I read this book a few years ago, but when I was looking for some reading material to take on my recent trip to Asia, I decided it was worth reading again. I’m glad I made this decision, for Escobar’s words remain timely for the church, mission agency, missionary, and everyone who has a heart for missions today.

Escobar’s thesis revolves around the shift taking place, in which the majority of Christians no longer live in the West, but in Africa and Asia. Escobar reminds the reader that as a result of this shift, we must be diligent in separating Western concepts from the gospel. For far too long, he says, aspect of Western culture have been intermingled with Biblical truth. The necessary separation presents a challenge to the Western church to be willing to hear our brothers and sisters from other parts of the world as they express the gospel in their local contexts.

Escobar also discusses pre-modern, modern, and postmodern issues. He sees the postmodern generation questioning the rational view held by the modern generation, and notes that postmoderns see the value of learning from other generations. The postmodern generation realizes that while we may not agree with other religions, we certainly must be willing to learn from them. Escobar’s purpose in discussing this topic is to point out another shift is taking place, and this time on our own turf and among our own children.

The author also discusses globalization. He tells the story of sitting in a cabin in the eastern jungles of Peru, attended to by a young man wearing a “Pepsi” T-shirt, while he accessed his email, where a pop-up window invited him to join an online dating service while he was reading a message from his son in Bosnia. Escobar concludes, “One aspect of the globalization process affecting the brave new world order in which mission takes place in the twenty-first century is that the media propagates around the world the signs of the deep culture change that has taken place in the West. There has been an erosion of Christian influence on forces that shape culture, such as legislation, education, the media or art….We live in a post-Christian, postmodern world, a stark reality that missionaries cannot afford to ignore” (pg 69).

Escobar finally calls the missionary, and the church, to a life of “service both of the spiritual in proclaiming the Word and of the physical meeting human needs, according to Jesus’ model and in his name. In this new era of globalization this means new patterns of cooperation and new forms of partnership for mission” (pg 154).

To me it seems his bottom line is that in the midst of all the changes taking place in the world, we must ready ourselves for the “global partnership of churches” (pg 164) and that this partnership, while indispensable for mission, will challenge us deeply. We are accustomed to sitting in the driver’s seat, but our role is shifting due to the sheer numbers of Christians living in other parts of the world. Christianity will no longer look Western, and we must be ready to encounter this change and know how to respond.

I find Escobar’s writing tedious at times. On occasion I became lost as I tried to decipher his point in the midst of many examples interwoven with biblical commentary. Nevertheless, I recommend that you read or re-read Escobar’s book. While I don’t agree with everything he says, what he’s written will cause you to think and react to the issues he discusses—issues which I believe are even more pertinent today than when he wrote the book four years ago.

About the Author
Samuel Escobar, a leading Latin American theologian, was one of the key participants in the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. A native of Peru, he serves as professor of missiology at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and is theological consultant for the Board of International Ministries in Valencia, Spain. He is also president of the United Bible Societies and past president of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. (from Amazon.com)