Customer Reviews

Postmission

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If you are familiar with discussions about the characteristics of the so-called Generation X, you will not be surprised at many of the attitudes and characteristics in this interesting little book. What is different is the specific application of the Gen X mindset to missions. Richard Tiplady is not the author but the editor of this book, although he does write the introduction and one of the chapters.

The book is the product of a gathering of 17 Xers on Holy Island in 2001 with the purpose of discussing God's mission and their generation. Every member of the group (six western nations are represented) is in some way passionately involved in global missions. For balance and aged insight, leading missiologist Bill Taylor and his wife Yvonne were invited as "chaperones" -- GREAT choice!

One of the refreshing/maddening characteristics of Xers (depending on if you are on the receiving end or not) is their brutal honesty. That is a highlight of the contributions of each participant. This is not a "how to" book, nor is it an "in-your-face" condemnation of all that is wrong with the previous generation. It is a well-written, reflective and thought-provoking discussion designed to surface the right issues and questions so as to effectively pass the baton of missions from one generation to the next.

Career missionaries and mission executives will benefit the most from this work. Though I would not recommend the book to the average layman, anyone with a good level of experience and knowledge of world missions might be interested in reading this collection of perspectives. Whether or not one agrees with all the opinions expressed, the world is changing rapidly and the generation gap in the Western world is clearly an issue that must be addressed. It would be interesting to see how an Asian, African and Latin American of the same age group would address the issues considered in this book.

This is an excellent resource for anyone wanting or needing to better understand post modernity - even those who consider themselves postmodern. Although it directly deals with post modern culture as it relates to mission, it will be useful to any context where those from Modernity and Postmodernity come together. As a Postmodern myself, it helped me tremendously to understand many of the clashes I have had with my modernist colleagues. It is an edited volume so there are many contributing authors and it closes with a chapter from a Boomer who sees both the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernity.