book-reviews-section-emq, EMQ, Section, Volume 61 - Issue 2

Christ Among the Nations: Narratives of Transformation in Global Mission

EMQ » April – July 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 2

Christ Among the Nations: Narratives of Transformation in Global Mission

By Sarita Gallagher Edwards, Robert L. Gallagher, Paul W. Lewis, and DeLonn L. Rance

Orbis Books, 2022
256 pages
US$38.00

*As an Amazon Associate Missio Nexus earns from qualifying purchases.

Reviewed by Nathaniel (Than) Veltman, currently serving as missional scholar in missiology and community development with Mesa Global and coordinator for hybrid education at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

What is the role of narrative in global mission today? Through biblical, historical, and contemporary stories, the authors of Christ Among the Nations demonstrate that narrative holds a unique power for global mission transformation. Narratives are presented with the “hope and prayer that the exemplars found [therein] will guide and inspire the next generation of missionaries, missiologists, and mission statesmen/stateswomen” (xviii). The result is a helpful and accessible resource for global missions today.

Written by Pentecostal missiologists, the book follows A. B. Simpson’s fourfold gospel of salvation, sanctification, healing, and the second coming of Christ. The book, therefore, is divided into four parts, with each section consisting of an introductory chapter followed by biblical, historical, and contemporary narratives highlighting the sectional theme.

In part 1, Robert L. Gallagher narrates the centrality of Christ and the cross in the story of the weeping harlot in Luke 7:36–50. He follows this with a historical narrative of Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg in southern India and a contemporary story of salvation among the people of northern Papua New Guinea.

In part 2, Paul W. Lewis and DeLonn L. Rance join Gallagher to narrate “being a witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, together with living a Christ-like existence” (66) in the examples of St. Ephrem, St. Francis, St. Clare, and Bonhoeffer, and the personal testimonies of recent missionaries Dan, Katy, Ana, and Ray.

Part 3, with the theme of Christ our Healer, attests to “the ongoing healing power of Christ to bring restoration to humanity through his Spirit and his church” (113) through the healing narratives of Jesus, healing accounts of St. Thaumaturgus, St. Cuthbert, the Blumhardts, and Kuhlman, and personal stories of healing in the lives of Jennifer Matheny and Sarah Puckett.

Part 4 focuses on “purpose, hope, and expectancy” of Christ’s coming return (159). Sarita Gallagher Edwards explores this theme in the biblical stories of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, Hannah and Samuel, and Anna and Simeon. Lewis further narrates stories of hope in the lives of St. Irenaeus, Joachim of Fiore, André Crouch, and Jürgen Moltmann. Rance shares personal stories from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Equatorial Guinea.

Every chapter in this volume illuminates the power of narrative in global mission. The narratives contained herein invite reflection on our own participation in global mission. They provoke consideration of stories of Christ’s powerful transformation in the world today that might remain unknown. Readers are challenged to examine stories of transformation in their own lives and communities and whether they remain open, in heart and mind, to encountering these narratives.

Each chapter ends with a list of questions to facilitate personal and communal reflection and engagement. Students of mission, pastors, small groups, and missionaries will all benefit from reading the biblical narratives, historical stories, and personal testimonies that attest to Christ’s transforming power in global mission. Further, the stories in this volume highlight various tools and models to utilize and emulate as we participate in God’s mission around the world.