Missions Quotes
“We cannot preach good news and be bad news.”
– Tekmito Adegemo
“If you want to go fast, go alone: if you want to go far, go together.”
– African Proverb
“We want Paul's theology and his results but not his methods.”
– Roland Allen (Anglican Priest and Missiologist)
“There are individuals ripe to receive the Lord in the most resistant and hostile situations.
We must take the Gospel to them.”
– Virgil Amos
“Tonight Shanghai is burning, and I am dying too. But there’s no death so real as the death
inside of you. Some men die by shrapnel and some go down in flames. But most men die
inch by inch playing little games.”
– an American Journalist writing from China
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
– Apostle Paul
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ…That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:7-8, 10).
– Apostle Paul
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
– Apostle Paul
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
– Apostle Paul
“To preach the gospel, not where Christ was [already] named,” and “to make all men see
what is the fellowship of the mystery…warning every man, and teaching every man in all
wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labour,
striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Romans 15:20; Ephesians
3:9; and Colossians 1:28, 29).
– Apostle Paul (his deepest passion)
"I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must
have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died.
Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said,
‘Well, she's willing.’”
- Gladys Aylward (Missionary to China)
“If God has called you to China or any other place and you are sure in your own heart, let
nothing deter you….Remember, it is God who has called you and it is the same as when He
called Moses or Samuel.”
– Gladys Aylward (Missionary to China)
"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn't."
– Richard Bach
“Missionaries live like fish in an aquarium with home supporters looking in on one side and
the nationals among whom and with whom they work looking in on the other.”
– Paul A. Beals (Professor of Missiology, Dallas Theological Seminary)
“The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God-fearing and happy life, but it meets us
at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, He bids him come
and die.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (martyred German pastor)
“Sometimes we don't need another chance to express how we feel or to ask someone to
understand our situation. Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling
expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then
lets see something to prove it.'
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (martyred German pastor)
“Our hearts have room for only one all-embracing devotion, and we can cleave to only one
Lord.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (martyred German pastor)
''’Not called!' did you say? ‘Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down
to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear
down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go
stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house
and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look
Christ in the face – whose mercy you have professed to obey – and tell Him whether you
will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to
the world.”
William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army)
“If the Church is ‘in Christ,’ she is involved in mission. Her whole existence then has a
missionary character. Her conduct as well as her words will convince the unbelievers and
put their ignorance and stupidity to silence.”
– David Bosch (Missionary to South Africa)
“Missions is more than a matter of obeying a command, it is the result of an encounter with
Christ. To meet Christ, means to become caught up in a mission (Christ’s mission) to the
world.”
– David Bosch (Missionary to South Africa)
“Oh, that I might be a flaming fire in the service of the Lord. Here I am, Lord, send me;
send me to the ends of the earth…send me from all that is called earthly comfort; send me
even to death itself if it be but in Thy service and to promote Thy Kingdom.”
– David Brainerd (Missionary to the American Indians, New England)
“I declare, now I am dying, I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world.”
– David Brainerd (Missionary to the American Indians, New England)
“I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain
souls to Christ.”
– David Brainerd (Missionary to the American Indians, New England)
“I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain
souls to Christ.”
- David Brainerd (Missionary to the American Indians, New England)
“As long as I see anything to be done for God, life is worth having; but O how vain an
unworthy it is to live for any lower end!”
– David Brainerd (Missionary to the American Indians, New England)
“Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your
powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no
miracle, but you shall be a miracle.”
– Bishop Phillips Brooks
“It is the sincere and deep conviction of my soul when I declare that if the Christian faith
does not culminate and complete itself in the effort to make Christ known to all the world,
that faith appears to me a thoroughly unreal and insignificant thing, destitute of power for
the single life and incapable of being convincingly proved to be true.”
– Phillip Brooks
“World Christians are heaven's expatriates, camping where the Kingdom is best served.”
– David Bryant (Founder/Director of Concerts of Prayer International)
“When I left England, my hope of India’s conversion was very strong; but amongst so many
obstacles, it would die, unless upheld by God. Well, I have God, and His Word is true.
Though the superstition of the heathen were a thousand times stronger than they are, and
the example of the Europeans a thousand times worse; though I were deserted by all and
persecuted by all, yet my faith, fixed on the sure Word, would rise above all obstructions
and overcome every trial. God’s cause will triumph.”
– William Carey (Missionary, Bible Translator, and much more to India)
“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”
– William Carey (Missionary, Bible Translator, and much more to India)
“To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.”
– William Carey (Missionary, Bible Translator, and much more to India)
“I can plod; I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”
– William Carey (Missionary, Bible Translator, and much more to India)
“And Jonah stalked to his shaded seat and waited for God to come around to his way of
thinking. And God is still waiting for a host of Jonahs in their comfortable houses to come
around to His way of loving.”
– Thomas Carlisle
“Part of a soldier’s duty is to fill gaps…one must be willing to be nothing, as something.”
– Amy Carmichael (Missionary to the people of southern India)
“I had feelings of fear about the future….The devil kept on whispering, ‘It’s all right now, but
what about afterwards? You are going to be very lonely’….And I turned to my God in a kind
of desperation and said, ‘Lord, what can I do? How can I go on to the end?’ And He said,
‘None of them that trust in Me shall be desolate.’ That word has been with me ever since.”
– Amy Carmichael (Missionary to the people of India)
“Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no
disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be a clod; Make
me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”
– Amy Carmichael
“Lord, here in your precious Word I give myself, my husband, my children, and all that I
have or ever shall posses, all to you. I will follow your will, even to China. Lord, open
doors, and I will go and tell the Chinese of your great love. In time of need, supply for us;
in time of sorrow, give us peace; in times of joy, send someone to share. Help me to never
murmur nor complain. I love you Lord Jesus.”
- Tanna Collins (This note comes from a page in Mrs. Collins’ Bible that was found at the
scene of the airline crash in Tibet in which the entire family perished in 1994).
“I am destined to proclaim the message, unmindful of personal consequences to myself”.
– Count Nikolus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf
“I have but one passion--it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field, and the field is the
world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning
souls for Christ.”
- Count Nikolus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf (German nobleman and Moravian Leader)
“That land is henceforth my country which most needs the gospel.”
– Count Nikolus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf
“Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up.”
– Melville B. Cox (Pioneer Methodist Episcopal Missionary to Liberia, Africa)
“Mission is ultimately not a human response to human need. The Church’s involvement in
mission is its privileged participation in the actions of the triune God.”
– Tim Dearborn
“The church which ceases to be evangelistic will soon cease to be evangelical.”
– Alexander Duff (Missionary to India)
“In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the
work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer.”
- Dick Eastman
Could any place be safer than the center of His will? Did not he assure me by His very
presence that His thoughts toward us are good, and not evil? Death to my own plans and
desires was almost deliriously delightful. Everything was laid at His nail-scarred feet, life or
death, health or illness, appreciation by others or misunderstanding, success or failure as
measured by human standards. Only He himself mattered.”
- Victor Raymond Edman (Missionary to Ecuador/President of WheatonCollege)
“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my
life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.”
– Jim Elliot (Honor student, All-star athlete, Martyred missionary)
“The world to come at the end of history will be a world without the national barriers that
divide people today, a glorious and rich mosaic of peoples, languages, and cultures around
the Lamb of God. Missionary internationalization is a clear step in that direction.”
– Samuel Escobar
“Grant that I may experience the power of Thy Word before I deliver it.”
– Christmas Evans
“As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it
will be impossible for me to devote my time and energy to those who have both.”
– J. L. Ewen
“As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it
will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both.”
- J. L. Ewen
“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with
darkness than in a land flooded with light.”
- John Keith Falconer
“There is very little difference between men, but that little difference makes a very big
difference.”
– Howard W. Ferrin (President of the Providence Bible Institute)
“A man may die leaving upwards of a million, without taking any of it upwards.”
– William Fetler
“This is a decision we do not make, because it has already been made. Whether we spend
our lives for the purpose of reaching all men with the Gospel is not optional. Christ has
commanded every Christian to do just this. Now there are many different ways of
accomplishing this one purpose – but regardless of the particular work God has for each of
us to do, the one aim of us all in doing our particular job for the Lord must be the
evangelization of the whole world.”
– G. Allen Fleece (President of ColumbiaBibleCollege)
“The weakness of much current mission work is that we betray the sense that what is yet to
be done is greater than what Christ has already done. The world’s greatest need is less
than Christ’s great victory.”
– P.T. Forsyth
“There is nothing finer nor more pathetic to me than the way in which missionaries unlearn
the love of the old home, die to their native land, and wed their hearts to the people they
have served and won; so that they cannot rest in England, but must return to lay their
bones where they spent their hearts for Christ. How vulgar the common patriotisms seem
beside this inverted homesickness, this passion of a kingdom which has no frontiers and no
favored race, the passion of a homeless Christ!”
– Dr. P.T. Forsyth
“What is to give light, must endure burning.”
– Victor Frankyl
"If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people
will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray."
- Fredrik Franson (Missions Mobilizer)
"I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel
it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth.”
- James O. Fraser (Missionary to China and Burma)
"Prayer needs no passport, visa or work permit. There is no such thing as a 'closed country'
as far as prayer is concerned...much of the history of mission could be written in terms of
God moving in response to persistent prayer."
- Stephan Gaukroger
“Go all out for God and God will go all out for you!”
– Jonathan Goforth (Missionary to China)
“When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship
captain tried to turn him back. 'You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you
go among such savages,’ he cried. To that, Calvert replied, 'We died before we came
here.'”
"All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!”
- Jonathan Goforth (Missionary to China)
"I have always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the wounded man
just because he wanted to."
– Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
“If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king.”
- Jordan Groom (also credited to G. K. Chesterson, Thomas Carlyle and Charles Haddon
Spurgeon)
“There is not an inch of any sphere of life over which Jesus Christ does not say,’Mine.’”
– Os Guiness (quoting Abraham Kuyper)
“People pursuing a God-given vision live with strategic intent. The vision virtually captures
them. They no longer dream about what could happen. They become convinced that
certain things must happen. They make choices as if each day held abiding value. They are
not driven by obligation. They live in the dignity and liberty of knowing they give their
utmost for God’s purposes.”
– Steve Hawthorne (Founder/Director of WayMakers and Perspectives Author)
“The only heroes who operate alone are figures of fiction. The true stories of
accomplishment and significance always unfold as stories of teamwork. In Christ, one’s life
fame and self-importance for God-granted greatness and blessing is by walking in
partnership with others.”
– Steve Hawthorne (Founder/Director of WayMakers and Perspectives Author)
“The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.”
- Carl F. H. Henry
"Must you go to China? How much nicer it would be to stay here and serve the Lord at
home! She made it plain at last that she would not go to China."
– J. Hudson Taylor’s new ex-girlfriend
“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have
no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4).
– Jesus Christ
“Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall
receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers,
and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark
10:29, 30).
– Jesus Christ
“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34, 35).
– Jesus Christ
“And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and
some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my
name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish” (Luke 21:16-18).
– Jesus Christ
"He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
- John the Baptist
“It is not enough to have a Christian presence in every place, but also to have followers of
Jesus in every people.”
– Patrick Johnstone (Director of Research at WEC International, Author of
Operation World and The Church is Bigger Than You Think)
"It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit."
- Clarence W. Jones
"The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something.”
- Clarence W. Jones
“The motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or school master ought to be
‘devoted for life’.”
– Adoniram Judson (Missionary to Burma, present-day Myanmar)
When Judson was lying loaded with chains in a Burmese dungeon, a fellow prisoner asked
with a sneer about the prospect for the conversion of the heathen. Judson calmly
answered, “The prospects are as bright as the promises of God.”
– Adoniram Judson (Missionary to Burma, present-day Myanmar)
“If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I
could not have survived my accumulated suffering.”
- Adoniram Judson (Missionary to Burma, present-day Myanmar)
“How do Christians discharge this trust committed to them? They let three-fourths of the
world sleep the sleep of death, ignorant of the simple truth that a Savior died for them.
Content if they can be useful in the little circle of their acquaintances, they quietly sit and
see whole nations perish for the lack of knowledge.”
– Adoniram Judson (Missionary to Burma, present-day Myanmar)
“The Bible is a missionary book throughout….The main line of argument that binds all of it
together is the unfolding and gradual execution of a missionary purpose.”
– Bruce Ker
“I believe that in each generation God has ‘called’ enough men and women to evangelize all
the yet unreached tribes of the earth….Everywhere I go, I constantly meet with men and
women who say to me, ‘When I was young, I wanted to be a missionary, but I got married
instead.’ Or, ‘My parents dissuaded me,’ or some such thing. No, it is not God who does
not call. It is man who will not respond!”
– Isobel Kuhn (Missionary to China and Thailand)
“Did you think that the missionary path was all glory? Then you have not read of God's
greatest Messenger to earth, who sat and wept over Jerusalem, crying out, ‘I would...but ye
would not.’”
- Isobel Kuhn (Missionary to China and Thailand)
“Obedience to God’s will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not
willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God’s will that brings certainty.”
– Eric Liddell (MK, Olympic Champion, and Missionary to China)
“Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans, but God is not helpless
among the ruins. Our broken lives are not lost or useless. God’s love is still working. He
comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of
love.”
– Eric Liddell (MK, Olympic Champion, and Missionary to China)
“Anywhere, provided it be forward.”
– David Livingstone (Pioneer Missionary Explorer to Africa)
“God had an only Son and He made Him a missionary.”
– David Livingstone (Pioneer Missionary Explorer to Africa)
“People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa….Away
with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say
rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a
foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and
cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these
are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us [Rom
8:18]. I never made a sacrifice.”
– David Livingstone (A stirring appeal to the students of Cambridge University made on
December 4, 1857 by David Livingstone, the great pioneer to Africa, in which he showed
what he had learned through years of experience – to deny himself a lesser good for a
greater good!)
“I will place no value on anything I possess or anything I may do, except in relation to the
Kingdom of Christ.”
– David Livingstone (Pioneer Missionary Explorer to Africa)
“If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a
Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”
- David Livingstone (Pioneer Missionary Explorer to Africa)
“Cannot the love of Christ carry the missionary where the slave trade carries the trader?”
- David Livingstone (Pioneer Missionary Explorer to Africa)
“As a hungry man makes dispatch and takes large morsels on account of his great hunger,
so Thy servant feels a great desire to die that he may glorify Thee. He hurries day and
night to complete his work in order that he may give up his blood and his tears to be shed
for Thee.”
– Raymond Lull (the first missionary to the Muslim world)
“Prayer, study, and suffering make a pastor.”
– Martin Luther
“Within six months, you will probably hear that one of us is dead. When the news comes,
do not be cast down; but send someone else immediately to take the vacant place.”
– Alexander MacKay (How prophetic his words were? Within three months, one of the
party of eight was dead; within a year five had died; and at the end of two years, MacKay
himself was the sole survivor. In the face of overwhelming odds he struggled on for twelve
years until he too was felled by the fever.)
“Give according to your income lest God make your income according to your giving.”
– Peter Marshall
“Now let me burn out for God.”
– Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely
missionary we become”'
- Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“I thought of all God’s people looking out after me with expectation, following me with their
wishes and prayers. I thought of the holy angels, some of whom, perhaps, were guarding
me on my way; and of God and Christ approving my course and mission. Who will go for
me? Here am I, send me.”
– Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“Even if I should never see a native converted, God may design by my patience and
continuance in the Word to encourage future missionaries.”
– Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more
intensely missionary we become.”
– Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“I am immortal until God’s work for me to do is done. The Lord reigns.”
– Henry Martyn (Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India)
“I want my breakfast served at eight, with ham and eggs upon my plate; a well-broiled
steak I'll eat at one, and dine again when day is done. I want an ultramodern home. And
in each room a telephone; soft carpets, too, upon the floors, and pretty drapes to grace the
doors. A cozy place of lovely things, like easy chairs with inner springs, and then I'll get a
small TV – Of course, ‘I'm careful’ what I see. I want my wardrobe, too, to be of neatest,
finest quality, with latest style in suit and vest: why should not Christians have the best?
But then the Master I can hear in no uncertain voice, so clear: ‘I bid you come and follow
Me, the lowly Man of Galilee. Birds of the air have made their nest, And foxes in their holes
find rest, but I can offer you no bed; no place have I to lay My head.’ In shame, I hung
my head and cried. How could I spurn the Crucified? Could I forget the way He went. The
sleepless nights in prayer He spent? For forty days without a bite, alone He fasted day and
night; despised, rejected – on He went, and did not stop till veil He rent. A man of sorrows
and of grief, no earthly friend to bring relief; ‘Smitten of God,’ the prophet said – ‘Mocked,
beaten, bruised, His blood ran red.’ If He be God, and died for me, no sacrifice too great
can be for me, a mortal man, to make; I'll do it all for Jesus' sake. yes, I will tread the path
He trod, no other way will please my God; so, henceforth, this my choice shall be, my
choice for all eternity.”
– William “Smiling Bill” McChesney (age 28; 5' 2"; 110 lb.; single missionary to the
Congo – he was shoved into a truck by Simba rebels in the Congo in 1964, stripped and
mercilessly beaten by soldiers while suffering from malaria, imprisoned in a small cell with
40 other prisoners, he was turned over to a rioting mob armed with clubs and fists who
struck him down, dead.)
“There are too many over-fed, under-motivated Christians hiding behind the excuse that
God has not spoken to them. They are waiting to hear voices or see dreams – all the while
living to make money, to provide for their future, to dress well and have fun.”
– Floyd McClung
“For me, passion means whatever a person is willing to suffer for….’Apostolic passion,’
therefore, is a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of Jesus in the nations.
It has to do with being committed to the point of death to spreading His glory. It’s the
quality of those who are on fire for Jesus, who dream of the whole earth being covered with
the Glory of the Lord.”
– Floyd McClung
“Too many people want the fruit of Paul’s ministry without paying the price that Paul paid.
He died. He died to everything. He died daily He was crucified with Christ…I challenge you
tp pray this prayer: ‘Lord, be ruthless with me in revealing my selfish ambition and my lack
of willingness to die to myself.’ I guarantee that He will answer your prayer – and quickly.”
– Floyd McClung
“Some may wonder what would happen if missions were accorded the primary place in our
church program as taught in the Scriptures. I will tell you what will happen….The power of
Christ will be released in such measure as we have never seen it in our land before, and far
and wide in our own land men will lay hold of our skirts and ask us to let them into our
secret. What Christ is waiting for is the day when men and women – many or few, rich or
poor, young or old – will hearken once more to His great command and will lay down their
lives at His feet in absolute and unreserved obedience. When that is done, the church at
home will enjoy a degree of prosperity she has never known.”
– Archibald McLean
"None but women can reach Muslim Women... So we have a solemn duty in this matter that
we cannot shift. The blood of souls is on our skirts, and God will demand them at our
hands."
– Missionary Wife from the Middle East
“Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to
no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved
mortals.”
- Robert Moffat (Pioneer Missionary and Linguist to Africa)
“I had utterly abandoned myself to Him. Could any choice be as wonderful as His will?
“In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a
thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.”
- Robert Moffat (Pioneer Missionary and Linguist to Africa)
“Never think that Jesus commanded a trifle, and do not dare to trifle with anything He has
commanded.”
– Dwight L. Moody
“In Proverbs we read: ‘He that winneth souls is wise.’ If any man, women, or child by a
godly life and example can win one soul to God, his life will not have been a failure. He will
have outshone all the mighty men of his day, because he will have set a stream in motion
that will flow on and on forever and ever.”
- Dwight L. Moody
“As I wander from village to village, I feel it is no idle fancy that the Master walks beside me
and I hear His voice saying gently, ‘I am with you always, even until the end.’”
– Lottie Moon (Missionary to China)
“Surely there can be no greater joy than that of saving souls.”
– Lottie Moon (Missionary to China)
"The man…looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, ‘Now
Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the
Chinese Empire?’ ‘No sir,’ said Morrison, ‘but I expect that God will.’”
- Robert Morrison (Missionary, Linguist, and Bible Translator to China)
“In view of the constraining memories of the cross of Christ and the love wherewith He hath
loved us, let us rise and resolve, at whatever cost of self-denial, that live or die, we shall
live or die for the evangelization of the world in our day.”
– John Mott (Missionary Statesman, chairman of the Student Volunteer Movement)
“It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to
exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in
the most prominent positions.”
- John R. Mott
“Do not bring us the Gospel as a potted plant. Bring us the seed of the Gospel and plant it
in our soil.”
– Mr. Murthis (Indian Evangelist)
“People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries.
They forget that they too are expending their lives...and when the bubble has burst they will
have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”
- Nate Saint (martyred missionary to Ecuador, South America)
“We realize that it is not the call of the needy thousands. Rather it is the simple intimation
of the prophetic word that there shall be some from every tribe in His presence in the last
day and in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in
making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ.”
– Nate Saint (martyred Missionary to the Auca Indians)
“I would rather die now than to live a life of oblivious ease in so sick a world.”
– Nate Saint (martyred Missionary to the Auca Indians)
“In America, the most important thing is that people have freedom. In restricted countries,
the most important thing is what people do with freedom.”
– George Otis
“Jesus will judge us not only for what we did, but also for what we could have done and
didn’t.”
– George Otis
“Far away is far away only if you don’t go there.”
– George Otis
“Is our failure to thrive in Muslim countries the absence of martyrs? Can a covert church
grow in strength? Does a young church need martyr models?”
– George Otis
“God almost never calls His people to a fair fight.”
– George Otis
“The modern habit throughout the Christian church is to play this subject down. Those who
still believe in the wrath of God (not all do) say little about it; perhaps they do not think
much about it. To an age which has unashamedly sold itself to the gods of greed, pride,
sex, and self-will, the church mumbles on about God’s kindness, but says virtually nothing
about His judgment…The fact is that the subject of divine wrath has become taboo in
modern society, and Christians by and large have accepted the taboo and conditioned
themselves never to raise the subject.”
– J.I. Packer
“Among many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose
crowning argument always was, ‘The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!’ At last I
replied, ‘Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be
laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die
serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten
by cannibals or by worms.’”
- John G. Paton (Missionary to the New Hebrides Islands – present-day Vanuatu)
“At the moment when I put the bread and the cup into those dark hands, once stained with
the blood of cannibalism, but now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and
seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my
heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus
Himself.”
- John G. Paton (Missionary to the New Hebrides Islands – present-day Vanuatu)
“No local church can afford to go without the encouragement and nourishment that will
come to it by sending away its best people.”
– David Penman
“Missions properly rooted in Christ and motivated by the Holy Spirit ceases to be a
burdensome duty of the church. It becomes rather the outflow of the life of the church. It
is lifted from a legalistic spirit of duty to the fruit of the Spirit generated from a life
relationship to Christ.”
– George W. Peters (Mennonite Missiologist)
“A church that does not recognize the primacy of missions deprives herself of the most
intimate relationship with her Lord, fails to identify herself with the primary purpose of God,
robs her membership of the deepest experiences of the Holy Spirit, and denies the world the
greatest blessings the Lord in grace has provided. She ceases to be truly Christian.”
– George W. Peters (Mennonite Missiologist)
“The primacy of missions is written in large letters across the pages of the whole Bible. All
the apostles gave themselves to missions, and only the sword could cut short their path to
the uttermost part of the earth.”
– George W. Peters (Mennonite Missiologist)
“No church can divorce herself from missions and retain her true New Testament character
and ‘apostolic succession’ or relegate missions to a secondary place and retain her spiritual
vitality.”
– George W. Peters (Mennonite Missiologist)
“God is a God of missions. He wills missions. He commands missions. He demands
missions. He made missions possible through His Son. He made missions actual in sending
the Holy Spirit. Biblical Christianity and missions are organically interrelated.”
– George W. Peters (Mennonite Missiologist)
“Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”
– Bob Pierce
“Facts are the fingers of God.”
– A.T. Pierson (co-founder of the SVM and AIM)
“Behind the shameful apathy and lethargy of the church, that allows one thousand
million…human beings to go to their graves in ignorance of the Gospel, there lies a practical
doubt, if not denial, of their lost condition.”
– A.T. Pierson (co-founder of the SVM and AIM)
“No one will be able to rise to the magnificence of the missionary cause who does not feel
the magnificence of Christ. There will be no big world vision without a big God. There will
be no passion to draw others into our worship where there is no passion for worship.”
– John Piper
“Missions is not a recruitment project for God’s labor force. It is a liberation project from
the heavy burdens and hard yokes of other gods.”
– John Piper
“Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak.”
– John Piper
“When people are not stunned by the greatness of God, how can they be sent with the
ringing message, ‘Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all
gods!’?”
– John Piper
“God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful
worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an
inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore let
us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the
quest for worldly comforts, and join His global purpose.”
– John Piper
“Lord, make me free from fear and greed, to be like Jesus.”
– John Piper
“God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought
to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed
millions.”
– John Piper
“When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions
will shine to the darkest peoples on earth.”
– John Piper
“For eighty-six years, I have been His servant; and He has never done me wrong: How can
I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
– Polycarp, before his martyrdom
“There are no closed countries if you do not expect to come back.”
- Larry Poston
"Jehovah Witnesses don't believe in hell and neither do most Christians."
– Leonard Ravenhill
“Let us press on. All Africa must be won for Christ. Though a thousand missionaries die,
send more.”
– Missionary Andreas Riis (Missionary to Africa)
“It is conceivable that God might have ordained to preach the Gospel directly to man
through dreams, visions and revelations. But as a matter of fact, He has not done this; but
rather has committed the preaching to man, telling them to go and disciple all nations. The
responsibility lies squarely on our shoulders.”
– J. Oswald Sanders (Director of the OMF, formerly the China Inland Mission)
“If this indeed is the present condition and future prospect of the heathen – and Scripture
seems to offer no alternative – and if the church of Christ has in her charge the message
which alone can transform these tragic ‘withouts’ into the possession of ‘the unsearchable
riches of Christ,’ then how urgent is the missionary enterprise. And how great the tragedy if
we fail to proclaim it.”
– J. Oswald Sanders (Director of the OMF, formerly the China Inland Mission)
“It is to be kept in mind that the generations of men do not wait for the convenience of the
church in respect to their evangelization. Men are born and die whether or not Christians
are ready to give them the Gospel. And hence, if the church of any generation does not
evangelize the heathen of that generation, those heathen will never be evangelized at all.
It is always true in the work of evangelization that the present can never anticipate the
future, and that the future can never replace the past. What is to be done in soul saving
must be done by that generation.”
– J. Oswald Sanders (Director of the OMF, formerly the China Inland Mission)
“The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed – in body, gifts, prayer and influence.
He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of
Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland.”
- Robert Savage
“Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest
a ripe crop.”
- Kurt von Schleicher
“Not for Us Only!” (based on 1 John 2:2, "...and not for ours only but also for the sins of the
whole world.")
– David Shibley
“Christ’s presence has turned my prison into a blessed heaven. What then will His presence
do for me in heaven hereafter?”
– Sadhu Sundar Singh (from prison)
“Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has
forfeited its biblical right to exist.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“You must go or send a substitute.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“If God wills the evangelization of the world, and you refuse to support missions, then you
are opposed to the will of God.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“The church that does not evangelize will fossilize.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice before everyone has heard it once.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“The supreme task of the Church is the evangelization of the world.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“You can’t beat God giving.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“God will be no man’s debtor.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
“I have seen the Vision and for self I cannot live; Life is less than worthless till my all I
give.”
– Oswald J. Smith (Missionary Statesman and Pastor of the People’s Church,
Toronto, Canada)
"We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first."
– Oswald J. Smith
“But I have given myself up, and I have put myself in the hands of God; and I am resolved
to trust in Him as long as I live; I never mean to stop.”
– Amanda Berry Smith
After wrestling with deep doubts about going to the mission field, Amanda Smith said,
“But…to stay here and disobey God – I can’t afford to take the consequence; I would rather
go and obey God than to stay here and know that I disobeyed.”
– Amanda Berry Smith
"Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes.”
- Robert E. Speer (Missionary Statesman/Administrator)
“There is nothing in the world or the Church – except the church's disobedience – to render
the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility.”
- Robert Speer (Missionary Statesman/Administrator)
Jim Elliot, 1927-1956, Honor student, All-star athlete, Martyred missionary, Poor Jim. He
could have been a success!
“That the Lamb who was slain would receive the reward of His suffering.” (the missionary
motivation of the Moravians)
“The evangelization of the world in this generation is not play-word. It is no motto to be
bandied about carelessly. The evangelization of the world in this generation is the
summons of Jesus Christ to every one of the disciples to lay himself upon a cross, himself to
walk in the footsteps of Him who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we
through His poverty might be rich, himself to count his life as of no account, that he may
spend it as Christ spent His for the redemption of the world.”
– Robert E. Speer (Missionary Statesman/Administrator)
“Men are in this plight, not because they are unevangelized, but because they are men. Sin
is the destroyer of the soul and the destruction of the knowledge of God which is life. And it
is not the failure to have heard the Gospel which makes men sinners. The Gospel would
save them if they heard it and accepted it, but it is not the ignorance or rejection of the
Gospel which destroys them, it is the knowledge of sin.”
– Robert E. Speer (Missionary Statesman/Administrator)
"Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be
saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to
give it to those who have not, can be saved.'"
– C.H. Spurgeon
“You have a factor here that is absolutely infinite, and what does it matter as to what other
factors may be. ‘I will do as much as I can,’ says one. Any fool can do that. He that
believes in Christ does what he can not do, attempts the impossible and performs it.”
– Charles H. Spurgeon (preaching from the text, “All power is given unto me…go
ye therefore…and Lo, I am with you always”)
“He loves You too little who loves anything together with You, which he loves not for Your
sake.”
– St. Augustine
“To accept Christ is to enlist under a missionary banner. It is quite impossible to be ‘in
Christ’ and not participate in Christ’s mission in the world.”
– Dr. James S. Stewart
“The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man’s personal
Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses; it is rooted indefeasibly in the
character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus it can never be the province
of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way.
It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian.”
– Dr. James S. Stewart
“We should not ask, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ for that diagnosis has already been
given. Rather, we should ask, ‘What has happened to the salt and light?’”
- John R. W. Stott
"Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”
- C.T. Studd (Missionary to China, India, and Africa)
“Send us people with initiative, who can carry themselves and others too; such as need to
be carried hamper the work and weaken those who should be spending their strength for
the heathen. Weaklings should be nursed at home! If any have jealousy, pride, or
talebearing traits lurking about them, do not send them, nor any who are prone to criticize.
Send only Pauls and Timothys; men who are full of zeal, holiness and power. All others are
hindrances. If you send us ten such men the work will be done. Quantity is nothing;
quality is what matters.
‘FORWARD EVER; BACKWARD, NEVER!’”
– C.T. Studd (Missionary to China, India, and Africa)
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make
for Him.”
- C. T. Studd (Missionary to China, India, and Africa)
“It seems to me personally that our failure to have as complete and perfect an
understanding of ‘fairness’ as God does, stems from two things. First, we do not have all
the facts. Trying to decide if what He does in a given situation is fair or not, is like coming
into a room half way through an argument. Not having all the background information, we
are in no real position to cast a verdict. And we won’t have all the information until the
Judgment Day, when we’ll be able to see things in the light of an eternal perspective. The
second reason…is our own failure to appreciate the seriousness and hideousness of sin. I
know that it seldom really strikes me that God owes this utterly rebellious and ungrateful
planet absolutely nothing. In fact, that is an understatement. Actually He does owe us
something – hell.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada
“Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we
must have men there; Christ so real that our supreme motive and aim shall be to make the
Man of Sorrows, the Man of Joy by the conversion to Him of many.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
“Satan will always find you something to do when you ought to be occupied about that
(prayer and Bible study), if it is only arranging a window blind.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be
slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider
it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man
according to his works?”
– James Hudson Taylor (This verse was quoted by Hudson Taylor in the recruiting of
workers in the early days of the China Inland Mission. Today millions of people in
thousands of unreached people groups continue to be "drawn unto death" by the evil one.
How will we respond? Will we pretend ignorance when we met Jesus face-to-face? Or,
recognizing that He knows our hearts and guards our lives from destruction, will we seek to
rescue unreached peoples from a Christless eternity?)
“It is not by trying to be faithful, but in looking to the Faithful One, that we win the victory.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“I would never have thought of going out to China had I not believed that the Chinese were
lost and needed Christ.”
– James Hudson Taylor (...Similar convictions were shared by Carey, Judson
, Livingstone,
Martyn, Brainerd, and many others. Indeed, the singular success which attended their
missionary careers can only be interpreted in the light of their belief in the lost condition of
the heathen, and the compulsion that was laid upon them to put forth their best efforts to
take the Gospel to lost and dying men. Were they mistaken in their belief? Did they misread
the Scriptures? Has further evidence been adduced to disprove their convictions?)
“God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before
you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the Gospel to every creature,
you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we
must have men there, Christ so real that our supreme motive and aim shall be to make the
Man of Sorrows the Man of Joy by the conversion to him of many.”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him.”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“We did not come to China because missionary work here was either safe or easy, but
because He has called us. We did not enter upon our present positions under a guarantee
of human protection, but relying on the promise of His presence. The accidents of ease or
difficulty, of apparent safety or danger, of man's approval or disapproval, in no wise affect
our duty. Should circumstances arise involving us in what may seem special danger, we
shall have grace, I trust, to manifest the depth and reality of our confidence in Him, and by
faithfulness to our charge to prove that we are followers of the Good Shepherd who did not
flee from death itself...”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.”
- James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland
Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship – OMF)
“There is a living God. He has spoken His word. He means just what He says, and will do
all that He has promised.”
– Missionary James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
“Few books on the subject of China missions were accessible to me. I learned, however,
that the Congregational minister of my native town possessed a copy of Medhurt’s China,
and I called upon him to ask a loan of the book. This he kindly granted, asking me why I
wished to read it. I told him that god had called me to spend my life in missionary service
in that land. “And how do you propose to go there?’ he inquired. I answered that I did not
at all know; that it seemed to me probable that I should need to do as the Twelve and the
Seventy had done in Judea – go without purse or scrip, relying on Him who had called me to
supply all my need. Kindly placing his hand upon my shoulder, the minister replied, ‘Ah, my
body, as grown older you will get wiser than that. Such an idea would do very well in the
days when Christ Himself was on earth, but not now.” I have grown older since then, but
not wiser. I am more than ever convinced that if we were to take the direction of our
Master and the assurances He gave to His first disciples more fully as our guide, we should
find them to be just as suited to our times as to those in which they were originally given.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
“We are manning our stations with ladies.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
“I feel that I cannot go on living unless I do something for China.”
– spoken by the teenager, James Hudson Taylor
“Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of hearts of those we
are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts, and our own feeble apprehension of
the solemn reality of eternal things, may be the true cause of our want of success.”
– James Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China, founder of the CIM)
"Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8)
- The Prophet Isaiah
“If your God is so smart, why can’t he speak our language?”
– (a Guatemalan Indian’s question to Missionary William Cameron Townsend)
"The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is
never considered a foreigner."
- William Cameron Townsend (co-founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators – WBT, and
Summer Institute of Linguistics – SIL)
"Christians don't tell lies; they just go to church and sing them."
– A. W. Tozer
"To me, it has always been difficult to understand those evangelical Christians who insist
upon living in the crisis as if no crisis existed. They say they serve the Lord, but they divide
their days so as to leave plenty of time to play and loaf and enjoy the pleasures of this
world as well. They are at ease while the world burns; and they can furnish many
convincing reasons for their conduct, even quoting Scripture if you press them a bit. I
wonder whether such Christians actually believe in the Fall of Man."
– A.W. Tozer
“Most Christians would rather be happy than feel the wounds of other peoples’ sorrows.”
– A.W. Tozer
“We commonly represent God as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about
seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world…Too
many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. Don’t get
interested in missions out of some delusion that God is in trouble. He is still the Creator of
the ends of the earth, the great Redeemer, the Almighty.”
– A.W. Tozer
“God entered into history by sending His Incarnate Son as a suffering slave who would end
His own earthly life enduring torture and martyrdom. In this event, God revealed to us that
suffering and self sacrifice are His specific methods for tackling the problems of rebellion, of
evil, and of the sin of mankind. Self-sacrifice is the only method consistent with His own
nature.”
– Josef Tson (President of the Romanian Missionary Society)
“When the ambassador of Christ speaks the truth in love, and meets death with joy, a
strange, miracle occurs: the eyes of unbelievers are opened, they are enabled to see the
truth of God. Many, many groups of people on this planet have testified that the darkness
which had been over them was dissipated only when a missionary was killed there….The
death of the martyrs opens the eyes of unbelievers, and when they see the light, Satan’s
power over them is gone…..When the martyrs meet their death without fear, Satan’s last
instrument is rendered powerless, and he is crushed and defeated.”
– Josef Tson (President of the Romanian Missionary Society)
“Missions is not the ‘ministry of choice’ for a few hyperactive Christians in the church.
Missions is the purpose of the church.”
– Unknown
“The true greatness of any church in not how many it seats but how many its sends!”
– Unknown
“What unique role has God called your local church to play in helping to fulfill the Great
Commission?”
– Unknown
“Man's extremities are God's opportunities!”
– Unknown
“No credit, no glory!”
– Unknown
“85% of all missionaries surrender between the ages of 10-16.”
– Unknown
“If you don't do Acts 1:8; then you'll get Acts 8:1.”
– Unknown
“Does it really matter how many die or how much money we spend in opening closed doors
if we really believe that missions are warfare and that the King’s glory is at stake?”
– Unknown
“Statistics say that 40% of all missionaries returning home from the field on furlough are in
need of some type of counseling.”
– Unknown
“If your church wouldn’t miss them, we probably don’t want them!”
– Unknown
“This generation can only reach this generation.”
– Unknown
“The mission of the Church is missions.”
– Unknown
“Only as the Church fulfils her missionary obligation does she justify her existence.”
– Unknown
“The light that shines farthest shines brightest nearest home.”
– Unknown
“We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.”
– Unknown
“Not how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep
for myself?”
– Unknown
“Untold millions are still untold.”
– Unknown
“Sympathy is no substitute for action.”
– Unknown
“Christ alone can save the world, but Christ cannot (will not) save the world alone.”
– Unknown
“The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet.”
– Unknown
“If we have not enough in our religion to drive us to share it with all the world, it is doomed
here at home.”
– Unknown
“Do we pray, ‘Thy Kingdom come,’ but never say, ‘Here am I, Lord, send me’?”
– Unknown
“The first work of the whole Church is to give the Gospel to the whole world.”
– Unknown
“The purpose of the church is to bring God glory through the worldwide proclamation,
reception and worship of His Son.”
– Unknown
“This is not only our best shot at the global harvest; it's our only shot. When it comes to
your target and the direction of your life's influence, aim well.”
– Unknown
“Missions is the automatic outflow and overflow of love for Christ!”
– Unknown
“We have eternity to tell of victories won for Christ, but we have only a few hours before
sunset to win them.”
– Unknown
“The church can vote on it purpose statement; but it cannot vote on its purpose.”
– Unknown
“The average pastor views his church as a local church with a missions program; while he
ought to realize that if he is in fact pastoring a church, it is to be a global church with a
missions purpose.”
– Unknown
“At present the life of many congregations is sterilized by its self-centered character. The
worldwide duty of the congregation is relegated to a secondary place and the congregation
is proportionately non-efficient for the chief purpose of the church. What is needed is that
all its endeavors should be so ordered as to sub-serve and culminate in worldwide service.”
– Unknown
“A missionary is one who never gets used to the sound of heathen footsteps on their way to
a Christless eternity.”
- Unknown
“The reason some folks don't believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn't
worth propagating.”
- Unknown
“If the future is to be different, the present must be disturbed!”
– Unknown
“What I can no longer do with energy, I do with urgency.”
– Unknown
“There is no painless way to follow Christ.”
– Unknown
“Our eyes must be on the entire world, but never off the individual.”
– Unknown
“Christ is either all sufficient, or He is not sufficient at all.”
– Unknown
“Don't look at your devotional life as something to do, but rather someone to be with.”
– Unknown
“If miracles are not required to maintain your work for Christ, you are not doing enough.”
– Unknown
“A sacrifice isn't a sacrifice unless It’s a sacrifice.”
– Unknown
“The lion that is after you is no match for the Lion within you.”
– Unknown
“Take down your mirrors and put up windows.”
– Unknown
“God does not want men who are distinguished, but men whom the world cannot
extinguish.”
– Unknown
“Start something so big, that only God can finish it.”
– Unknown
“God will give you to give what He will never give you to keep.”
– Unknown
“Get out on a limb. That is where the fruit is.”
– Unknown
“Safety does not necessitate the absence of danger, but rather the presence of Christ.”
– Unknown
“The one who glorifies God in death is the one who glorified God in life.”
– Unknown
“Only as the church pursues her missionary responsibility does she justify her existence.”
– Unknown
“Your Christian life is no stronger than the time you spent with God this morning.”
– Unknown
“Sometimes the door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.”
– Unknown
“God already owns your money whether you give it or whether He takes it. He just wants
your heart. ”
– Unknown
“Make a Life, not a Living!”
– Unknown
“Don’t let people ‘lay hands’ on themselves.”
– Unknown
[Poor Jim. He could have been a success.]
“As the pulpit goes, so goes the church.”
– Unknown
“We have a need for 200,000 new missionaries for a new millennium so that everyone in
the world should receive the Gospel and that a church should be planted in every people
group.”
– George Verwer (founder of Operation Mobilization)
"True courage comes through the Holy Spirit. When the Jewish Council in Acts 4 noticed
that Peter and John were uneducated and untrained, the members of the Council marveled
and knew the men had been with Jesus. They recognized Christ's power. Many in today's
persecuted church do not have access to seminaries or the great expanse of Christian
literature and training materials that believers in the West have. They have very little
knowledge, some only as much as John 3:16. They know Christ died for their sins, and that
is enough to launch them into a full time ministry of evangelizing the lost in their country.
Many are willing to be persecuted and maybe even die for that ‘one inch’ of knowledge."
– VOM Missionary
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and
I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of
hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. . . God does nothing but in answer to
prayer.”
-John Wesley
“Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly
satisfy the life of Christ within His followers except the adoption of Christ's purpose toward
the world He came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in
contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of His
eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are getting out
of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.”
– J. Campbell White (the secretary of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, 1909)
“They are a body who have perhaps excelled all mankind in solid and unequivocal proofs of
the love of Christ and ardent, active zeal in His service. It is a zeal tempered with
prudence, softened with meekness and supported by a courage which no danger can
intimidate and a quiet certainty no hardship can exhaust.”
– William Wilberforce (great evangelical English social reformer, writing
concerning the Moravians)
“What God will do is always more than what He has given us to do. He has given us a clear
and simple thing to finish: to see that Christ is worshipped and followed in every people.
This is the essential missionary task. This task we must do with utmost focus and passion
until it is finished.” Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for
World Mission)
“Nothing that does not occur daily will ever dominate your life.”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“You don't lose if you go with God. But you have to be willing to lose or you can't stick close
to God.”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“Never concede to doing something so small that it could be accomplished entirely in your
lifetime. Be a part of something that began before you were born, and will continue onward
toward the fulfillment of all that God has purposed to accomplish.”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“Anyone who can help 100 missionaries to the field is more important than one missionary
on the field [unless you are one of the missionaries who go in the will of God].”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“A person must overeat by at least two dollars worth of food per month to maintain one
excess pound of flesh. Yet two dollars per month is more than what 90% of all Christians in
America give to missions. If the average mission supporter is only five pounds overweight, it
means he spends (to his own hurt) at least five times as much as he gives for missions. If
he were to choose simple food (as well as not overeat), he could give ten times as much as
he does to missions and not modify his standard of living in any other way!”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“If we in the West insist on keeping our blessing instead of sharing it, then we will, like
other nations before us, have to lose our blessing for the nations to receive it.”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“Evangelism is a church growing where it is: Missions is a church growing where it isn’t.”
– Ralph Winter (Founder/Director of the United States Center for World Mission)
“Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us.”
- Keith Wright
“380 million people still do not have the first verse of Scripture.”
– (Wycliffe Bible Translators - WBT)
“Yet more, O my God, more toil, more agony, more suffering for Thee.”
– Francis Xavier (Pioneer Spanish Jesuit Missionary to Asia)
"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the Gospel
of Christ."
– Francis Xavier (Pioneer Spanish Jesuit Missionary to Asia)
“GLOBAL GOD…
This expression more than any other reveals the living God of the Bible to be a missionary
God. This expression condemns:
all our petty parochialism
our narrow nationalism
our racial pride
our condescending paternalism
all our arrogant imperialism
How dare we adopt a hostile or scornful or even indifferent attitude to any person of
another color or culture if our God is the God of "all families of the earth?" We need to
become global Christians with a global vision, for we have a global God!” (Gen 12:3 "All
families of the earth")
– K.P. Yohannan (Missions Mobilizer and founder of Gospel for Asia)
"A tiny group of believers who have the Gospel keep mumbling it over and over to
themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of
eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story.”
- K.P. Yohannan
"I feel now, that Arabia could easily be evangelized within the next thirty years if it were not
for the wicked selfishness of Christians."
– Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
"The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. From Pentecost to the Haystack
meeting in New England and from the days when Robert Morrison landed in China to the
martyrdom of John and Betty Stam, prayer has been the source of power and the secret of
spiritual triumph."
– Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
“The challenge of the unoccupied fields of the world is one to great faith and, therefore, to
great sacrifice. Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our
faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into
actuality….The unoccupied fields of the world must have their Calvary before they can have
their Pentecost.”
– Missionary Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
“There are eyes that have never been illumined by a great vision, minds that have never
been gripped by an unselfish thought, hearts that have never thrilled with passion for
another’s wrong, and hands that have never grown weary or strong in lifting a great
burden. To such the knowledge of these Christless millions in lands yet unoccupied should
come like a new call from Macedonia, and a startling vision of God’s will for them.”
– Missionary Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
“The history of missions is the history of answered prayer….It is the key to the whole
mission problem. All human means are secondary.”
– Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
“The pioneer missionary, in overcoming obstacles and difficulties, has the privilege not only
of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, but also something of the fellowship of
His suffering.”
– Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
In 1897, Samuel Zwemer and his wife and two daughters sailed to the Persian Gulf to work
among the Muslims of Bahrain Their evangelism was largely fruitless. In July 1904, both
the daughters, ages four and seven, died within eight days of each other. Nevertheless,
fifty years later Zwemer looked back on this period and wrote, “The sheer joy of it all comes
back. Gladly would I do it all over again.”
– Samuel Zwemer (Missionary to the Muslims of Saudi Arabia)
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