“In this little volume Dr. Hammond documents the world-changing impact of a handful of Christian missionaries during the last half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century.
“These brave individuals overcame severe criticism and crippling societal indifference to reach out to nations that were rife with disease, barbarism, cannibalism and slavery. They endured tremendous persecution, heartache and death, all in the cause of bringing them the Christian gospel.
“It is easy to forget just how brutal life was for most people on earth just 150 years ago. When John Paton went to New Hebrides, for example, it was common practice for a man to kill his best wife and serve her as the main course at a feast! Infanticide and other unspeakable evils were the norm.
“I suppose today these missionaries would be criticized for “imposing their morality” on others. But there is no disputing the fact that their civilizing influence has brought liberty, peace, health, prosperity and spiritual well-being to hundreds of millions, even billions, of people.
“These missionary pioneers, people such as William Carey, David Livingstone, Mary Slessor, Hudson Taylor, John Paton and others, were leaders in the finest sense of the word. They had a vision of what they wanted to accomplish, they created change, and they inspired others to create change as well.”
— Dr Jeff Myers, Bryan College, Director of the Understanding the Times curriculum (now used in more than 20,000 schools worldwide)
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