Author Glenn Schwartz served in Zambia and Zimbabwe during the 1960s. He returned to the States in the 70s to serve as an administrator in Fuller Seminary’s School of World Missions. Since 1983 he has been serving as the Executive Director of World Mission Associates.

I recommend this book as a “must read” for anyone involved in global missions. I do need to give you a word of warning, however, that the book is a bit pedantic. The preface admits, “this book is a compendium of the author’s writings over the past decade or more. It is not a concise, concentrated treatment of dependency in the Christian movement. Nor does it seek to address one audience only. Sections of it are addressed to church leaders, others to missionaries, mission executives and short-termers.”

The chapters are constructed in such a way that Schwartz concludes each with a summary statement, questions for discussion, and suggested reading (indeed, the bibliography alone is of great value for those wanting to research this issue for themselves). I feel that at times the author is too extreme in his view that money can take away dignity, but nonetheless I think his cautions are important to consider at a time when money is pouring out indiscriminately from the US, and other countries, into target nations.

Schwartz illustrates his points with ample stories, which are mostly from his experiences in central and South Africa, but they serve to prove his points. He describes the syndrome of dependency, gives a historical development of this syndrome, and discusses what local leaders and missionaries can do to avoid or break the dependency syndrome. Schwartz also discusses the issues of dependency among the poor and unemployed and discusses the triggers that move people from dependency to self-reliance. This gives you a sampling of the 24 major topics discussed in this book.

I found the author’s view on supporting nationals very interesting. He compares the expense involved in sending North American missionaries to the cost of supporting nationals. He cautions that as enticing as it might be to support nationals at a fraction of the cost of a Western missionary, in doing so we are actually depriving the local people of supporting those within their own community. He adds that in certain places local evangelists who are supported by foreign money are perceived as “paid foreign agents.” Schwartz concludes, “This is such a significant problem in places like India that nonbelievers assume that if one is even a Christian, they are being paid from overseas.”

I highly recommend this book because I feel this is a subject we must address if we are going to enter another culture in a productive and helpful way. This book will challenge your thinking and push you to determine your position on these matters.