We often hear of the works of foreign missions both now and in earlier times, their bravery and hardships but what about home missions?

Dennis Peterson is from East Tennessee but now resides in Taylors, SC. His great love of American history and the Lord led him to write several books concerning the role of Christianity and the history of our nation. One of his great loves is researching the part various denominations played in reaching the Cherokee nation and other Native Americans even from the discovery of America. His new book, Evangelism and Expulsion: Missionary Work Among the Cherokees Until Removal, recently published by TouchPoint Faith is the result of much research and persistence.

I found Mr. Peterson’s book compelling because of the history of my own family, their coming to the land of the Cherokee, and their intermarriage with them. I recognize many of the family surnames from my area. It makes me want to delve deeper into their lives and the part they played in reaching out to the Cherokee while others were doing their best to oust all Native Americans from their land.

Evangelism and Expulsion also points the reader to the work of home missions, the missionaries here in our communities whose stories we’ve never known. When Jesus met with the disciples for the last time, he commanded them to be his witnesses “both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Our predecessors lived lives of constant danger yet with the willingness to reach their “neighbors”. We often hear of David Brainerd who sought to evangelize Native Americans in New England, but do we know the influence he had on other evangelists in reaching Native Americans across the states? These early home missionaries were more concerned with the souls of mankind than with their own lives. The tales of Indian raids and massacres in my area of the Upstate of SC is hair-raising yet at this same time, missionaries were working with the Cherokee in western NC and TN. Were they not going into their own Samarias?

As we begin a new school year I hope you find Evangelism and Expulsion helpful in not only teaching American History but as a tool to encourage our children to reach out to our Samarias, our scary places, our undesirable places. I think the early home missionaries found the safest place will always be in the middle of God’s will.

blogpost written by Gail Cartee. Click here to visit her blog site.

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