'Few books are more inspiring to the Christian reader than a compelling missionary biography. This book is no exception. Paul Schlehlein has given us a heart-moving, soul-stirring survey of the life and labours of the famed missionary to the flesh-eating cannibals of the South Sea Islands, John G. Paton. Paton's zeal for reaching this remote people group with the good news of the gospel will both encourage and motivate you in your own Christian walk. These pages will challenge your commitment to Jesus Christ and intensify your zeal to live for the glory of God. You simply must read this book and, by God's grace, learn the lessons Paton's extraordinary life sets forth.' STEVEN J. LAWSON

John G. Paton's accounts of evangelism among the South Sea Cannibals are extraordinary, but what sets this book apart is that it contains one of the finest testimonies of multi-generational love and devotion between a father and son found outside the Scriptures. In this autobiographical account, Paton describes how his father's love and training prepared him to endure bitter hardship, to persevere against unspeakably difficult circumstances, and to resist sin. Because of his father's faithful example, Paton was able to love and lead to Christ the very people who tried to eat his wife and child.

The essentials of pastoral care involve the pastor's distinctive task of caring for those who are estranged--the lost sheep. Taken from the biblical image of the shepherd, the pastor by virtue of his or her professional calling cultivates wise judgment in order to hear the hurting and offer guidance, reconciliation, healing, sustaining presence, and empowerment to those in need. This book will outline the quintessential elements pastors need to wisely minister in today's context by discussing four major kinds of lostness: grief, illness, abuse, and family challenges. The purpose of the Abingdon Essential Guides is to fulfill the need for brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introductions to the core disciples in biblical, theological, and religious studies. Drawing on the best in current scholarship, written with the need of students foremost in mind, addressed to learners in a number of contexts, Essential Guides will be the first choice of those who wish to acquaint themselves or their students with the broad scope of issues, perspectives, and subject matters within biblical and religious studies.

John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides is a missionary classic. In this companion volume, Margaret Whitecross Paton gives an enthralling account of missionary life in the New Hebrides from the 1860s to the 1890s. The steady advance of the gospel in the islands is vividly described, and the whole account is set against the background of the joys and sorrows of family life. Margaret Paton writes with rare grace, humour and pathos. Letters from the South Seas is an inspiring story, full of the triumphs of Christian faith and love, and a missionary classic in its own right- a book to prize. Margaret Whitecross Paton was the second wife of the pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides, John G. Paton. She was the daughter of the Rev. John Whitecross whose work The Shorter Catechism Illustrated was republished by the Trust. A gifted writer, musician and artist, she died in 1905.

John MacArthur says, "This engrossing account of Paton's life and ministry will make him live again for a whole new generation. Cromarty's lively writing style makes this a book that is hard to put down." Stuart Olycott simply predicts, "No one can read this book and remain the same." A To Think About section concluding each chapter makes this perfect for Family Worship. First published in 1997.