Andre Leferge

Touching Smyrna Andre Leferge

It's not often that a book grabs your attention and makes you want to keep turning the pages. It's not common that you get caught up with, and find yourself caring about, the characters. Or that the pace is exhilarating. Or that the breadth and scope of the book is breathtaking. And dare I say it - it's even rarer that such a book is, in its very essence, a book about living faith in Christ. Yet this book is all of those things. I read the first draft while on a car journey through the beautiful Highlands of Scotland, and didn't want to put it down. The resonances of Africa and of the USA felt real and immediate, the characters very human. For this is not merely a book of fiction. I know the author well. I know of his passions and his experiences. And this book reflects them well, and does so creatively, yet accurately. None of these scenarios are wildly fanciful. Far from it. In many instances the details are as real as the backdrop is accurate. The tragedies and the triumphs, the transformations and the truculence are not only viable, but in many cases happened in much the way you read them here. For above all else this is a book about God's heart for his world, and the potential of individuals, captivated by his freedom, to make a difference his way in his world. The book is a journey towards what authentic, lived-out discipleship might look and feel like: not just internally and ego-centrically, but on a world stage. Which, after all, was the missional drive behind the commission of Christ to the first disciples. To make disciples of all nations (tè ethnè); of every people group, everywhere. The call to authentic discipleship is at one and the same time a call to personal integrity and intimacy with Christ, and a call to global engagement and transformation. None of it is possible without the empowering and infilling of the person and power of God's life and breath, his Holy Spirit. This transcends circumstances; goes beyond what we practically have or do not have. This is what truly defines who and how we are, and can be in God's world. These are the riches of Christ; ours at his expense. This book provokes us to live radically for him and make the difference. I urge you to read it, enjoy it, be irritated by it. And to seek to live it. Pete Gilbert. (Founder, DNA discipleship course)