Missions

One stormy night, Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak in Birmingham, England, at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess attempted to dissuade him from going in the torrential downpour by telling him that everyone would assume it was canceled. “But was it not announced for tonight,” Hudson Taylor asked. He then said, “I must go, even if there is no one but the doorkeeper.”

Adoniram Judson labored faithfully in Burma for eighteen years without a furlough, and for the first six years he did not have a single Burmese convert. He said that he never saw a ship leave Burma without wanting to board it and go home. When his wife became sick and had to go home for two years without him, he wrote: ”If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace, and perform the ordinary services of religion.” But he then wrote: ”Life is short. Happiness consists not in outward circumstances.

An old preacher was met one of his deacons, whose face wore a very resolute expression.

“I came early to meet you,” he said. “I have something on my conscience to say to you. Pastor, there must be something radically wrong in your preaching and work; there has been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he is only a boy.”

William Carey, who is called the “Father of Modern Missions,” served the Lord in India for many years. He gradually became very concerned about the attitude of his son, Felix. The young man had promised to become a missionary, but he reneged on his vows when he was appointed ambassador to Burma by the Queen of England. Carey wrote to his friend, asking prayer for his son with these words: Pray for Felix. He has degenerated into an ambassador of the British government when he should be serving the King of Kings.

David Livingstone was the pioneer missionary to Africa, who walked over 29,000 miles in his ministry. His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethren. He wrote the following words in his diary: “Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.”

Source: Through the Fire, Joseph Stowell

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Some of the greatest missionaries of history devotedly spread the seed of God's Word and yet had to wait long periods before seeing the fruit of their efforts. William Carey, for example, labored 7 years before the first Hindu convert was brought to Christ in Burma, and Adoniram Judson toiled 7 years before his faithful preaching was rewarded by seeing his first converts.

Source: Unknown