Encountering the History of Missions - Paperback

by John Mark Terry (Preface by), Robert L. Gallagher (Preface by)

This new addition to a highly acclaimed series portrays the sweep of missions history, revealing how God has fulfilled his promise to bless all the nations. Two leading missionary scholars and experienced professors help readers understand how missions began, how missions developed, and where missions is going. The authors cover all of missions history and provide practical application of history's lessons. Maps, tables, box inserts, sidebars, and discussion questions add to the book's usefulness in the classroom.

Back Jacket

An Accessible Survey of Missions History

"Mark Terry and Rob Gallagher, two veteran missionaries and professors of missions, provide their readers with an edifying survey of the history of missions. I can enthusiastically recommend this book to professors, students, pastors, missionaries, and missions administrators. All will benefit from its scope and insights."
--Ed Stetzer, Wheaton College

"Between the beginning in Eden and the great party around the throne stretches a long, tumultuous story line. This book takes up where the Bible leaves off. The focus is mission, loving our neighbors in word and deed. Whether Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox, whether Gothic or Chinese or European, the narratives are straightforward and easy to understand. While some names will sound familiar, this book connects them in context, providing a momentum so that one story flows into the next until it is hard to put the book down. Not many general history books can claim that distinction."
--Miriam Adeney, Seattle Pacific University; author of Kingdom without Borders: The Untold Story of Global Christianity

"Church history is the history of Christian missions. Yet that history remains buried treasure for far too many Christians. This carefully crafted book excavates the rich legacy of those who have contributed to the expansion of a local renewal movement within Israel into a global worshiping community. Far from a dry recitation of dates and places, Terry and Gallagher have given us compelling narratives of the lives of missionaries from every generation and continent."
--Mark Young, Denver Seminary

"In the tradition of J. Herbert Kane's mission textbooks, Terry and Gallagher have brought their broad experience and scholarship to provide the next generation of mission students a text on mission history. Of special interest for those who are both practitioners and scholars is how the authors point the way forward based on the history they describe."
--Scott W. Sunquist, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

"The authors have done what might seem to be impossible: telling the story of centuries of missions history while holding the reader's attention through biographical portraits, relevant sidebars, and challenging case studies. I finished this book asking God to allow me to play a role, even a minor one, in the continuing story of missions history. Somehow, I think the authors would be pleased."
--Chuck Lawless, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Author Biography

John Mark Terry (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of missions at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee.

Robert L. Gallagher (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is department chair and professor of intercultural studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, where he also directs the MA in intercultural studies program.