Samuel Zwemer (1867-1952), one of my greatest heroes, on the rigors of engaging the Islamic world with the Gospel:
Face to face with baffling problems in his own station, and conscious of the vast areas still unoccupied by missions and of the hundreds of millions untouched, the individual missionary may well grow discouraged, and let hope deferred make his heart sick. But the remedy for such discouragement is not to be found in a study of statistics. The things that are impossible by statistics are often possible by dynamics. Mere numbers are as nothing over against the power of Life. The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. In the struggle for supremacy between Islam and [the Gospel] in the Dark Continent, the statistics are all on the side of the Moslem, but the dynamics are with the Christian. To those who believe the promises of God, who know the living Christ and have caught the vision of world-wide redemption, there can be no discouragement. We have on our side all the undiscovered wealth of God and His omnipotence.
From his epic book, “A Call to Prayer for the Moslem World.” Get it on Amazon.
