SINGLE MISSION:
Thriving as a single person in cross-cultural
mission
Editors Dr Debbie Hawker & Rev.Tim Herbert
Condeo Press. 302 pages. £5.99
(paperback in the UK by emailing: debbie.
hawker@interhealth.org.uk £2 p&p)
ISBN 978 0 989 244 039
I admit that as a single woman, with 18 years experience working overseas (in several countries), I came to this book biased! I have never liked books, meetings or activities that have been aimed at ‘singles’, making it seem as if they are a third gender.
By chapter 40, however, I had almost been converted! I will now say that I think that the leaders of mission organisations should not only read this book for themselves but make it mandatory reading for all those, single or married, planning to work overseas.
Very positive
This is a very positive book which covers a wide range of ‘difficult’ issues very sensitively and gives some good practical advice. The book is divided into sections and I have to applaud those who have written the chapters on sexuality, an issue that is so often passed over when training mission workers. I like the way that the editors have used writers from different cultures and experience in putting the book together.
The chapter that I felt negative about was chapter six, about being single in a turbulent environment. It seemed to me to be more about being single in a different culture. I was also surprised that, in a book so recently published, the ‘turbulent times’ were set way back in 1984–1995 There are surely many areas today where Christian workers are living and working in very dangerous areas, for example, Afghanistan, Pakistan or CAR.
The concluding chapter was excellent, with some good practical advice given in response to particular problems.
I would still like to see a companion book to this, for married people in cross-cultural mission. In my experience people in this category have also had to return early to their home countries because of problems they have experienced.
