VULNERABLE MISSION

BOOK REVIEWS
JEAN JOHNSON. We Are Not the Hero: A Missionary’s Guide for Sharing
Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency. Sisters, OR: Deep River Books,
2012. 335pp. $15.99.
Missionaries strive to leave healthy, indigenous churches that are relevant to their host cultures
and lead by local leaders. These dreams fall short, however, as they settle for planting
unhealthy churches that are too dependent upon the missionary’s skills, resources, and
Western ways of “doing church.” Missionaries unintentionally leave behind unsustainable
models of church growth, leadership, and development that the local church cannot hope
to emulate. What is needed is guidance and coaching to ruminate on the challenges associated
with indigenous church planting.
In her first book, Jean Johnson provides a catalyst for rethinking missionary methods. Johnson
previously spent sixteen years as a missionary in Cambodia, and she currently works
as a leadership coach and consultant for both missionaries and indigenous church leaders
with World Missions Associates. As she reflected on the history of Christianity in Cambodia,
as well as her own challenges and failures on the mission field, Johnson came to a realization:
although the mission churches she had helped plant were “healthy” and had good
attendance, they were not able to multiply and grow effectively. These churches were, in
essence, too Western in their worship, preaching, evangelism, and leadership development.
They depended upon Western funds to sustain their outreach and church programs. With
this realization, Johnson began to adjust her efforts in order to plant effective indigenous
churches run by Cambodian leaders. Johnson challenges the reader to a “premeditated”
missiology that focuses on “multiplication, indigeneity, and sustainability among the respective
people groups” with whom they work (13). Using stories, parables, and case studies
from her own time on the field, as well as those of other missionaries, Johnson seeks to share
her new missiological understanding with her readers.
Johnson’s mantra throughout the book is, “Day 1 affects Day 100” (64). Missionaries often
focus much of their time, effort, and energy on how to enter the culture. Even more
important, however, is for the missionaries to focus on how to phase themselves out of the
work. Sustainability must be worked into the DNA of the church from the first day, in the
way that we reach out to the community and conduct evangelism. Indigenous evangelism
focuses on relevant cultural forms: stories and songs, parables and poetry, etc. When the
gospel is shared in culturally relevant ways, Christianity is no longer seen as a “foreign religion”
and the new converts can easily share what they have learned.
Shockingly, Johnson calls missionaries not to plant churches. When missionaries begin
planting churches, they unknowingly import Western forms of church: singing translated
Western songs instead of using indigenous melodies; preaching expository sermons instead
of telling stories; training through seminary classes rather than coaching and modeling.
Instead of planting churches, Johnson calls the reader to plant the gospel:
Allowing the gospel (God’s presence and transformational work) to take root within a community
in such a way that the community expresses and spreads its faith in an organic manner.
. . . This organic expression may look very different from the cross-cultural communicator’s
church experience. (241)
In order to build a sustainable evangelistic movement, missionaries must be intentional in
every action they undertake. From the very beginning, missionaries should do evangelism
163