The reality of missions to a dangerous place: Adoniram Judson
By Elizabeth Prata
I’ve been posting some missionary bios the last few days. The links to previous essays are at the end.
I post mission-minded posts, to remind us of the importance of evangelizing the lost not just near, but far. Below, I re-post a thread from Twitter written by Josh Buice. The letter from Judson to Ann’s father was extremely touching and reminded me once again of the danger that missionaries then and now face every day.
When missions began in earnest, missionaries often sent more ‘glowing’ letters back to the home church or overseeing Board. They needed support (translate, $$) and knew that people reading more positive reports tended to give more. Amy Carmichael didn’t do that and in fact, her accounts of the reality of the darkness she faced horrified readers. Her reports were rejected with notes to positive it up a little. She relied with a book titled “Things as They Are”.
John G. Paton knew he’s never see his father again, and Paton’s account of saying goodbye to him as Paton sailed for the South Pacific from Scotland was extremely touching. Below, Judson wrote clear-eyed to his fiancé’s father. We we a debt to the missionaries who submitted their lives to discomfort, danger, snares, seemingly fruitless toil, betrayals, sleepless nights, and hardship unimaginable.
Here is Dr. Buice:
𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙚, @JoshBuice
Do you know what it looks like to deny yourself and follow Christ?
In 1813, Adoniram Judson sailed to Burma from the shores of America with his wife Ann.
He was 24.
His wife Ann was 23.
They spent their lives for the glory of Christ among unreached peoples.
Before they married, Judson wrote a letter to Ann’s father asking for his blessing in marriage. This is what he wrote in the letter:
“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world?
Whether you can consent to see her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life?
Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death?
Can you consent to all this, for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God?
Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”
Soon after accepting Judson’s proposal of marriage and the life of a missionary, Ann wrote to a friend where she said the following:
“I feel willing, and expect, if nothing in providence prevents, to spend my days in this world in heathen lands. Yes, Lydia, I have about come to the determination to give up all my comforts and enjoyments here, sacrifice my affection to relatives and friends, and go where God, in his providence, shall see fit to place me.”
Ann became sick and died only a few years into their ministry.
Judson spent 38 years there until his death at 61.
Judson organized and published the Burmese dictionary.
Judson translated the Bible into the Burmese language.
Judson wrote gospel tracts and distributed tens of thousands in the first 6-years before seeing his first convert.
Judson preached the gospel faithfully.
Judson, along with his wife Ann, demonstrated what it was like to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23).
*Quotes taken from Courtney Anderson’s book: “To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson”
Further Reading:
“Missionary life is simply a chance to die” – Amy Carmichael
Missionary Moment: 20th century Martyrs Phil Masters and Stan Dale, a story of the Yali and Kimyals
Missionary Elisabeth Elliot: “Under the Shadow of the Almighty”
