On Being a Missionary [Paperback]

Thomas Hale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003 | ISBN-10: 0878082557 | ISBN-13: 978-0878082551

Written for everyone with an interest in mission, this book will lead you to reconsider your role in the missionary enterprise. On Being a Missionary is not designed to be a theoretical textbook. It does not put forward new theses, new approaches to mission, nor does it attempt to break new ground. In a very readable way the author presents the ideas, experiences, and insights of over one hundred missionary writers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Hale and his wife Cynthia are both physicians. They have served as medical missionaries in Nepal since 1970 and have two sons. Tom is also author of three books on missionary life published by Zondervan Publishing House.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: William Carey Library Pub (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878082557
• ISBN-13: 978-0878082551
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In 1970, Thomas Hale and his wife, Cynthia, went to Nepal to work for their first twelve years at a rural mission hospital in the village of Amp Pipal. Subsequently they moved to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital city, where they have continued their work with the mission. Recently Cynthia took a position as an associate professor at Nepal's only medical school, and Tom has written a one-volume commentary on the New Testament, first in Nepali and subsequently in English for translation into other languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALISTIC, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: On Being a Missionary (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful book to read if you are THINKING aboutgoing to the mission field or returning again. The author is frankabout the obstacles involved in missions work and how to overcome them.

I read this book a few years ago before I left for Asia and it prepared me to be a team player. It also gave me realistic insights into what was ahead.

Now I am going back to Asia- leading a team this time- and once again this has been a great book to read about building team unity, making mistakes, and just trusting God's soveriegnty.

This book is fat, but easy to read. I do not read much, but this book was hard to put down.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, February 11, 2007

By 

Kelly (Southwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Being a Missionary (Paperback)

Of the four gospels, my favorite is St. Luke. Luke was a doctor and wrote as a doctor- precise, bearing on the facts, and somewhat paternally. I get the same sense from Hale's writing. Hale and his wife are physicians that have served as medical missionaries in Nepal since 1970. This book might be considered a primer on missions. For me, it was perfect. Having never served as a missionary, the book gave me an idea of what it's really like, the ups and downs, the realities of being on the mission field. In reading this book, I felt like I was sitting down with a very wise man, perhaps at a pub over a beer, and asking, "so, what's it really like to be a missionary?" and this wise man patiently taking the time to tell me. Five stars for sure, don't head for the fields without this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must before going on a mission, January 24, 2009

By 

Joe Niemczura "nursing faculty" (Honolulu Hawaii) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On Being a Missionary (Paperback)

This book was published in 1994, as the eleven-year civil war was starting in Nepal. The author is an MD who has spent thirty years of his time in that country, with the same NGO for which I also volunteered on my two short-term trips there. I did not know of him, nor had I heard about this book before I left. Obviously, this book is an excellent resource on "my" country and on "my" NGO; but I think it will serve the reader well if they are going to any one of the 2,500 mission hospitals sprinkled throughout the Low Income Countries of the world.

The author is strongly bibilcally-based; he has a lot of stories to tell; and he has been in a senior leadership position of a complicated NGO trying to deal with crosscultural issues.

Now, that's not to say it's exactly perfect. the book is long, and there are just *so* many stories to tell that Dr Hale gives the short version of each. It's not a narrative with a plot per se, more like something where you can find a provocative idea on each page then think about it for a bit. To do this kind of work requires thoughtful maturity which the author possesses and dispenses in large quantity.