Big man’s biography

PIONEER MISSIONARY, EVANGELICAL STATESMAN
A Life of A.T. (Tim) Houghton
By Timothy Yates
AuthorHouse. 152 pages. £5.99 (or £10.50 hardback)
ISBN 978 1 456 772 314
Available from http://www.authorhouse.co.uk

The name Houghton became associated with remarkable missionary endeavours in the 20th century across the world.

This book is the life story of one of the dynasty whose life spanned almost the whole century. Following military service in India and Burma, A.T. Houghton returned to England to train as a missionary; he had answered an elderly lady’s question in 1910, about whether he was going to be a missionary, with a ‘I hope so’, and now he sought to honour that commitment.

From 1924 until 1939, AT and his family pioneered in Northern Burma under the new missionary society BCMS (now Crosslinks). As he returned to Burma in 1934 to take up the role of assistant bishop, his ship was sunk in the North Atlantic and this plan was superseded. AT was appointed as the second General Secretary of BCMS, a post he held from 1945 to 1966. From 1951 to 1969, AT was Chairman of Keswick. He was Chairman of the Church of England Evangelical Council, handing over to John Stott, and involved in the Evangelical Fellowship of the Anglican Communion and the Keele Congress of 1967. AT was an Anglican evangelical leader. John Stott preached at his funeral, mentioning AT’s concerns for truth, holiness, mission and unity. This short book, covering a remarkable man in fascinating times, whets the appetite to know much more.

Andy Lines,

Mission Director of Crosslinks, attends Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, London