Crying in the Wilderness: Evangelism and Mission in Today's Culture
By David Smith
Paternoster Press. 89 pages
ISBN 0 85364 811 5
What do you want from a Christian book? I want to be challenged and stimulated, have my mind informed and my heart warmed. To have a better grasp of the gospel through reading it, and a nudge or even a push in the direction of living a more godly life.
By such criteria, this book receives an enthusiastic 8/10. It really is quite excellent and I do not hesitate to commend it. David Smith wants us to hear the cry from our contemporary world. It's a cry of anguish, lostness and despair. But his real intention is that having heard it, the church makes an appropriate response. We cannot rely on past glories, nor look to tried and trusted methods for answers. We need to reach out to people in our own culture, and show how the unchangeable gospel answers their pressing questions.
I found it very readable and educational. The breadth of the author's own reading is remarkable. His analysis is perceptive, and the historical grasp impressive. Not only does he identify where we are in the Western world, he also shows how we have arrived at this point, and then asks whether this is a junction or a terminus. I think the author's diagnosis is irrefutable, and we must listen to the challenge.
However, the book would have been even better if it had contained more indications as to the remedy. David does get to the heart of it when he writes of the need to recover 'an apostolic vision of the calling of the people of God in this world'. But although he ends by suggesting the need to 'board the right train', there is little advice as to what that train might be. Perhaps that will come in a sequel? In the meantime, let's do more than simply stand waiting on the platform.
