EMQ » April–June 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 2
Knowing God to Make Him Known: Living Out the Attributes of God Cross-culturally.
By Ed Scheuerman
Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2021
146 pages
US$20.00
Reviewed by Elliot Stephens, trainer, speaker, and researcher on the retention of church planters overseas, having served for 40 years in church planting and leadership development with Pioneers.
What is at the very core of the missionary life? What keeps workers on the field, enduring at times insurmountable obstacles in taking the gospel to the unreached? Scheuerman peels back the layers and argues that before we can do mission, before we can be missionaries, we must know the God of the Bible (1). He advocates that before we can do the work of mission in making God known, we must return to the baseline of a profound pursuit of knowing God.
Scheuerman’s book is a unique and creative portrayal of the attributes of God as experienced throughout the life of a cross-cultural worker. He focuses on twenty different attributes of God which workers can experience throughout the four different phases of cross-cultural ministry: pre-field preparation, departure and entry, field ministry, and return (8–9).
For one example, during the entry stage, when a cross-cultural worker is first entering into a new culture, Scheuerman focuses on God’s immutability. Workers on the field frequently say that the only thing that is constant is change. Cross-cultural stress is off the charts. New workers feel useless and confused. Feelings of disorientation and unmet expectations mark these initial days. The entry stage is when attrition is high (29). Knowing God as the rock and tower of refuge becomes the cry of the heart. “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). Scheuerman argues that a person who knows and clings to the God who does not change is the person who will make it through the entry stage. Why? Because of experiencing this attribute of the never-changing God (54). God becomes the cross-cultural worker’s “home” (52).
Scheuerman walks through the other stages of the cross-cultural journey by highlighting different attributes of God that can and will meet the worker’s need. God’s faithfulness strengthens the worker during the difficult departure to the field. God’s grace paves the way for adjusting to the field and team. God’s wisdom gives the necessary insights for connecting with the people.
Scheuerman does not avoid the difficult topics that need to be addressed. He deals with God’s holiness in the face of many temptations towards impurity (31). He addresses God’s sovereignty and the worker’s life of surrender (21). He deals with God’s grace and dying to self in showing grace to others (57). His book is applicable to today’s challenges in missions.
Scheuerman’s book is a unique combination of missiology, theology, and philosophy. He is extremely practical, avoiding a merely theoretical approach to the topic. Each chapter ends with thought-provoking questions that are crafted to challenge the reader to engage personally and to think towards real application to life and ministry.
This would be an excellent resource for training new workers as they leave for the field. It could be used in either a formal setting, such as a Bible College, or with informal mentoring of new workers. Workers wanting to grow in their understanding of God would find this to be an instructive and encouraging book to read.
For Further Reading
Packer, J. I. Knowing God. IVP Books, 1973.
Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. Harper Collins, 1961.
EMQ, Volume 58, Issue 2. Copyright © 2022 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
