October 30, 2023
A Modest But Crucial Hero:
The Life and Legacy of Rev. George E. Stone (1873-1899)
Rev. Judson I. Stone, D. Ministry
Aviva Publishing (2023)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-278-0
New Book Highlights Victorian Missionary’s Short But Significant Life
Rev. Judson I. Stone’s new book A Modest But Crucial Hero: The Life and Legacy of Rev. George E. Stone (1873-1899) tells the fascinating story of its author’s great-great-uncle who left the comfort of his life in Mexico, New York, in 1898 to become a missionary in Oman, trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. The Stone family has a long history of service to God, the church, and being missionaries, as evidenced by the author’s own ministerial calling, but his great-great-uncle George Stone was the first in the family to be a missionary.
Rev. Stone had always known about his great-great-uncle, but only in recent years did he decide to research and learn more about this family member who sought to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ overseas. Rev. Stone’s research revealed a devout and serious young man who believed God called him to serve in the Arabian Mission in the Persian Gulf region. Extensive research was done by the author who tracked down George’s college records and his letters home and even visited Oman and George’s grave there. Rev. Stone tirelessly documents all his sources and quotes extensively from primary and secondary sources to make George and those he knew and worked with come alive for the reader.
The book is divided into six parts. Part One introduces the reader to George and his early life as a student and preacher. Part Two traces his trip to the missionary field, including his journey through Europe. Part Three covers George’s time in Bahrain as he studied Arabic. Part Four describes his service and death in Oman. Part Five explores the response of George’s family and community to his death, and Part Six explores George’s legacy from his death to the present.
Today, it may be difficult to imagine the idealism of a young man like George who in his twenties felt called upon to convert people to Christianity, but as George’s journey is traced, we come to appreciate a young man who is not a fanatic but a true believer and an everyday, good-natured person. We are told of his childhood activities and his college experiences at Auburn Seminary. His classmates, later in eulogies about him, recalled what he was like at school. As one classmate reported: “He was a Christian of the highest type. The classroom to him was not the place to exhibit any superiority of knowledge, but simply a place in which to learn of Jesus. Any show of self-conceit on the part of a fellow student met his silent but withering rebuke.”
Once George was ordained, he preached in local churches before receiving the call to join the Arabian Mission in Oman. Ironically, the Rev. Samuel Zwemer, who recruited George after speaking at a convention about the Arabian Mission, had recently had his own brother die in service to the mission. It was a fate George would soon share. George was ordained on April 11, 1898 and he would die on June 26, 1899. Such a short career may suggest he could do little, and yet Rev. Stone clarifies that George accomplished much in this time, if not directly, by paving the way for others’ work.
I personally cannot imagine the challenges George faced. Just learning Arabic took great dedication. During his studies, he also helped operate a Bible shop in Bahrain. While he was able to share the gospel with some visitors to the shop, he also had to face criticism and hostility from the locals. One man wanted to buy a Bible to use the paper to roll cigarettes with. When some Muslims protested the shop, the sheikh set a guard in front of it to warn people to stay away.
Before George could finish learning Arabic, necessity called him to go to Muscat to relieve Mr. Barny, who had typhoid fever. While there, George took charge of the Rescued Slave Boys School, teaching and supervising eighteen boys. Their lessons included English, math, geography, reading, and Bible lessons, plus doing chores and learning trades like carpentry and typesetting. George had initially not wanted to teach at a school, but he accepted the task as what God wanted from him.
And then one day a telegram arrived in New York proclaiming George was dead. Because of the slowness of communication, it would be weeks before his family would know more details—how he had come down with a fever and died after a short illness. George was greatly missed by the boys at the school. Back home, his family, friends, and fellow clergyman tried to make sense of such a loss, and George was eulogized as a martyr in the service of God.
Rev. Stone provides far more details to the story than I can here. He has done extensive research into the mission and the history and culture of Islam and Oman at the time, and he does not shy away from sharing some of George’s views on Islam which would be viewed as politically incorrect today. Of course, George was a product of his time, but he was also a man with a strong faith in God unlike most we see today. Placing George in the context of his time, Rev. Stone shares George’s legacy in the literature written about the mission afterwards, including why the mission ultimately failed, and yet how George’s life was not a failure despite his untimely death. As Rev. Stone sums up George’s significant life: “He died doing what he wanted to do and where he wanted to serve the Lord. He thought it was more important to joyously live where God called him to and to do what God wanted him to do. George possessed this joy as a modest but crucial hero to his dying day.”
A Modest But Crucial Hero will both inspire and educate readers interested in mission work. It is also a fascinating snapshot of a time and place in history—a place where East met West and two cultures, despite their differences, grew to understand each a little better. While George’s goal was to convert others, it was also to understand them. Therefore, we can all take a lesson from his story and use it to determine how we can do better today in our attempts to bring peace and friendship between people of different cultures and faiths.
For more information about Rev. Judson I. Stone and A Modest But Crucial Hero, visit www.JudsonIStone.com.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and award-winning author of When Teddy Came to Town
