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Men of Faith
Jonathan Goforth
A newly edited release of a classic missionary biography, Goforth of China. Men of Faith series.
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 27, 2023
This review is not on the life, contributions, and ministry if Jonathan Goforth. This review is on the book itself. I apologize that this will sound harsh. It’s really not worth the 3 stars that I gave the book.
The editors did a poor job of putting this together. This is the real problem. The timeline is hard to follow and lacks any sense of cohesiveness. I almost put this book down several times but l pushed through to completion.
The book is also more of a memoir of Mrs. Goforth than the missionary himself. There are big gaps in the timeline and it just doesn’t work well.
The book also assumes that you have a working knowledge of Chinese history. If you don’t know some basic information then you’ll be confused during the boxer revolution and the rise of the communist party.
I also tired of hearing the author refer to herself in the third person. This might have worked at the time of first printing but not today.
Finishing this book made me want to find a better biography about Jonathan Goforth. I love almost all missionary biographies. This is not one of them.
The editors did a poor job of putting this together. This is the real problem. The timeline is hard to follow and lacks any sense of cohesiveness. I almost put this book down several times but l pushed through to completion.
The book is also more of a memoir of Mrs. Goforth than the missionary himself. There are big gaps in the timeline and it just doesn’t work well.
The book also assumes that you have a working knowledge of Chinese history. If you don’t know some basic information then you’ll be confused during the boxer revolution and the rise of the communist party.
I also tired of hearing the author refer to herself in the third person. This might have worked at the time of first printing but not today.
Finishing this book made me want to find a better biography about Jonathan Goforth. I love almost all missionary biographies. This is not one of them.
November 25, 2018
Not an easy read because it is so choppily narrated. Hard to follow and easy to lose any sense of the story. One stand out passage that might have possibly made it worth reading:
“Early in 1909, Goforth left Canada’s via London, where he was scheduled to give a series of addresses on ‘Prayer’ for the China Inland Mission. While in London, he was taken to see an invalid lady. She told Mr. Goforth that when she heard of his proposed meetings in Manchuria, she had felt a great burden laid upon her to pray for him. She then asked him to look at her notebook, in which was recorded three dates when a sense of special power in prayer had come upon her for him. A feeling akin to awe came upon Goforth as he recalled those dates as being the very days when he had witnessed the mightiest movements in Manchuria.”
Whoa. Prayer and intercession for others is important. God is amazing.
“Early in 1909, Goforth left Canada’s via London, where he was scheduled to give a series of addresses on ‘Prayer’ for the China Inland Mission. While in London, he was taken to see an invalid lady. She told Mr. Goforth that when she heard of his proposed meetings in Manchuria, she had felt a great burden laid upon her to pray for him. She then asked him to look at her notebook, in which was recorded three dates when a sense of special power in prayer had come upon her for him. A feeling akin to awe came upon Goforth as he recalled those dates as being the very days when he had witnessed the mightiest movements in Manchuria.”
Whoa. Prayer and intercession for others is important. God is amazing.
May 25, 2018
Another good missionary biography; this told from the wife’s point of view. I’m again amazed and humbled by what these missionaries went through in order to bring the gospel to China. All the missionary biographies I’ve read this year have been full of God’s faithfulness and care but also full of hardships and loss. The Goforths lost many children to illness and disease yet they chose to stay.
If you want to be encouraged in your faith, encouraged to keep doing good, then read some missionary biographies. Your faith will nine strengthened and your soul will be encouraged as you read about people that give their all for Jesus.
If you want to be encouraged in your faith, encouraged to keep doing good, then read some missionary biographies. Your faith will nine strengthened and your soul will be encouraged as you read about people that give their all for Jesus.
April 27, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2016
I bought this book because of a high recommendation from a great resource. It's older in the writing style, but I appreciate that. Easy to read and I LOVE reading other people's testimonies about how God worked through their lives to reach others. Love it! Thank you!!!
2 people found this helpful
I bought this book because of a high recommendation from a great resource. It's older in the writing style, but I appreciate that. Easy to read and I LOVE reading other people's testimonies about how God worked through their lives to reach others. Love it! Thank you!!!
2 people found this helpful
March 29, 2023
This was written in the 1980s, and I think by someone older. It was factual but just a slow read that was hard to get into.
April 6, 2023
An encouraging and convicting biography of a great missionary.
August 3, 2014
Jonathan Goforth and his wife Rosalind were missionaries with China Inland Mission. They stayed on in China well into their 70s experiencing both harrowing dangers and amazing revivals. The dedication and sacrifice that Jonathan showed was convicting and challenging. I am thankful for such examples because they spur me on to greater love and good works when I am so tempted to seek to carve out for myself a comfortable Christian lifestyle.
I am thankful that his wife is willing to occasionally show a side to Jonathan that is not particularly flattering and even more often to show that side of herself. It's always good to remember that those we call our heroes are not perfect.
The advantage of a biography written by a wife is that she knows and loves her subject like none other. The disadvantage of such a biography is that she often shares the blindspots of her husband and so cannot see her husband's faults and mistakes as clearly as an outsider might. When reading this book it is helpful to remember that both of them were molded by the values and mindsets of China inland mission, which, for all of its strengths, also had its weaknesses. Some of this you can see in a book like Faith Cook's A Troubled Journey as she writes about the pain of growing up in a family not too different than the Goforth's. Very little is said about family life in this biography of Jonathan Gofoth, very little mention is made of their children unless they die, which often happened. That is characteristic of those with China inland mission. Family life was not the strong point. Indeed, Jonathan told his wife before they married that he would always put God first. God always should come first, but what he really meant was that his ministry would always come first. It is as dangerous to equate God with one's ministry as it is to equate God with one's family. Putting God first does not easily nail itself down into such formulas.
There are also a number of junctures in their life when they seek to discern God's will by randomly opening their Bible and taking what they find as God's direction to them in their particular situation. This is a superstitious and potentially very dangerous use of God's word. If you are going to randomly open books, you may as well open an encyclopedia or dictionary for direction as to open the Bible. The Bible is God's word, it should be studied carefully and looked at in its context, not treated as a water stick that mindlessly points out the way. I would be willing to bet money that though the book gives several instances when this method seemed to work, that there were many other times when the verses they opened up to made no sense. Obviously if you open the Bible randomly enough times it will sometimes seem to apply to your situation and those will be the times you remember. I'm also not going to say that God cannot use such a method, only that we have no grounds for expecting God to use this method and that it opens one up to great dangers.
But if one is careful not to follow the Goforths in those things that are not wise and helpful, there is much that is good and commendable and worthy of imitation. I certainly would rather have the faults of a man like Jonathan Goforth along with his virtues, than to be free of his faults while equally free of his virtues. May God raise up a generation of such zealous and wholehearted men and women as the Goforths were!
I am thankful that his wife is willing to occasionally show a side to Jonathan that is not particularly flattering and even more often to show that side of herself. It's always good to remember that those we call our heroes are not perfect.
The advantage of a biography written by a wife is that she knows and loves her subject like none other. The disadvantage of such a biography is that she often shares the blindspots of her husband and so cannot see her husband's faults and mistakes as clearly as an outsider might. When reading this book it is helpful to remember that both of them were molded by the values and mindsets of China inland mission, which, for all of its strengths, also had its weaknesses. Some of this you can see in a book like Faith Cook's A Troubled Journey as she writes about the pain of growing up in a family not too different than the Goforth's. Very little is said about family life in this biography of Jonathan Gofoth, very little mention is made of their children unless they die, which often happened. That is characteristic of those with China inland mission. Family life was not the strong point. Indeed, Jonathan told his wife before they married that he would always put God first. God always should come first, but what he really meant was that his ministry would always come first. It is as dangerous to equate God with one's ministry as it is to equate God with one's family. Putting God first does not easily nail itself down into such formulas.
There are also a number of junctures in their life when they seek to discern God's will by randomly opening their Bible and taking what they find as God's direction to them in their particular situation. This is a superstitious and potentially very dangerous use of God's word. If you are going to randomly open books, you may as well open an encyclopedia or dictionary for direction as to open the Bible. The Bible is God's word, it should be studied carefully and looked at in its context, not treated as a water stick that mindlessly points out the way. I would be willing to bet money that though the book gives several instances when this method seemed to work, that there were many other times when the verses they opened up to made no sense. Obviously if you open the Bible randomly enough times it will sometimes seem to apply to your situation and those will be the times you remember. I'm also not going to say that God cannot use such a method, only that we have no grounds for expecting God to use this method and that it opens one up to great dangers.
But if one is careful not to follow the Goforths in those things that are not wise and helpful, there is much that is good and commendable and worthy of imitation. I certainly would rather have the faults of a man like Jonathan Goforth along with his virtues, than to be free of his faults while equally free of his virtues. May God raise up a generation of such zealous and wholehearted men and women as the Goforths were!
December 5, 2007
Excellent missionary book. He presented the gospel to thousands of Chinese.
April 16, 2013
This is an inspiring book that is well worth the time to read. I am amazed at how driven this man was for Christianity and the Gospel. If only we were more like this guy..
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews