Customer Reviews

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have lived in four different countries and visited many more, but this book really opened my eyes to the ways I could be more sensitive to the cultural differences. I really enjoyed the section where he asked short term missions worker what they thought they had accomplished and compared their answers with with the answers of the people in the country visited. Eye-opening! As so many want to serve abroad, this is a good book to be more thoughtful and more helpful to the places where we go. Marla

As a doctor who goes on short-term mission trips on a regular basis, I felt I ought to read this book. I must admit that the title and the cover had me expecting a dry read. Instead, I found this little book to be extremely pertinent. In fact, it has affected my outlook on much more than the actual mission trips. I'm afraid this book will have limited readership, which is a shame. I would recommend this book for everyone with a Christian world view who has any interaction with people from different worldviews or cultures. Isn't that almost all Christians, except maybe those who intentionally separate themselves (e.g. the Amish)? I wish the book had been titled "Engaging the World: Being a Christian with Cultural Intelligence" or something like that. I'm glad I ran across a book review and decided to check out this gem.

With the amount of money spent on short term missions trips, it is about time that we begin to take a critical look at them. The majority of short term missions trips that I've seen advertised have 2 selling points: 1) the positive change that will take place in the lives of those going on Short Term Missions, 2) All of the amazing sight seeing tours that can be "tacked on" to the Missions trip. This book challenges the motivation for such trips and causes one to focus on the people that we are supposed to be serving, rather than the benefits to the short term missionary. I would recommend this book for anyone considering a short term mission. I would emphatically recommend it for "habitual" short termers.

This book gave me a better understanding of my own culture and how it influences the way that we Americans do missions.

David Livermore's Serving With Eyes Wide Open is the best resource I have ever seen on serving the world church with cultural intelligence. As a long-term missionary of 34 years, I have frequently worried and fretted about American youth groups, synodical tour groups, and short term missionaries who confidently breeze into an Asian, Latin American or African setting armed with plenty of good intentions but with little cultural sensitivity and intelligence. Many leave as ignorant as they come, totally unaware of the problems their individualistic, achievement-oriented personalities and programs have created for national counterparts. Kudos to David Livermore! It's about time a manual like this was written - not only for those taking short term mission trips but for anyone desiring to serve in another cultural setting with eyes wide open.

While there are times that it feels like Livermore is implying that short-term missions are more harmful than helpful (which he repeatedly says is not his view), the basic thesis that we should be thoughtful, careful, and aware while doing cross-cultural missions is absolutely correct.

For those who want to have a global perspective on life and a realistic view of culture and its influences, this is a very good "primer".

It is not a how-to book or a "training manual" for short-term missions. It is what the title says, an "eye-opener" -- not in the sense that there is anything surprising for those who have served cross-culturally, but in the sense that it reminds us to be aware of ourselves as much as we are aware of others.

In essence, its purpose is to set the stage for thinking wisely about how best to do short-term missions, an endeavor well worth looking into further. I very much enjoyed this book for its accessibility combined with research and insightful thinking.

If you are interested in missions of any kind, you need to read this book, in part because it challenges the assumptions and the industry known as "short term missions." For decades Christians have been traveling overseas for short periods of time to build facilities, assist in medical care, Teach English as a Second Language (TESL), bring food or distribute clothing and much more, along with sharing the Gospel and experiencing a spiritual high that we've all heard about in bonfire testimonies when the short term mission team returns.

Dr. Livermore is not opposed to such humanitarian and spiritual outreach, but he is concerned and at times alarmed at how "Western" or how "American" we go about these trips--with little or no advice from Christian nationals. He believes short term missions is at a crossroads, and it needs to be re-visioned and restructured.

This is a thought-provoking and probably long overdue book. If the American Christian Church has been reasonably faithful and zealous in supporting "worldwide missions" it has also been guilty of going at it in the "Yankee way," even if largely unintentionally. So we need to take a break and recalibrate. The world is at once still huge and still amazingly "unreached," yet it is a "flat world" wherein cultures and practices are known and available and where communications and transportation technology bring us ever closer in touch if not closer together.

Who says our way is the only way?--I'm not talking about, nor is Dr. Livermore, biblical doctrine, just methodology and practice. We now need to learn from "them"--Christian nationals--as much as they need to learn from "us."

I highly recommend this book.

A must-read for teams going on short term or even long term missions, this book will open yoyr eyes to being culturally aware on a global scale. Well worth the money

I read this book in conjunction with two other books: When Helping Hurts, and Churches That Make a Difference. All three are great (and if you have the time to read all three, there is a real synergy between the three that will make it worthwhile.) But anyone who is planning on going on a short-term mission project or who has leadership in a church/school/organization that sends people on such projects MUST read this book. Too often our short term mission projects are counter-productive. Livermore suggests a number of ways to make sure that we aren't doing more harm than good. This is a must read.

this book was for my best friend but i never thought i would learn so much from it too. it is definitely not the usual write-up on missions. i've been out on the mission field for a few years yet it sure opened my eyes to cultural issues + matters which i never thought about. if you desire to prepare yourself + to have a better understanding about being in missions (whether short or long term), this material is positively recommended! :)

This book came as a recommendation from friends who also do missions. I enjoyed the cultural awareness this book provided as well as the important message that we are not to go and push our agendas on the countries we are working in. I took away some valuable information from this book that I was able to apply when I did missions.

At times the wording was a bit hard to follow - I did take enough away to make this a good purchase and a recommended book.