This is a warm, thoughtful, insightful introduction to a particularly dynamic sector of Quaker missions. The Friends Churches in East Africa, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Honduras are among the liveliest and the most-Spirit-filled today, and it is very good to have the chance to read stories about individuals who patiently nurtured them in their earliest stages. Thanks, Ron!

This is only a part, however, of what is greatly needed, to with, a broad assessment of Quaker missions since the mid-nineteenth century across the breadth of the Religious Society of Friends. The Friends' Meetings in Japan, for example, came about through a missionary effort sparked by women in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox), throughout the first half of the 20th century unaffiliated officially with any Quaker branch, but now a part of Friends General Conference.

Joseph and Sarah Ann Cosand, Gilbert and Minnie Pickett Bowles, and Gurney and Elizabeth Binford were three of the dedicated missionaries from this branch of the mission movement. Ron, did you consider any of these for your book?

There were also times in Ron's new book where I yearned for additional perspectives on the important events he was narrating. On pages 61 and 62 and following, Ron talks about the tension that developed between Arthur Chilson and the Five Years Meeting Mission Board following the Holy Spirit Revivals in Kenya in 1926. I would agree that Quaker missionaries to East Africa were diverse during this period. I would have loved to see you engage Samuel Thomas's 1999 Quaker History article on Roxie Reeves; Reeves was a Quaker missionary in Kenya, contemporary with Chilson, who had a special concern for education of girls and women and also ran into opposition from fellow missionaries. Have you looked at the FYM Mission records in the Earlham library to see what light they shed on this event?

Benson Amugamwa recently completed a M.A. Thesis at Earlham School of Religion on "Quakerism and Isukha Culture." (2008) He confirms your remarks (on your p. 51)about corporal punishment in the East African Missions, collecting oral testimony about Fred Hoyt's use of it. Amugamwa writes that Hoyt's severe beatings, apparently occasioned by his view that Africans were neglecting their duties, were often done secretly in the forest to avoid the disapproval of other missionaries, and that "the beating was so severe that Africans thought Hoyt intended to kill them." (Amugamwa, p. 16) Amugamwa appropriately wonders what concept African Friends could have had of the peace testimony, with this kind of use of corporal punishment being modeled by American missionaries.

Did you consider inclusion of East Asian missions in your book? Henry Hodgkin, Charles Tyzack,Walter Williams, and Charles DeVol have all written important books about Quaker mission work in China, Hodgkin, Tyzack, and Williams about the first few decades of the twentieth century, and DeVol bringing the story much closer to the present. Like was the case with India, nationalism in China posed an obstacle to missionary work by Quakers and other Christians. In a 2004 Quaker History article, I explored the interactions with Buddhists by Quaker missionaries in Nanjing, Sichuan, and Japan, and found a large degree of mutual appreciation and even cooperation at times.

Anyway, thanks for these stories, and I look forward to the continuing dialogue!

I so appreciated Ron Stansell's work and found its style easy to digest and learn from. Rather than feeling like a heavy missiological text, Missions By The Spirit continues with the Friends heart of being a devotional work with the Spirit's hand all throughout the stories. The lives of Arthur B. Chilson, R. Esther Smith, Everett L. Cattell, and Jack L. Wilcuts all read as stories of God's faithfulness and give me such an appreciation of our rich missions history. Also, Stansell's questions concluding each chapter invited reflection and turned the work into a resource which could be used in a small group setting.

From a missional standpoint, I was impressed with how forward-thinking early Friends missions was with its emphasis on the equality of all peoples, the humility of the foreigners in leadership, and the simplicity by which they lived their lives. You felt as though each one of them truly believed that God was present already in the lives of everyone they encountered in east Africa, Central America, north India, and South America. These are principles modern missionaries are still trying to understand, and to me this is proof that God's Spirit really was working in their faithful obedience.

Personally, I was deeply moved when this year at our Evangelical Friends Church Southwest annual conference banquet a picture of R. Esther Smith was displayed behind the podium and one of the pastors asked our superintendent who the woman was. After he explained that it was Ruth Esther, the pastor eagerly told the story that he'd seen that picture and grew up being told that "Grandma Esther" was the woman who led his family to Christ in Guatemala. That pastor now works with a Hispanic church in Las Vegas and his life represents the fruit of her mission still today. Praise God for these stories and how their lives are still interwoven with ours today.

I wanted you to know that I am reading voraciously Missions by the Spirit. I have worked my way through to Jack Willcuts in three days of reading. A couple of comments that I would like to share are:

(1) I am fascinated by the insight, background and usefullness of what I have read so far.

I plan to spend a month in Kenya this fall and it is giving much reason for thought. This will be my fourth visit and it grabs my heart when I can see in my mind the "Hill of Vision" at Kaimosi. Even though it is totally excavated around it and has a radio transmission tower smack dab on top. I pastored LeGrand Friends for 17 years so was very interested in the fact that Arthur lived in that community. This also helps to piece together many little tidbits of information I have heard and not completely understood. The book in itself is challenging me to consider gathering some of the leaders of East Africa and having a frank discussion and questioning time to get their views of the meaning and effect of our work since 1902.

(2) I wanted to make a comment about two of the key figures in this book. When I first began pastoring in 1979 we had both Everett Cattell and Jack Willcuts as different Yearly Meeting main speakers. I had the privilege of not only talking with them but hearing them preach. I could include Bob Hess and T Eugene Coffin as well as Norval Hadley, Billy Britt and my own uncle Keith Sarver. These were people who all believed in the power of God, lived their lives before the world and were living witnesses. Yes they were strong willed at times, but they knew their calling and lived it to the end. O how I miss these people, even today. In particular Everett and Jack each gave me words of encouragement that helped keep me focused and urged me to lean into the plow. I continue to cherish my relationship with Chuck Mylander to this day and I also reflect, more than I should, wondering what is my witness to the Friends world? Is it worthy, is it adequate? Will it be remembered as faithful?


I can see in reviewing the words of this book how Everett has truly been a force in shaping my personal theology, yet to this day. The Pursuit of Holiness excited me years ago and it was so helpful this morning to once again revisit his message aptly brought out by Ron Stansell.