I posted the following post on Kingdom Surge, and thought it would work well to post it here as well.
In her book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God
Helen Roseveare’s Suffering
On the heels of Zioneer’s post The Blood of the Martyrs, it is perhaps fitting that we pause and reflect on one of the many modern day missionaries who faced severe suffering for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. Helen upon graduating from medical school, took her promising future and went to serve in one of the poorest and most remote places in Africa. She stayed there for 20 plus years.
Her time in Africa was one of constant work, treating 200 or more patient’s a day, struggling to build a hospital practically by herself, training numerous medical students, and suffering from constant tropical sicknesses. I would encourage you to read Noel’s account of Helen’s life, it is available to read online here, and is only 20 or so pages long. It reveals how sensitive Helen was to the things of the Lord, and how she grew through so many and varied trials.
The most trying time of her life, and the great suffering that she endured for Christ came during the Simba rebellion of 1964. Her house was ransacked and she was brutally beaten, and even raped. Then she was in captivity for several months, during which time she again suffered rape and brutal treatment. Through this dark time in her life, Christ Jesus was faithful to meet her with special peace and grace. You can read the account of her suffering starting on this page‘
After that time of suffering, Helen still stayed on for several more years of service in the Congo. Oh for more missionaries like Helen Roseveare who embrace suffering for the sake of the Kingdom.
Helen Roseveare’s Challenge
As I read the section on Helen’s life, I couldn’t help but notice her current passion. She has a strong desire for the youth of today’s Church to join the cause of missions, specifically for the sake of the thousands of unreached people groups in the world today. Listen to Helen’s challenge in her own words:
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)
