The second followed an invitation to become part of the leadership team of WEC International, a large pioneer church-planting mission. The first was to join the OM ship, the MV Logos, for a year in Asia and the Pacific in 1979. The 1978 edition also led to some big changes in Patrick's ministry. Over 2.5 million copies have been distributed around the world in seven editions and some 16 languages, and the book has played a key role in developing the global vision of African, Latin American and Asian missions. The impact of Operation World is incalculable. This was completed in 1978 and led to many openings for wider ministry. It was reprinted several years later by Ralph Winter of the USCWM, and also prompted George Verwer to set in motion an OM-backed rewrite of the book for global distribution. The second edition appeared in 1973 and covered nearly every country of the world. The first printed booklet with that title, which came out in 1965, was just 30 pages long. It was during this time that he also began the work of gathering data about the world both to inform prayer and for the first editions of Operation World.

He learnt a number of African languages, including siNdebele, chiShona and Afrikaans, and also became involved in translating part of the New Testament into chiNambya, a language spoken in northwest Zimbabwe. In the last of these, he led the first Dorothea Mission team in evangelistic outreach in towns and cities across the country.

Thereafter, they served together in Zimbabwe, where their three children, Peter, Timothy and Ruth, were all born.ĭuring his first six-year term on the field, Patrick served in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). Patrick and Jill eventually were able to marry in 1968 on their first home leave. It was during this time that he met Jill Amsden, a fellow worker from the UK serving in the Dorothea Mission. He went to South Africa in 1962, completing his theological training at the Dorothea Mission Bible College in Pretoria. At a Christian Union meeting, he heard Glyndwr Davies speak about the evangelistic work of the Dorothea Mission in urban townships in southern Africa, and he rose to the challenge and committed his life to serve as a missionary evangelist. He was converted to Christ in 1959 during his first year as a student at Bristol University, while reading Chemistry in preparation to become a research scientist. Patrick Johnstone was brought up in England as the eldest of six siblings, children of an Irish father and a Dutch mother.

In the Country of Hearts by John Stone