in the East: Sketches of Dr. Duff and Dr. Wilson by Jabez Marrat (1833-1909)
Memoirs of Mrs. Louisa A. Lowrie : wife of the Rev. John C. Lowrie, missionary to Northern India, who died at Calcutta, Nov. 21st, 1833, aged 24 years by Ashbel Green Fairchild (1795-1864)

Pakistan
An Heroic Bishop: The Life-Story of French of Lahore by Eugene Stock (1836-1928)
Robert Clark of the Panjab: Pioneer and Missionary Statesman by Henry Martyn Clark (1857-1916)

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)
One Hundred Years in Ceylon: The Centenary Volume of the Church Missionary Society in Ceylon 1818-1918 by John William Balding
Extracts from the Journal and Correspondence of the Late Mrs. M. M. Clough, Wife of the Rev. Benjamin Clough, Missionary in Ceylon by Adam Clarke, Benjamin Clough, Margaret Morley Clough (1803-1827)
Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Harvard Late of the Wesleyan Mission to Ceylon and India with Extracts from Her Diary and Correspondence by William Martin Harvard

NORTHEAST ASIA

Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832, and 1833, with Notices of Siam, Corea, and the Loo-Choo Islands by Charles Gutzlaff
A Sound of Abundance of Rain by Campbell Naismith Moody (1866-1940)
The War and Missions in the East by A. J. MacDonald (1887-1959)

China
Not Unto Us: A Record of Twenty-One Years’ Missionary Service by Harry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910)
Memoir of William C. Burns, Missionary to China by Islay Burns (1817-1872)
Memoir of the Life and Brief Ministry of the Rev. David Sandeman, Missionary to China by Andrew Alexander Bonar (1810-1892)
A Retrospect by James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
Three Decades of the China Inland Mission, 1865-1895 by James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Soul by Howard Taylor
The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission with Portraits and Map by Marshall Broomhall (1866-1937)
Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Work of God by Howard Taylor

Japan
A Maker of New Japan: Joseph Hardy Neesima, President of Doshisha University, Kyoto by Jerome Dean Davis (1838-1910)
Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima by Arthur Sherburne Hardy

Mongolia
More about the Mongols by James Gilmour (1843-1891)
James Gilmour of Mongolia by James Gilmour (1843-1891), Richard Lovett (1851-1904)

Taiwan (formerly Formosa)
The Saints of Formosa by Campbell Naismith Moody (1866-1940)
The Heathen Heart: An Account of the Reception of the Gospel among the Chinese of Formosa by Campbell Naismith Moody (1866-1940)

Tibet
With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple by Susanna Carson “Susie” Rijnhart (1868-1908)

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Myanmar (formerly Burma)
The Gospel in Burma by Mrs. MacLeod Wylie
An Account of the American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire by Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826)
Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson by Francis Wayland
The Apostle of Burma: A Memoir of Adoniram Judson, D.D. by Jabez Marrat (1833-1909)

SOUTH PACIFIC

Heroes of the South Seas by Martha Burr Banks
Memoir of Mrs. Mary Mercy Ellis, Wife of Rev. William Ellis, Missionary in the South Seas and Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society by William Ellis (1794-1872)
John Williams, the Shipbuilder by Basil Joseph Mathews (1879-1951)
A Narrative of Missionary Enterprise in the South Sea Islands by John Williams (1796-1839)
Memoirs of the Rev. John Williams, Missionary to Polynesia by Ebenezer Prout

Fiji
James Calvert: or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji by R. Vernon
James Calvert of Fiji by George Stringer Rowe (1830-1913)
The Story of Fiji by James Calvert (1813-1892)
Memoir of Mary Calvert by George Stringer Rowe (1830-1913)
The Life of John Hunt, Missionary to the Cannibals by George Stringer Rowe (1830-1913)
John Hunt: Pioneer Missionary and Saint by Joseph Nettleton
Fiji and the Fijians by James Calvert (1813-1892), Thomas Williams (1815-1891), George Stringer Rowe (1830-1913)

New Zealand
Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand, and of Lichfield: A Sketch of His Life and Work with Some Further Gleanings from His Letters, Sermons, and Speeches by George Herbert Curteis (1824-1894)
Among the Maoris; or, Daybreak in New Zealand: A Record of the Labours of Samuel Marsden, Bishop Selwyn, and Others by Jesse Page (1805-1883)
Memoirs of the life and labours of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, of Parramatta, Senior Chaplain of New South Wales: and of his early connexion with the missions to New Zealand and Tahiti by John Buxton Marsden (1803-1870)
A Short Account of the Character and Labours of the Rev. S. Marsden by William Woolls
Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, performed in the years 1814 and 1815, in company with the Rev. S. Marsden by John Liddiard Nicholas

New Guinea
James Chalmers: Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea by William Robson
Tamate: The Life and Adventures of a Christian Hero by Richard Lovett (1851-1904)
Greatheart of Papua: James Chalmers by W. P. Nairne
These Thirty Years: The Story of the RBMU by Harry Guinness (1835-1910)
Bishop Patteson: Martyr of Melanesia by Jesse Page (1805-1883)
Life of John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands by Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901)

Tonga & French Polynesia
Tonga and the Friendly Islands by Sarah Stock Farmer

Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides)
The Story of John G. Paton: Thirty Years with South Sea Cannibals by John Gibson Paton (1824-1907)
Saints and Savages: The Story of Five Years in the New Hebrides by Robert Lamb

COMPILATIONS

Memoirs of British Female Missionaries by Thomas Timpson (1790-1860)
The Unoccupied Mission Fields of Africa and Asia by Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867-1952)
A History of Moravian Missions by Joseph Edmund Hutton (1838-1937)
Moravian Missions: Twelve Lectures by Augustus C. Thompson (1812-1901)
A History of Wesleyan Missions in All Parts of the World from Their Commencement to the Present Time by William Moister (1808-1891)
An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens in Which the State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practicability of Further Undertakings, Are Considered by William Carey (1761-1834)
Conquests of the Cross: A Record of Missionary Work throughout the World by Edwin Hodder (1837-1904)
The History of the Church MIssionary Society: Its Environment, Its Men and Its Work by Eugene Stock (1836-1928)
The Romance of Missionary Heroism: True Stories of the Intrepid Bravery and Stirring Adventures of Missionaries with Uncivilized Man, Wild Beasts and the Forces of Nature in All Parts of the World by John Chisholm Lambert (1857-1917)
A History of Christian Missions during the Middle Ages by George Frederick Maclear (1833-1902)
The Advance Guard: 200 Years of Moravian Missions, 1732-1932 by Anonymous
Memories of the Mission Field by Christine Isabel Tinling (1869-1943)
Journal of Voyages and Travels by Daniel Tyerman, George Bonnet
Twelve Mighty Missionaries by Esthme Ethelind Enock (1874-1947)
Heroes of Missionary Enterprise by Claud Field
Giants of the Missionary Trail: The Life Stories of Eight Men Who Defied Death and Demons by Eugene Myers Harrison
The Missionary Heroes of Africa by James Horne Morrison (1872-1947)
Three Martyrs of the Nineteenth Century by Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1828-1896)
On the Trail of the Pioneers: A Sketch of the Missions of the United Free Church of Scotland by James Horne Morrison (1872-1947)

Region classifications are based on those used by the Joshua Project.

New Ebook on Mary Calvert

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Rowe’s Memoir of Mary Calvert is now available as an ebook. Mary Calvert was a pioneer missionary in Fiji where she was instrumental in opposing an ancient pagan custom of wife-burning, similar to the ancient Indian practice of suttee (or sati) that was encountered by William Carey a few decades before. Mary Calvert vehemently opposed the murder of aristocrats’ wives and family members, even at the peril of her own life.

After many years in Fiji, James and Mary Calvert also served in South Africa, and later returned to Fiji in their old age to celebrate 50 years of Christianity in Fiji. The majority of Fijians are Christian today—thanks to the exemplary work of missionaries like the Calverts and many others—although widespread immigration from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has led to a large demographic and cultural shift.

The inspiring biography of James Calvert (Mary Calvert’s husband) is also now available as an ebook, which is free when you buy a copy of the paperback.