A Global View of Christian Missions from Pentecost to the Present,

The subtitle for "A Global View of Christian Missions" is "from Pentecost to the Present." This subtitle is slightly misleading. Only the first hundred pages of this book are devoted to the history of missions from Pentecost to the beginning of what many call the modern missionary movement. Much of Kane's emphasis is on Protestant missions beginning with William Carey in the late eighteenth century. After the first hundred pages the book takes a regional view of missions addressing the missionary movements in each country. This country by country account of missions is an interesting way at looking at history. The drawback is that there are many events, people, and movements that will overlap from country to country. This exercise of looking at each individual country truly gives the reader a global view of missions. Many missions books will generalize and overlook the smaller nations, but this book takes the reader to every single nation on the planet and shows the reader the work of the church in that nation. There were a few things that impressed me as I read this book. First was the work of the Moravians. In doing research for other projects I have learned a little bit about Zinzendorf and the Moravians, but I was struck by the tremendous missionary zeal of this group. They believed that each person was responsible for the salvation of the world. Their story was a great encouragement to me that the laity must be motivated for ministry, not only at home, but also abroad. The second thing that made an impression upon me from reading this book was the story of William Carey. As a child I heard the story of William Carey, and I knew that he was a missionary to India, but I had no idea of the tremendous impact of his life and ministry. The reader can tell that William Carey is a favorite subject of the author. This is the story of one man whose life was totally surrendered to God. He was willing to do whatever God called him to do. He understood that salvation was a personal decision and that the great commission was still a requirement for the individual Christian and for the church. He not only called the church to missions, but led by example by going to India. When he was there he gave the rest of his life to fulfilling the great commission in India. The final impression I received from "A Global View of Christian Missions" was a global view. Before I read this book I enjoyed history and was a supporter of missions, but I didn't have that total picture or that "global view." Looking at each individual country seems a bit tedious. It probably isn't all that important that I know about the activity of the cause of Christ in Zambia or Malawi, but there is value in this exercise. We get busy and tend to get wrapped up in our own ministry and taking a global view of things is hard. I know plenty of missionaries, but when you take the time to see how God has been working in each country in the world you get a little bi