Church history reveals remarkable exploits of what we call “faith” to evangelize the unbelieving world. Unfortunately, too often these heroines and heroes of faith were loners, isolated from the larger institutional churches because they dared to go against the grain. While church hierarchies and public opinion argued otherwise, these missionary pioneers abandoned their comfort zones to enter uncharted waters, where the name of Jesus was not known or confessed.

A. Scott Moreau, Harold Netland, and Charles van Engen, Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Baker Books; A. Scott Moreau, 2000), 352.