ON GIANTS' SHOULDERS:
Bringing new life to Japan
By Patrick McElligott. Ambassador Publications. 240 pages. £7.99
ISBN 1 84030 122 8
I am delighted that this book (first published by WEC, 1991) is still available, one of the best ever on missionary work in Japan. It is both a moving autobiography, and an instructive account of effective church planting.
This story, told in short unemotional sentences, moves me to tears. My admiration was aroused as I read of a Christian brought up in a deprived family in London's East End. With only four 'O' level passes, he is sent for language aptitude testing and told that he will find Japanese so difficult he will never learn it! Unlike many of us who plateau off once we can make ourselves more or less understood, Patrick, with dogged persistence, completes a Japanese '0' level on his first furlough, starts on an 'A' level and in his second term works on an external London degree, and finishes up with a PhD in Japanese poetry. This achievement (which has to be teased out) is only a modest sub-plot in the larger story of Japanese church planting.
