Dr. Kenyon has mined the rich veins of his years of experience overseas in Asia to give us more than a 21st Century Manual for Missions; it is a many-faceted jewel of rare cultural insights, combining spiritual acumen with practical instruction, and designed to equip the next generation with tools to fulfill the Great Commission.
He reminds us first of all that the essence of the Gospel is cross-cultural because it is “Incarnational”. Jesus was an alien in his own Jewish culture because He voluntarily left the culture of Light and Love, became an incarnate messenger of the Good News, and was in a sense “hidden behind acts of mercy and goodness”. The author skillfully shows us how the biblical shift of God’s Creation from Blessing to Curse because of man’s sin actually created an “intercultural dissonance”. “When Adam and Eve sinned, the curse bent our cultural lines so much that God’s intended culture of love suddenly became cross-cultural to us as human beings.” (p. 43) So then, “Missio Dei”, God’s mission becomes our mission: “pushing back the curse by dispensing and advancing blessing”. The title of missionary is simply re-defined as one who is a cross-cultural “agent of blessing”. Using the classic image of the “Scarlet Pimpernel” who worked undercover of night and who was most adept at “masking daring deeds of greatness with harmless acts of goodness”, he challenges us to go forward confidently into the darkest places of the earth and become “incarnational” links between earth and the Kingdom of God.
Dr. Kenyon lays out the biblical steps for rethinking our way into cross-cultural work.
- Using Abraham as our model he advises us first to “build an altar” as a trail marker for others to follow.(p.52)
- Joseph becomes a model for Godly dreamers (like David Wilkerson and Martin Luther King, Jr.) to see the world as God sees it, and for His will to become a reality. (p.64)
- Moses is an example of how to become an advocate, one who “influences change and unleashes blessing”. (p.72)
- Moses also creates the template for how to become a “worship leader”, one who “declares by word and deed that God is the Lord of the Universe”. (p. 72)
- Finally, Moses became a “priest trainer”, and calling into active service the priesthood of believers is fundamental to any spiritual ministry, as an “extension of God’s grace to all mankind”. (p.76)
Chapter Eight, “The Value of Human Nature and Human Cultures” is thoroughly transformative and becomes the linchpin of the book. Dr. Kenyon underscores that what makes the Gospel cross-cultural is that it transcends all cultures, meaning that it is beyond them, is distinct, and even opposed, to all human cultures. He refers to the teaching of his Ethics professor, Dr. Daniel McGee, in laying the groundwork for assigning values to role of culture in human behavior: 1) the inherent value of human life itself, 2) the commonality in human life, 3) the diversity within human life, 4) the unique contributions of each life and each stage of life, and 5) the general responsibility of caring for the weak. (p.167) (Substitute the word “culture” for human life)
Dr. Kenyon is convinced that “all human cultures can be transformed by the culture of love without losing the diversity God has purposefully embedded into human cultures”. (p.238) He writes in an easy, contemporary style, is not neglectful of humor, and avoids wowing us with ponderous Christian cliché. Speaking from personal experience as a “night shift” worker in a sensitive culture, he presents an extensive overview of the theology, philosophy and sociology of Missions. In an age that is rapidly descending into greater political turmoil and gross spiritual darkness, he has drawn a bold, new blueprint for those willing to cross cultural borders in the night, and work in hidden ways, while remaining sensitive to the creative ways of God’s Spirit to grant them access, to give them relevant cultural keys, that they might build a “highway for their God”. “For the night cometh when no man can work” (except by the creative power of the Holy Spirit).
