Mission work is complicated

I’m confident many of you have extensive histories with mission work. I certainly do—once a full-time missionary for a college ministry, I participated in or led short-term mission trips to four of the other six continents. At the time, I approached the work with the straightforward zeal of someone charging the gates of hell with a squirt gun. Only later did I begin to question how much good (if any) these endeavors accomplished.

We have two brand new pieces that explore the history of American mission work. Both are connected to Reza Aslan’s new book about Presbyterian missionary Howard Baskerville. In an excerpt from the book, Aslan chronicles the harrowing story of the first such missionaries to Persia, Justin Perkins and Charlotte Bass. Then in an interview with our books editor Elizabeth Palmer, he discusses how Baskerville’s mission was fused with political revolution. And while it is not about mission work per se, a new Voices column from Debie Thomas reflects on her bicultural childhood and the significance of being born into a particular place and family.

There is no video this week, but I offer you this recent appearance I made on the PC(USA) podcast New Way. That link is for part 1 of the conversation, and here in the second installment we discuss evangelism and mission work.

Email me: Have you done mission work? What are your current thoughts on it?

An unfettered life

“What if the religious world I was so carefully prepared for limits God as much as it limits me? What if God longs for freedom as passionately as I do?”

Persia’s first American missionaries

“Young, newly married, and full of zeal for the Lord, they were the first American missionaries ever assigned to preach the gospel in Persia. They left two decades later—Charlotte feeble and broken, Justin an empty shell of a man.”

The Presbyterian missionary who became a revolutionary in Iran

“Howard Baskerville believed there was no separation of religion and politics,” says Reza Aslan, “that democracy was a divine gift.”

Living by the Word for October 23 (Ordinary 30C)

In Joel I encounter the God who has counted what I’ve lost and promised to pay it back.

by Jessica Mesman
 

Eye: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “Eye.” Here are some of our favorite reflections. This series is supported by a grant from the Frederick Buechner Center.

Post-evangelical healing

“Charles Marsh offers in this memoir a searingly honest account of his mental health struggles and his return to a fuller life through therapy.”

A word from a subscriber . . .

“I’ve been going over the most recent issues and continuing to find new things to admire in your redesign. It looks serious—like when you finally get rid of your IKEA furniture and move into a real house!”