Over the past year, Modern Day has been featuring inspirational quotes on our Facebook page from many great Christian leaders with an emphasis on men and women who have left a giant imprint on the missions world. If any of the names have been unfamiliar, below you will find a brief biography on these giants of the faith. Also, if you have not already done so, please click here to like our Facebook page.
William Booth (1829-1912): Horrified by the poverty and suffering most people took for granted in industrial England, William Booth dedicated his life to bringing the gospel to the outcasts of society who would never enter a church and weren’t welcome there. William Booth founded the Salvation Army to provide material aid and spiritual salvation. Quote: “Go straight for souls, and go for the worst.”
William Carey (1761-1834): His essay, An Enquiry into the Obligations to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, laid the foundation for modern missions and earned him the nickname of the “Father of Modern Missions”, Carey founded the Baptist Missionary Society. As a missionary in India, he translated the Bible into several major languages (Bengali, Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit). Quote: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”
Amy Carmichael (1867-1951): Amy served 55 years in India where she opened an orphanage that became a refuge for over a 1,000 orphans. She applied as a missionary to an established group, but was turned away due to her bad health. She served for 56 years in China with never returning to her homeland. Her final 20 years she laid mostly in bed due to illness and injury from a fall but devoted herself to writing books. Quote: “We have all eternity to celebrate the victories but only a few hours before sunset to win them.”
Loren Cunningham (1935-): Loren and his wife founded Youth With a Mission that today has over 20,000 full-time workers in 170+ countries. This all began with a vision in which he saw waves on the shorelines of the world that changed into young people covering the continents talking about their faith. Loren has visited every sovereign nation on earth. Quote: “The way you discover your gifts is really by serving not by searching.”
Jim (1927-1956) and Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015): In 1956, Jim and four other missionaries were attempting to evangelize the Auca Indians in Ecuador when they were killed by a group of warriors. In 1958, his widowed wife, Elizabeth, went back to the tribe with their three year old daughter and a wife of one of the martyrs. Elisabeth wrote several books on Jim’s life that has inspired many towards missions. Quote by Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives up what he can not keep, to gain that which he can not lose.” Quote by Elisabeth Elliot: “Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.”
Jonathan Goforth (1859-1936): Jonathan and his wife went to China where he became one of the foremost missionary revivalist in the early 20th century. Not one to become a settled missionary, he travelled evangelizing and bringing revival. Quote: “All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal.”
David Livingstone (1813-1873): David was a Scottish medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and also one of Britain’s most popular national heroes. He spent much of his life in Africa as an explorer with the desire to bring an end to the slave trade. His explorations paved the way for many future missionaries into inland Africa. He completely lost contact with the outside world leading to a newspaper sending Henry Stanley to find him and when having found him said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Quote: “Sympathy is no substitute for action.”
George Mueller (1805-1898): A Germany missionary to England, he began orphanages that took care of over 10,000 orphans. His pioneered the idea faith missions. His detailed diaries of his experience with the orphanages have inspired thousands of missionaries to believe the same for themselves. At the age of 70, he launched a 17 year period of missionary travel. Quote: “The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.”
Student Volunteer Movement leaders: In 1886, The Mt. Hermon Conference became the seedbed for what would later launch the Student Volunteer Movement. There a young radical named Robert Wilder, began to envision his fellow students evangelizing the world in their generation. Wilder together with the leadership of John R. Mott, formed the Student Volunteer Movement that would send over 20,000 young men and women to become foreign missionaries. Quote by Robert Wilder: “Two things I did while in college: 1) Pray for awakening and revival, 2) Stir missionary interest wherever I went.”
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905): Taylor began the China Inland Mission (now OMF International) that has sent over 800 into China and resulted in 18,000 conversions. He went to great measures to blend into the Chinese culture including dressing like them. He worked as a doctor, evangelist and bible translator. His mission was known for accepting people from various denominations provided they had soundness in faith. Quote: “It is not lost time to wait upon God.”
Corrie Ten Boon (1892-1983): Corrie and her family were helping Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust. They were ultimately imprisoned and all of her family was killed except her. While not technically a missionary, Corrie Ten Boom’s (a Dutch woman) unforgettable book, The Hiding Place, which details her time in a Nazi concentration camp, has served as an inspiration to many on the power of forgiveness. Corrie became a public speaker appearing in more than 60 countries. Quote: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
William Cameron Townsend (1896-1982): Townsend spent 14 years learning the Kachikel language in the highlands of Guatemala to the point that he could translate the Bible into their native tongue. This led to the founding of Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics which have translated the bible into hundreds of native languages around the world. Quote: “The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.”
Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zizendorf (1700-1760): Count Zizendorf gave refuge to a small group of Bohemian Brethren who went on to establish a village called Herrnhut. During this time, the Moravians began a watch of continuous prayer that ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 24 years. The Moravian’s, under his protection, began sending out a wave of missionaries that is generally recognized as the beginning of the modern missionary era. Quote: “I am destined to proclaim the message, unmindful of personal consequence to myself.”
Samuel Zwemer (1867-1952): Nicknamed, “The Apostle to Islam”, Zwemer served in numerous locations throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Zwemer worked tirelessly to motivate people for missions and recruit Student Volunteers to serve as missionaries. In 1914 alone, he gave 151 speeches in 113 days across the country. Though his direct pioneering work was small in number, the converts showed unusual courage in professing their faith. Quote: “The history of missions is the history of answered prayer.”
Please note that the name is clickable and will take you to an Smile.Amazon.com page where a book is suggested that you can purchase to learn more about them. If I have not personally read a book, then I am suggesting a book from Youth With a Missions’ “Heroes Now and Then” series. If you are not already supporting a ministry through Smile.Amazon.Com, we would appreciate if you would select Modern Day Missions to support. A portion of all your purchases will go to help fund missionary endeavors around the world.
