David W. Scott describes the goals of Crossing Boundaries early in the introduction, “To help you and your church think about mission in new and deeper ways so that you can engage in mission with confidence and clarity, experience the spiritual benefits of joining in God’s mission in the world, and serve God and others more effectively” (xi). This book accomplishes its goal in an accessible, clear manner.
Chapter 1 defines “mission.” It argues against the common view of mission simply as helping, arguing instead for “cultivating relationships across boundaries for the sake of fostering conversations in word and deed about God’s good news” (12). According to Scott, helping programs are not as helpful as often assumed, especially when mutual conversation is not a part of the process. There are many different types of mission, and Scott summarizes Andrew Walls’ and Cathy Ross’ five marks of mission (Mission in the 21st Century: Exploring the Five Marks of Global Mission, Orbis Books, 2008), but the unifying thread is conversation.
Chapters 2 and 3 look through the biblical examples of mission and the gospel. The story of the good Samaritan is considered in detail. Whether one is the good Samaritan or the injured traveler, missional Christians should both give and receive extreme hospitality. Other examples of the good news are shared from Luke 4 (54), 1 Corinthians 15 (57), and Acts 13 (61), among many others. These scriptures are examined through a Wesleyan lens with the end result being an argument against individual perspectives of salvation; instead, the gospel manifests itself through restored relationships across difference.
And this really is the core argument of the book: the good news is realized primarily through restored relationships, especially across social boundaries. This model is described in chapter 4, and involves overcoming stereotypes and implicit biases (83-85), especially related to wealth (81), social status, and race (85). Only after this is done through long-term, non-judgmental relationships and with the help of God, can missionaries really love others as themselves.
Chapter 5 tempers some of the jumps that people might make based solely on chapter 4. Loving across boundaries does not erase the validity of a social construct. The “contexts matter” (100), and are crucial to understanding the gospel. Establishing a relationship across a boundary involves both knowing oneself and knowing another so that the cultural symbols can be adequately translated between contexts. Contexts affect both relationships and articulations of the good news for everyone. Learning about one’s own context or another does not happen best in a library; it happens through continuous dialogue, which happens to be Scott’s main mark of mission. The book’s arguments are consistent and well-reasoned, though more in dialogue with popular thought than academics.
Chapter 6 lays out three metaphors for missions: bridges, gift giving, and cross-pollination. Although cliché, these metaphors are nevertheless useful. As bridge-builders, missionaries should not just build relationships for themselves, but they should make it easier for others to build relationships after them (117). Christian missionaries are gift-givers and gift-receivers (118). These gifts can be both spiritual or physical, and often involve both parties changing as a result of the exchange, which can be thought of as a type of cross-pollination (118). Christians engaged in missions need to be aware that they are not just sent to change others, but to be transformed themselves through the boundary-crossing exchange and through God’s power. These transformations can exist as changes in both thought and action, patterned after God’s work in the world.
Crossing Boundaries fulfills its stated goal, and goes beyond that to present one of the clearest general articulations of missions I have read. It refutes overly simplified models based solely on self-giving, and it replaces them with mutualism. Besides this, it also presents a high-quality, up-to-date annotated bibliography of mostly intermediate level books about missions at the end of each chapter. Scott is clearly a reader, and his book is a compilation of some of the best thoughts to date.
This book may not be relevant for those suspicious of Wesleyan themes, especially when the author talks about Methodists using the first-person plural (60 or 73 among others). However, neither should it be limited to United Methodists, although it is certainly relevant for internal Methodist discussions about the future of the denomination.
If one is looking for new ideas about missions or specific contextualized details about how it should be conceptualized in tricky situations, then other books are better resources, including Scott’s own Mission as Globalization (Lexington Books, 2016) But, again, the purpose of this book is not to provide this kind of academic work. Such books are dutifully listed in the footnotes and “further reading” sections.
This book is a solid practical resource for introducing people to missions, and I recommend it for the task. Arranged in six equal-length chapters with discussion questions at the end of each, it is perfect for Sunday School gatherings or perhaps for a group about to embark on a short-term missions trip. The book is a good launching point for beginning the practice of conversations within a group, with the goal of bringing more people into the broader conversation.
Thomas Hampton is a doctoral student in the Intercultural Studies program at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Thomas Hampton
Date Of Review:
June 29, 2020