C. T. Studd (For Children)

It is a children’s version of the full-length biography of C. T. Studd. It tells how a rich boy who loved cricket played for England, gave away his fortune to follow Jesus, worked in China and India, and at fifty-two went to the Congo, in the middle of Africa, where a great church grew in the forest.

Charles Thomas Studd, called Charlie, was an English missionary who lived from 1860 to 1931. He played cricket for England in 1882 and 1883, sailed for China in 1885 as one of the Cambridge Seven, gave away almost all of his inheritance, was a pastor in India, and in 1913 went to the north-east of the Congo. The mission he started there became WEC International, and the church that grew from it is led today by Congolese Christians.

Every chapter is short and made to be read aloud. It begins with a Bible verse, tells one part of Charlie’s story, shows one simple thing it means for you, and ends with a short prayer. Three questions follow, to talk about together.

Some parts are sad. Charlie and Priscilla lost two baby sons, they lived apart for many years, and Charlie was often ill. The book tells these things gently, without frightening detail. Above all it is a happy story of a man who gave everything to Jesus with joy, and of the Congolese and Chinese Christians who carried the good news to their own people.

Yes. They come from the full-length biography, which is built on records such as the cricket scores and the reports of the Cambridge Seven, and on what his family and friends remembered. When a story comes only from family memory, like his last word, “Hallelujah,” the book says so. It also says plainly that the famous lines “Only one life” were lines he loved, not lines he wrote.

It is for children, to be read aloud by a grown-up or read by an older child alone. There is also a teen edition, and the full-length biography for older readers.