Helen Roseveare - A Living Sacrifice

A great book for all missionaries and especially for candidates preparing for the field.

Dr. Roseveare was a medical doctor in the Congo from 1953-1973 and endured many hardships and writes with special candor regarding the emotional aspects and even the interpersonal strains of missionary service.

The subtitle (Willing to be whittled as an arrow) refers to the Africans' practice of whittling down a stick so that it can be a useful instrument as an arrow....and this is what God does in our lives. The whittling does not feel good, but God does it out of love.

Link:

www.amazon.com/Living-Sacrifice-Willing-Whittled-Living/dp/1845502949/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295614247&sr=1-1-spell

and here,

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/who-is-helen-roseveare


Please read this and Helen Roseveare's other books as well. She nows travels as a speaker for missions. Here is an excerpt:

Since 1973, I have been living in the United Kingdom, and seeking to present the desperate need of the three thousand million people, alive today, who have never yet heard of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the redemption He wrought for them at Calvary. These are the “hidden peoples” in more than ten thousand ethnic groups around our world. As I try to present their needs, I pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will stir hearts to make a response. It seems so obvious to me that Christian young people…should rise up and go….

Why is the response so poor?…

Is it that we Christians today have an inadequate understanding of God’s holiness and therefore of his wrath against sin and of the awfulness of a Christless eternity? If we were gripped by the two facts–of the necessity for judgment of sin because God is holy; and of the necessity of holiness in the Christian that he may represent such a God to others–would we not “hunger and thirst after righteousness” whatever the cost, and would not others then see Christ in us, and be drawn to Him?

In other words, if we [understood] the Scriptural teaching on the need of Holiness in the life of every believer, we should not need to plead for missionaries. (From Helen Roseveare’s book Living Holiness, pg. 32; cited by Noel Piper, Faithful Women And Their Extraordinary God pg. 168)