EMQ » October–December 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 4
By Cameron D. Armstrong
FaithVenture Media, 2018
198 pages
USD $10.00
Reviewed by Gerald Roe, professor and chair of the Intercultural Studies Department, North Greenville University.
Since the fall of communism in 1989, Romania has been a focal point for the efforts of Western missions and missionaries. One writer states, “Probably no other former satellite country has experienced such a spiritual awakening with hundreds of new churches formed since the 1989 revolution” (https://www.abwe/romania). Unquestionably, if this assessment is true, Romania’s spiritual status can in large part be credited to the last thirty plus years of tireless missionary attention, both short and long term.
To say that all those who have served in Romania were helpful would be both inaccurate and naïve; some were more effective than others. According to author Cameron D. Armstrong, the issue of effectiveness in Romania is one of understanding the importance of “sharing the gospel in culturally appropriate forms, a process missiologists call contextualization …” (Back Cover). For Armstrong, the critical missiological issue in Romania is the building of contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive relationships in all areas of life.
Armstrong brings six years of on-field mission experience in Romania informed by PhD studies in Intercultural Education at the Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University, to full effect in this book. His approach to the subject is grounded in extensive qualitative research. The result of this research is seven well informed essays using both academic research and verbal data gathered from personal, face-to-face interviews. Armstrong explains this approach by saying, “My overall hope is to give an ‘insider’ view of Romanian culture so that Western missionaries like me will actually learn from the source: from Romanians themselves” (v).
Armstrong’s purpose is not to, as he explains, “give definitive answers to cultural questions …” (vi). Rather, he wishes to provide a conceptual framework around which Christians – Romanians or non-Romanians – can wrestle with the essential questions regarding the best way forward missiologically, in Romania.
To build this framework, Armstrong utilizes several disciplines related to missiology, namely anthropology, cross-cultural communication, and world religions, specifically looking at Eastern Orthodoxy. Each discipline is used to undergird his argument regarding the vital importance of understanding, creating, and maintaining contextualized relationships to avoid the danger of overlooking the culture into which the missionary – long or short term – is sent.
Armstrong’s work is thorough and well written. His use of interview verbatims and case studies gives life to the work’s wealth of research data. His passion for Romania is clearly felt, even in working with purely academic material. There are, however, points in the book when connecting the seven essays to one another as a unified whole focused on a single purpose seems rather strained. Still, even at those points, the strength of Armstrong’s purpose and argument are enough to keep the book’s message convincing and tightly focused.
For anyone interested in mission to Romania, or Eastern Europe generally, this work is well worth reading. Additionally, for those interested to engage in conversation regarding contextualization and sharing the gospel through building culturally appropriate relationships, this book is highly recommended.
EMQ, Volume 56, Issue 4. Copyright © 2020 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.
