English edition available from: Amazon  Double A Book Tower (Bangkok) DCO Books

Fascinating autobiography of Daniel McGilvary who was the father of missions in Northern Thailand, whose ministry spanned over 50 years from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s.  McGilvary interweaves into his first hand account many stories about the people and places that he knew, all the way from the rural Thai countryside to the royal palace in Bangkok.

 Download PDF of Buddhism Through Christian Eyes 

Print edition available from: Amazon  Christianbook.com   OMF Canada

Short yet informative book that provides for the Christian a helpful introduction to Buddhist beliefs and worldview, especially Theravada Buddhism as found in Southeast Asia.  Smith draws upon his own research and his many years of experience as a missionary in Thailand.

Free PDF download - "Filling up the Afflictions of Christ"

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It usually takes me forever to finish a book.  Not because I don’t like reading.  But because I am a slow reader.  So I was shocked when I picked up “Filling up the Afflictions of Christ” and finished it in less than three days.  I couldn’t put it down.  And this after I had been warned by another missionary that it was a scary book.

What’s so scary?  It is this simple assertion: God plans suffering for his people in order to show Christ to the nations.  Many Christians acknowledge that suffering is part of God’s permissive will, meaning that he allows suffering to happen.  But Piper’s radical statement here is that God intentionally puts suffering in the lives of His servants to show forth the Gospel. Where does he get this counter-cultural idea?  From Paul’s own understanding of his ministry in Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”  There is nothing lacking, of course, from Christ’s redemptive suffering to atone for the sin of his people.  That was finished at the cross.  But what is lacking is the visible expression of that suffering.  When Christ’s servants suffer, the love and sacrifice of Christ is on display to a watching world

English edition available from: Amazon OMF Books

Extremely readable little book (about 100 pages) about Larry Dinkins and his family’s life as new missionaries in Thailand.   Things in Thailand have changed somewhat in the thirty years since this was written, but it still gives a very good picture of life on the mission field, especially in Thailand.

English edition available from: Amazon  OMF Books

Thai edition available from: Kanok Bannasan (OMF Publishers Thailand)

A classic on the man of God who pioneered missions in inland China, trusting God to provide for all his needs and those of the mission that he founded, China Inland Mission (now OMF International).  Inspiring and challenging.

Available from: Amazon

From the guy who came up with the three self principles of missionary church planting (self-propogating, self-supporting, self-governing), here is a short book (100 pgs) that lays out some really Biblical but really practical and realistic advice for missionaries who are trying to establish churches in a culture without a Christian background. There is a helpful section at the end that has advice for new missionaries, concerning language study, when to start a new work, balancing your time and so forth. Nevius is concise, straightforward, and Biblical, not getting bogged down with unnecessary academic discussion or man-centered strategies that focus on making people like you rather than getting on with the work of sharing the Gospel.