Missions

Reformation & Modern Church History

Lesson 28, Page 1

The Last Command: Missions in “the Great Century” I will comment later on the fact that the nineteenth century is the Great Century when we come to the study of the expansion of Christianity. The prayer I will begin with is from a woman by the name of Betty Scott Stam. Betty Scott was the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries to China. She went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. There she met and married John Stam. The two of them went as missionaries to China with the China Inland Mission. They were both executed by the communists when the communists took over China. They were martyred in 1934. Betty Stam was 28 years old at the time. I want to begin with a prayer from Betty Stam for two reasons. The first reason is to illustrate the importance of women in the foreign missions movement. By the time we come to 1934, the year of the death of this missionary, at least half of all Protestant foreign missionaries were women—perhaps more than half. As the mission movement unfolded, pious, godly, Christian women were moved to go and serve God overseas. In some cases, opportunities presented themselves for service in missionary contexts that would not have been available to women at home. The other reason I begin with a prayer from Betty Stam is simply to point out the great sacrifice that so many missionaries—men and women— paid through the years. Hundreds of missionaries were martyred, and thousands gave their lives in being stricken with disease and death overseas. Betty Stam’s prayer is a serious prayer. As I pray it I will ask you, as far as you are able, to pray these words along as I read them. I am not asking you to pray anything you cannot pray, but listen to the words of the prayer from Betty Stam. May God enable us to respond in some measure in the way that she responded to His call to serve the Lord in the great task of taking the Gospel into all the world. Let us pray. “I give up all my plans and