Helen Roseveare

Dr. Helen Roseveare was an English Christian missionary to the Congo from 1953 to 1973. Helen Roseveare went to the Congo through WEC International and practised medicine and also trained others in medical work. She stayed through the hostile and dangerous political instability in the early 1960s. In 1964 she was taken prisoner of rebel forces and she remained a prisoner for five months, enduring beatings and rapings. She left the Congo and headed back to England after her release but returned to the Congo in 1966 to assist in the rebuilding of the nation. She helped establish a new medical school and hospital (the other hospitals that she built were destroyed) and served there until she left in 1973.

Helen Roseveare was born in England in 1925. She became a Christian as a medical student in Cambridge University in 1945. She continued to have strong links with the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union and was designated as the "CICCU missionary" during the 1950s and 1960s. Since her return from Africa, she has had a worldwide ministry in speaking and writing. She was a plenary speaker at the Urbana Missions Convention three times. She is now retired and lives in Northern Ireland. Her life of service was portrayed in the 1989 film "Mama Luka Comes Home".

Works

* "Doctor among Congo rebels", (1965)
* "Give Me This Mountain", (1966, 1985) — autobiography
* "Doctor returns to Congo", (1967)
* "He Gave Us A Valley", (1977, 1995) — autobiography

* "Living Sacrifice", (1979
* "Living Holiness", (1986)
* "Living Faith", (1988)
* "Living stones : seventy-five years of WEC International", (1988)
* "Living Fellowship", (1992)

* "On Track, The Story of the Girl Crusaders' Union 1915-1990", (1990)

* "Digging Ditches", (2005) Geanies: Christian Focus, ISBN 1-84550-058-X.

Bibliography

* Burgess, Alan, "Daylight must come : the story of Dr Helen Roseveare", London : Joseph, (1975); pbk. London : Pan Books, (1977), ISBN 0-330-25063-9.
* Lagerborg, Mary Beth, "Though Lions Roar: The Story of Helen Roseveare : Missionary Doctor to the Congo", (Faith's Adventurers), ISBN 0-87508-663-2.
* Isaac, Peter, "A History of Evangelical Christianity in Cornwall", — privately published (Polperro) by the author (2001).
Chapter 17, "Twentieth-Century Missionaries" tells the story of Helen Roseveare.
* Bob Roseveare, her brother, has published a study of the "Roseveare" family history.

Video

* [http://www.cta.uk.com/shop.asp?pid=96 "Mama Luka Comes Home"] , [http://www.cta.uk.com Christian Television Association] (of the UK)

External links

* [http://www.intouch.org/gen_content/index_627258_36808034.html Interview with Helen Roseveare]
* [http://www.e-n.org.uk/2005-09/3132-Digging-ditches.htm Another Interview with Dr. Roseveare]
* [http://chi.gospelcom.net/women/rosevear.shtml The Story About Mama Luka (Helen Roseveare)]
* [http://www.cmf.org.uk/literature/content.asp?context=article&id=758 Helen Roseveare's seminar on 'maintaining spirituality']
* [http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/37/2415_A_Call_for_the_Perseverance_of_the_Saints/ A Call for the Perseverance of the Saints] delivered at Desiring God's 2007 National Conference