Thomas A. Lambie: Missionary Doctor and Entrepreneur

[For layout person and cover design person: Blurbs by Paul Bowers and Tibebe Eshete go on back cover. Three other blurbs, by Debela Birri, Margaret Mary Hall, and Shiferaw Wolde Michael, appear on the Front Matter. Delete this note when done.]



“Paul Balisky earlier made a splendid contribution to the academic study of Christianity in modern Ethiopia with his Wolaitta Evangelists: A Study of Religious Innovation in Southern Ethiopia, 1937–1975. Here he has matched that achievement with an account of a singular figure in Protestant mission endeavors in the first half of the twentieth century in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Palestine. In recent decades the remarkable role of Thomas Lambie has been fading from collective memory. But thanks now to the labor of Paul Balisky, not any longer. This story is well worth telling, and Balisky does so effectively.”

—Paul Bowers, editor, BookNotes for Africa



“As a pioneer in the missionary enterprise during the first half of the 1900s, Dr. Thomas Lambie was a household name for our family. Paul Balisky presents an excellent account of Dr. Lambie’s many facets—a risk-taking missionary, gifted writer, optimist even when restricted and hedged about, and a fearless opportunist. Lambie is presented as an indomitable idealist without glossing over his flaws. Here is a missionary biography that deals as well with personal matters that tug at the heart of all who engage in cross-cultural dialogue.”

—Tibebe Eshete, Visiting Professor, Department of History, Michigan State University



“This well-researched biography narrates the life story of a dedicated pioneer medical missionary, the fruits of whose labor lived on and still continue to flourish, as this book makes clear. Paul Balisky is to be highly commended for producing such a detailed and balanced biography of Thomas Lambie, missionary entrepreneur and servant of God. The book is a valuable resource for students of missiology in general and of the evangelical movement in Ethiopia, in particular.”

—Debela Birri, former Director, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, Addis Ababa



“I well recall my mother Betty’s unforgettable heroic stories about the Lambies’ lives in Sudan and Ethiopia. While Grandma Charlotte’s visits to us in England were rare, she was a great letter writer, binding our family together. Both my mother Betty and Grandma Charlotte excelled as mothers and homemakers in places far from home, raising their children, cultivating gardens, and welcoming anybody who dropped by. It gives me great satisfaction to know that their story has now been published.”

—Margaret Mary Hall, granddaughter of Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Charlotte Lambie



“What might an ordinary person who unreservedly yields his life to God look like? Paul Balisky’s biography of Dr. Thomas Lambie reveals human vulnerability, on the one hand, but celebrates God’s love, providence, guidance, and unfailing presence for those who trust in him, on the other hand. This book is of profound importance for those who desire to respond to the call of God to serve cross-culturally. I highly recommend it to local churches, parachurch ministries, and theological schools.”

—Shiferaw Wolde Michael, former President of the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, National Director of Compassion International, Founder of the Ethiopian Child Development Training and Research Centre