Discipleship by Biography

I’d like to look at a rather niche aspect of discipleship that I’ve been reflecting on over the last few weeks. It’s in the context of the huge drop off in people going into full time ministry in recent years. In the Church of England young people going into training has declined by almost a half in the five years from 2019. It appears that numbers have dropped across other denominations too and those offering themselves for overseas missionary service is also much lower. No doubt there are many different reasons for this but I was wondering: Where are the modern impetuses for people to forsake all to serve the Lord, whether in secular or full time ministry?

Having recently returned from the Keswick I was intrigued to read of the last session of the 1930 Keswick convention when the Chairman first asked for parents who were willing for their children to go to ‘the foreign field’ if the Lord asked for them, to stand up. All over the tent parents stood up - ‘in some cases their faces clearly indicating the struggle that had been going on’. Then when the young people were appealed to give their lives to the Lord’s service ‘between 400 & 450 almost sprang to their feet in response’.

I’ve recently been looking at the life of a young man called Harry who went overseas shortly after that Keswick conference & who eventually spent 60 years as a missionary in South America. Working both with indigenous tribes on the edge of the Gran Chaco & then seeing a burgeoning church planting movement start in a nearby city. One of the key things that inspired him for mission (and there were others too) was reading a missionary biography (this is where the niche bit comes in!)

This young man who came from a non-conforming church background in the Midlands, spent seven years from the age of 14 working in a furniture factory before responding to the gospel. It appears that his minister and wife regularly had young folk round for Sunday afternoon tea and one day Mrs Channon said ‘Harry, I have just read a book about a young man very much like you. I’ll lend it to you, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

The book was called Fenton Hall: Flying Officer, Pioneer & Hero and was reprinted over a dozen times by the end of WW2. Fenton Hall was portrayed very much as a Victorian all action hero who left everything to go and serve the Lord in the Amazon rainforest in order to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to unreached Indian tribes. He died of illness within six months of arriving in Brazil and became a instant missionary martyr! We could say he was the Jim Elliott of his time. Hall’s story was written up using his letters and journal in the same way that Jonathan Edwards wrote up David Brainerd’s life, using his papers, which started the modern genre of missionary biographies.

Fenton Hall’s book was compiled by Norman Grubb who was C.T. Studd’s son-in-law and successor as leader of WEC (his first job was to sort out the mess that Studd had left it in - all human heros have feet of clay). It is of little surprise that Fenton Hall was hugely influenced in his turn by a short account of C.T. Studd, the most famous of the Cambridge seven; those promising young Cambridge graduates who had given up earthly fame and fortune to go to the ends of the earth to share the name of Jesus Christ.

Now we might scoff at these old-fashioned type of missionary hagiographies; these advocates of muscular Christianity. We could therefore write them off as part of an imperialist colonial drive to take commerce, Christianity and civilisation to the pagan uncivilised world. We might criticise their supreme confidence that appears at first sight to be based more on a feeling of British superiority than Holy Spirit sensibilities.

However, I think that there is some biblical justification for encouraging us to look at the examples of other Christian believers and ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ himself, in order to help us grow spiritually. We are often uncomfortable with Paul’s language when he urges his readers to follow his example (1 Co 11) even when it is immediately qualified by ‘as I follow the example of Christ’. But use it he does.

He’s always ‘bigging up’ other Christian workers too. If you look just at Romans 16 Phoebe is commended for her generosity (1), Priscilla & Aquila for their risk taking (3), Mary, Persia, Tryphena & Tryphose for their hardworking nature (6, 12), Andronius & Junia for their outstanding apostleship (going to share the gospel with others), Apelles for his faithfulness to Christ (10) and Gaius for his hospitality (23). And then there is Hebrews 11.

I was nurtured, discipled and challenged in my faith by many people - youth leaders, fellow Christian students and missionary mentors. By sound camps, inspiring conferences and loving churches. But I don’t want to under-estimate the impact of the amazing spiritual biographies that I devoured and which made me think that perhaps God could use even little ol’ me in his service.

There were the classics such as Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets, Mountain Rain about James O’Fraser and of course The Cambridge Seven. Then they were the more recent ones (and these date me!) Run Baby Run, The Cross and the Switchblade (and I even heard Nicky Cruz in person speaking at a local church as a teenager), Chasing the Dragon and inevitably Through the Gates of Splendour.

Of course now there are other voices and other great stories - folk not going from the West to the Rest but From Everywhere to Everywhere. I recently loved Out of the Black Shadows - so inspiring. They are all books that encourage folk to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Not to be too enamoured with the world but to seek the kingdom of God. To endure suffering and even martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. To put in practice God’s great commission.

Do you have a Christian biography that has encouraged you that you can pass on to some else? Perhaps they might be inspired to serve God here or overseas for the next six decades!

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Revd Daniel Kirk is vicar of St Michael's Gidea Park. He is a trustee for Cuba for Christ and served as a SAMS/CMS missionary in South America for 14 years.

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