suggested reading: missions

 

 

Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe In Christ by Brother Andrew

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Secret Believers not only gives readers a glimpse of the lives of some courageous Muslim background believers, it also proposes four practical initiatives for Christians in the West to help these persecuted brothers and sisters. It calls us to join this new kind of jihad, leaving vengeance behind in favor of forgiveness, radical love, and unyielding prayer.

 

 

Always Enough by Rolland and Heidi Baker

 

Even the most desperate poverty, the most devastating illness, the most heart-wrenching grief is not beyond God's help. The modern miracles that Rolland and Heidi Baker experience every day in their work with Mozambique's throwaway children, will inspire anyone looking for hope in the midst of suffering. The Bakers share how their work for the past eight years in Mozambique, one of the poorest nations on earth, has borne spiritual fruit beyond their wildest dreams.

 

 

The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

The Heavenly Man is a dramatic autobiography of one of China's dedicated, courageous, and intensely persecuted house church leaders. The book provides an intimate look into the Chinese house church movement, and details Brother Yun's remarkable testimony. It reminds us that the call to serve Jesus is worth everything.

 

 

 

The Changing Face of World Missions by Michael Pocock

 

Dramatic changes have taken place both in global society and in the church that have implications for how the church does missions in the twenty-first century. The Changing Face of World Missions explores twelve significant trends, including globalization, changing demographics, the rise of postmodernism, the shift from Christendom to global Christianity, and the impact of technology on society and missions.

 

 

African Friends and Money Matters by David E. Maranz

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

This book grew out of frustrations that Westerners experience when they work in Africa. We use and manage money in very different ways, and these differences create misunder-standings. This book will be of interest to Westerners living, working, or traveling in sub-Saharan Africa: business, government, diplomatic, and NGO personnel, religious workers, journalists, development sociologists, and tourists.

 

 

Daughters of Islam by Miriam Adeney

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Muslim women comprise nearly one-tenth of the world's population. Adeney explores the interwoven threads that make up daily experience for Muslm women, incl. sexuality, singleness and marriage, children and extended family, finances, religious tradition and practice, and teaching and learning styles. You'll learn how to relate to women of Muslim background--and how to introduce them to Christ.

 

 

Why Not Women?: A Fresh Look at Scripture on Women in Missions Ministry & Leadership by Loren Cunningham & David Joel Hamilton

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Hamilton and Cunningham, who is the founder of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), look at the place of women in roles of authority and make the case that the biblical evidence supports the full participation of women in the leadership and ministry of the church.

 

 

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot

Recommended by Marcia Thaxton

 

This is an account of five missionaries who were killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956 that inspired the film End of the Spear. Taken primarily from the men's own diaries, letters, and writings, it is as much a character study of likable young men inspired by faith as an illuminating view of a missionary's life in another culture.

 

 

 

Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

The true story of how one woman's faith resulted in the conversion of hundreds of drug addicts, prostitues and hardened criminals in Hong Kong's infamous Walled City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anthropology for Christian Witness by Charles H. Kraft

 

This book serves as a thorough, basic introduction to the study of anthropology that has been designed specifically for those who plan careers in mission or cross-cultural ministry. Kraft treats the very basics, including theories of culture and society; an assessment of the various anthropological schools; kinship and family structure, and cross-cultural communication.

 

 

 

 

Africa Bible Commentary by Tokunboh Adeyemo

 

A one-volume commentary written by 70 African scholars. John Stott writes inhis foreword to the volume that it represents 'a publishing landmark... its foundation is biblical, its perspective African, and its approach to controversial questions balanced. I intend to use it myself in order to gain African insights into the Word of God.'

 

 

 

 

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness by Alan Burgess

Recommended by Marcia Thaxton

 

Gladys Aylward leaves England in her mid-20s, determined to reach China in spite of a war raging at the Chinese/Russian border, and eventually makes her way to a remote Chinese village where she sets up an inn and comes to be known as "Ai-weh-deh," the virtuous one. Her love and compassion for the people she meet form the substance of this fascinating story, including her friendship with the local mandarin.

 

 

Peace Child by Don Richardson

Recommended by Ken Wilson

 

In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among headhunters and cannibals who valued treachery through "fattening" victims with friendship before the slaughter. God gave Don and Carol the key to the Sawi hearts via a redemptive analogy from their own mythology.

 

 

Light Force by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Brother Andrew shares what he has learned from years of ministry in the Middle East and challenges believers to become and support the light force God calls his church to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruchko by Bruce Olson

 

For Bruce Olson it meant capture, disease, terror, loneliness and torture. But what he discovered by trial and error has revolutionized the world of missions. This updated edition of Bruchko includes the story of his 1988 kidnapping by communist guerrillas and the 10 months of captivity that followed. Bruce Olson's story will amaze you and remind you that simple faith in Christ can make anything possible.

 

 

 

Back to Jerusalem by Paul Hattaway

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

You need to read this book - it will change your global perspective. Three Chinese house church leaders share their vision to complete the Great Commission, and you'll be blown away by how God's moving in the Chinese church.

 

 

 

 

 

God Spoke Tibetan by Allan Maberly

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Allan Maberly takes the account of the translation of the first Tibetan Bible and places the reader right into the action. For anyone interested in missions, Bible translation, or just a good rendition of a historical account, God Spoke Tibetan is a must read.

 

 

 

 

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

The classic, true-life thriller of Brother Andrew, who risked everything to smuggle Bibles across closed borders.