BOOKS
Books
bOOKS ON MISSIONS
Key Books on Missions and our involvement as an individual, family, or church with the great commission. Whether that be to pray, to send, or to go.
Let the Nations Be Glad — John Piper
First published in 1993 and now a modern missions classic, Let the Nations Be Glad makes the case that missions flows from and returns to one ultimate end: the worship of God. Drawing on key biblical texts, Piper demonstrates that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship fuels missionary outreach, offering a biblical defense of God’s supremacy in all things and a sound theological foundation for missions. He tackles the hard questions — the exclusivity of Christ, the meaning of “all nations,” the role of prayer and suffering — with pastoral warmth and rigorous Scripture. His defining conviction runs through every chapter: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions.” Whether you are called to go or called to send, this book will give your missions passion deep biblical roots.
Serving as Senders — Neal Pirolo
Not everyone is called to go to the mission field — but everyone is called to be involved. Neal Pirolo, founder and director of Emmaus Road International, argues that those who go and those who serve as senders are like two units on the same cross-cultural outreach team — both equally important, both moving toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission. In this practical and biblically grounded book, Pirolo identifies six areas where missionaries need care: moral support, logistics support, financial support, prayer support, communication support, and reentry support — and gives churches and individuals concrete ways to provide each one. If your heart breaks for the nations but your calling is here at home, this book will show you exactly how to make a difference.
The Insanity of God — Nik Ripken
The Insanity of God follows the journey of a couple from rural Kentucky who set out as missionaries expecting a typical experience, but instead faced profound hardship and doubt during six years of relief work in Somalia. Confronted with extreme suffering and what felt like God’s absence, they left Africa questioning whether their faith—and the gospel itself—could truly withstand the world’s most difficult conditions.
Through their continued journey into some of the harshest regions on earth, the story explores deep questions about faith, hope, and resilience in the face of evil and despair. By sharing both their own struggles and the powerful testimonies of believers they encountered, the book ultimately examines whether faith can not only survive but thrive in the darkest places, challenging readers to reconsider what it means to trust that God is enough.
Before You Go: Wisdom from Ten Men on Serving Internationally — Matthew Bennett & Joshua Bowman
Feeling the call to the mission field is one thing — knowing what to expect when you get there is another. In this handbook for entering the mission field, ten men who have served in missions in various ways share what they wish they had known before they began, covering topics like discerning your calling, leaving what you love, integrity and accountability, serving well as a team, going single, family and mission, and the fellowship of suffering. Edited by two Cedarville University professors who themselves served overseas — Matthew Bennett in North Africa and the Middle East for seven years, and Joshua Bowman in Zambia and South Asia for seventeen years — this book is honest, practical, and rich with hard-won wisdom from the field. If you are a man sensing God’s call to go, pull up a chair and let these veterans speak into your preparation.
Before You Go: Wisdom from Ten Women Who Served Internationally — Emily Bennett
The mission field brings great joy and great difficulty, and the women who go deserve to hear from those who have walked that road before them. In this companion volume to the men’s edition, ten women who have served on the mission field share what they wish they had known before they began, covering topics like discerning your calling, leaving what you love, serving well on a team, prayer and evangelism, fellowshipping through suffering, and going as a married or single woman. This book offers Scripture-grounded encouragement and field-tested wisdom for women preparing to make Jesus known among the nations. Whether you are heading out soon or still in the discernment stage, this is a gift from veteran saints to the next generation.
bOOKS ON MISSIONARies
Impactful Books on the work of Missionaries and the work and life God had called them to.
Frank Drown | Ecuador, 1945–1982
Frank Drown and his wife Marie arrived in the jungles of eastern Ecuador in 1945, spending 37 years bringing the gospel to the Shuar and Atshuar peoples — tribes once known for headhunting and cycles of revenge killing. Working among these tribes, the Drowns were committed to bringing about life change by seeking to communicate forgiveness of sin and new life found in Christ. Frank is perhaps best remembered for leading the search party that discovered the bodies of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and their fellow martyred missionaries in 1956 — men who were his close colleagues and friends. Through heartbreak and danger, Drown pressed on, and many among the Shuar and Atshuar eventually came to faith. His life’s conviction was simply this: “The goal of our lives should not be for ourselves but to do the will of God and enjoy it. We’re not our own; we’ve been bought with a price. We serve Him because we love Him.”
Jim Elliot | Ecuador, 1952–1956
Jim Elliot was a young American missionary who gave his life at age 28 trying to bring the gospel to the Waodani (Auca) people of Ecuador — one of the most unreached and feared tribes in the world. He and four companions made peaceful contact with the tribe in January 1956, only to be killed by the very people they had come to serve. Far from being a tragedy, his death sparked a global wave of missionary commitment, and the Waodani themselves eventually came to faith — in large part through the witness of Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth. Jim’s journals, kept faithfully throughout his life, reveal a young man of extraordinary passion for God. His words have stirred generations: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Amy Carmichael | India, 1895–1951
Amy Carmichael left her home in Ireland in 1895 and spent the next 55 years in India — never once returning home on furlough — in one of the most selfless acts of missionary devotion in Christian history. She founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in Tamil Nadu, a sanctuary that rescued hundreds of children, particularly young girls, from temple prostitution. She wrote prolifically during her decades of ministry, including 35 books, and became a profound spiritual voice on suffering and surrender. Bedridden for the last 20 years of her life following a serious fall, she continued to write and counsel from her room. Her famous prayer captures the posture of her entire life: “Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”
George Müller | England, 1805–1898
George Müller ministered in Bristol, England for most of the 19th century, and became one of the most remarkable examples of faith-driven ministry the church has ever seen. Without ever making public appeals for money, he established orphanages that housed over 10,000 children during his lifetime — trusting God alone to provide every need, and seeing God answer in dramatic and specific ways time after time. He also supported hundreds of missionaries worldwide and traveled the globe preaching well into his 80s, covering over 200,000 miles in his later years. His life was a living proof that God hears and answers prayer. As Müller himself declared: “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”
David Livingstone | Africa, 1841–1873
David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, physician, and explorer who spent three decades traversing the African continent, driven by a burning desire to open the interior of Africa to the gospel and to end the devastating Arab slave trade. He mapped vast, previously uncharted regions of sub-Saharan Africa and became an international figure whose dispatches captivated the world. He died in 1873 on his knees in prayer in a small hut in present-day Zambia — his African companions carrying his body over 1,500 miles to the coast so it could be returned to England. His legacy helped galvanize both missionary activity and the abolition of the African slave trade. He summed up his life’s calling with characteristic resolve: “I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward.”
Please Note: all of these are available at the Straight From The Heart Bookstore at
Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia and are online at store.ccphilly.org
The heart which has no agenda but God’s is the heart at leisure from itself. Its emptiness is filled with the Love of God. Its solitude can be turned into prayer.
– ELISABETH ELLIOT
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