“The Christian life comes down to two simple things: trust and obedience. What does that mean, exactly? We could hold a seminar and talk about it. Visual aids are better. Look at a life.” -Elisabeth Elliot, Missionary to Ecuador
For Christians, church history is a family history. As we learn about the “great cloud of witnesses” that have gone before us, we see what a life lived for Christ looks like. We draw inspiration and encouragement from these brothers and sisters in Christ, and it turns our hearts away from our circumstances and towards God’s strength and power. As the Psalmist declares:
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him,
tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Seek the Lord and his strength;
Seek his presence continually!
Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
His miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
-Psalm 105:1-5
Studying the lives of martyrs and missionaries has proven transformative in our family. Their testimony has helped us to trust and obey God as we recognize that their stories are not so far removed from our own. In many cases, these are just ordinary people whom God used in extraordinary ways to fulfill His purposes. By witnessing their testimony, we know that God can also use our ordinary lives to do extraordinary things. Sometimes, the most extraordinary thing we can do is to follow Him faithfully in what seems to be just ordinary, mundane routines. Somehow, studying missionaries and martyrs has helped us to live out our faith in the midst of the ordinariness of our lives while also better preparing us for how we will response in times of hardship or persecution.
As we prepare for this upcoming study, we’ve developed church history notebooking pages to better capture the memorable stories, facts, or quotes of over 50 different missionaries and martyrs from the early church to modern times. These notebooking pages include the following eras of church history:
- Early Church, with notable persons such as Perpetua, St. Augustine of Hippo, and Constantine
- Middle Ages, with notable figures and events such as Charlemagne, the Crusades, and Elizabeth of Hungary
- The Reformation, with notable figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin
- Post-Reformation/Awakening, with notable figures such as John Bunyan and John Newton
- Early Modern Missions with notable figures such as William Carey, Samuel Morris, and Amy Carmichael
- Recent Times/Modern Church with notable figures such as C.S. Lewis, Jim Elliot, and Richard Wurmbrand
These notebooking pages correspond to Trial & Triumph: Stories from Church History, God’s Timeline: The Big Book of Church History, and The Torchlighters DVDs and Activity Book, which are three of the resources used in our Mission Faith Forgers Curriculum Plan.
There are three different options available, primary ruled (for young writers) featuring one historical person/event per page, wide ruled (for older writers) featuring one historical person/event per page, and a wide-ruled condensed version for older students featuring two historical persons/events per page:
For a reading plan that follows this church history notebooking packet and takes you through an overview of church history in one semester, check out our Mission Faith Forgers Homeschool Curriculum.
You can learn more about our Mission Great Commission curriculum by reading this Mission Great Commission overview.