David Joannes: The Mind of a Missionary

David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today (Prescott, AZ: Within Reach Global, 2018), 312 pages, ISBN 9780998061153.

David Joannes has a burden for unreached people groups. For approximately twenty years now he has ministered in Asia bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard it. The Mind of a Missionary is his second and most recent book. In addition to his writing and missionary work, he is also the co-founder and president of Within Reach Global, a ministry which serves to spread the gospel in Southeast Asia.

The main body of the book is divided into four sections, each section comprised of three chapters. Section One is called “Motivations,” Section Two is “Expectations,” Section Three is “Risks,” and Section Four is “Rewards.” Some of the topics of these sections are internal matters and some are external, but they are all issues that missionaries have to grapple with. As the author explores each of these areas he discusses the ministries of real missionaries. A number of the missionaries he writes about are now dead but some are still alive. The missionaries whose stories provide the basis for each chapter are: Jim Elliot (and his team), C. T. Studd (the Cambridge Seven), Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, Robert Moffat, Jackie Pullinger, David Eubank, Nik and Ruth Ripken, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Don Richardson, and Heidi Baker. If you are familiar with past missions history many of these names will be familiar to you. A few in this list are still actively involved in ministry.

However, this book is not a compilation of missionary biographies. Some of the experiences of the individuals mentioned above are highlighted in the book in order to shed some light on the motivations, expectations, risks, and rewards of missionary service. But there is more in the book as well. In addition to the missionaries already mentioned Joannes shares some of his own experiences and those of other people in missionary work. It is encouraging to learn about some of the things that are happening around the world through people and ministries whose names are not widely known.

The book is well balanced, while progress has been made in missions, as the ministries of the people mentioned in this book demonstrates, Joannes does not paint a completely rosy picture of missionary work. There are still unreached people groups in the world and missionaries face significant difficulties. You will learn about the challenges and painful experiences that missionaries deal with. You will also hear about the great attrition rate in the missionary force; many missionaries return home from the field. The reasons for their return are varied but the author points out that some of these issues could have been taken care of so that they did not feel the need to return home. One message that comes through in regard to this is that the church needs to care about the missionary as well as missions.

I particularly enjoyed reading about how some of the well-known missionaries mentioned in the book had points where their lives crossed. For example, David Livingstone heard Robert Moffat speak. This had a profound impact on Livingstone as he heard Moffat speak about “The smoke of a thousand villages” in Africa, referring to the many unsaved who lived there. Livingstone is known today for his work in Africa. Amy Carmichael was also impacted by Hudson Taylor when she heard him speak.

There are also some notable quotes in the book. The author mentions the famous quote of Jim Elliot “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” And, citing other sources, he mentions Hudson Taylor’s famous saying “I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God, first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done” and a lesser known Taylor quote “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His [power and presence with them].” Another lesser known quote comes from missionary James Calvert. When he was about to leave ship he was warned by the captain of the ship that he and his co-workers would die trying to evangelize cannibals in the Fiji Islands. He replied, “We died before we came here.”

The contents of this book can inform, inspire, and convict. The Mind of a Missionary will challenge how you think about missions. While the author highly values cross-cultural missions, he recognizes that not all believers go into cross-cultural missions: some remain in their home land. Everyone has their part to play. Whether you are a missionary, one who is considering going into cross-cultural missions, or someone who is interested in the subject of missions there is something in this volume for you.

Reviewed by John P. Lathrop

 

Companion website: https://www.themindofamissionary.com/