Sources: various
Spirituality and Missions
Sojourner’s Workbook: A Guide to Thriving Cross-Culturally, by Connie Befus. BottomLine Media, 2018. 142 pages; paperback. Does it have to be this hard, or are there ways to make cross-cultural adjustment easier? The author, a skilled counselor, blends psychologically based coping skills with scriptural truth and spiritual disciplines. This book, built around seven goals for a missionary’s first year, might be especially effective in the hands of team and ministry leaders as they equip and encourage new workers.
Spirituality in Missions: Embracing the Lifelong Journey, edited by John Amalraj, Geoffrey W. Hahn, and William D. Taylor. William Carey Library, 2018. 438 pages; ebook or paperback. Authors from 18 countries give us their perspectives on biblical principles and cultural expressions of spirituality particularly as the church engages in God’s mission.
History and Global Christianity
Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A World Tour of the Spread of Christianity, by Brian C. Stiller. IVP Books, 2018. 248 pages; ebook or paperback. What led to the church’s vibrant growth throughout the “Global South”? Brian Stiller of the World Evangelical Alliance draws on extensive research to identify and describe five key factors that have shaped the church, from a renewed openness to the move of the Holy Spirit to the empowerment of indigenous leadership.
Stiller’s book arrived while I was reading two others that cover some of the same ground, both published by academic publishers in 2015:
Scott Sunquist’s The Unexpected Christian Century: The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, 1900-2000 explains how “Christianity moved from being centered in Christian nations to being centered in non-Christian nations” with surprising rapidity and in the process became stronger than ever. Great book.
Douglas Jacobsen’s Global Gospel: An Introduction to Christianity on Five Continents provides a brief history of four Christian traditions and their historical and contemporary expression in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia and North America. (Prefer video? See the Global Christianity channel on YouTube for free videos designed to accompany Jacobsen’s book.)
Memoir
Love, Amy: An Accidental Memoir Told in Newsletters from China, by Amy Young. CreateSpace, 2017. 252 pages; ebook or paperback. This book sounds like a fun read, neatly providing three things: an epistolary memoir of one missionary’s experience, a window on life in China, and a tool to help cross-cultural workers write better newsletters to their supporters (with tips and tools at the end of each section).
Evangelism and Apologetics
A Christian Reads the Qur’an, by James Wright. CreateSpace, 2018. 290 pages; ebook or paperback. This unusual book, written primarily for those who revere the Qur’an but also for those who want to share the good news with them, is a conversation between a Muslim and a Christian walking through the pages of the Qur’an and bridging to an understanding of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels.
Education
Finally, here’s one for the homeschooling families. Mission: World Wonders Reading Plan is a curated reading list and curriculum integrating a study of world history, world missions, and world cultures. Quite the package!