Review

Not Quite Home: A Journey In Mission by Steve John

Ark House Press, Mona Vale, NSW, 2015

"Steve and Sarah are motivated by love. They took time to learn and understand the culture of the people. They listened to them, and appreciated their customs and traditions. Their desire was that people might come to faith in Christ, but with no intention to change their culture."

Steve John’s Not Quite Home is an honest account of his journey in mission. It is a helpful and highly readable book for all who are interested in participating in the mission of God and is a particularly inspiring and encouraging resource for anyone who wants to serve God cross-culturally, or support and pray for those engaged in mission.

The author has plenty of experience in different cultures. He is an Aussie, but spent his early childhood in Nepal. He came back to Australia and grew up as a third culture kid (third culture kids are children who have been raised in a culture outside their parents’ for a significant part of their childhood). And, of course, Steve, and his wife, Sarah, worked in South-East Asia as cross-cultural workers.

Their journey in mission was costly. After years of waiting and preparation, they travelled to South-East Asia to meet a people they believed God had sent them to. They spent about a year learning the language and getting to know the people. But just as they were settling down and serve God there, they encountered a series of health issues that eventually forced them to come back to Australia. In total they spent almost three years in South-East Asia. Steve John shares the many challenges that he and his family encountered, with his mental illness being a major difficulty they had to deal with. The suffering was great, but their perseverance paid off in the end.

Steve has no intention to paint a picture of triumphalism. Instead, he speaks of God’s power in his weakness. Despite the disappointment of having to return to Australia, Steve and Sarah’s desire to serve God in mission has not waned. God has opened the way for them to participate in God’s mission in Australia - by encouraging others to go, and by telling people their own stories.

What I find most heartening, however, is the ethos and values that Steve upholds. As an East Asian, I value several things in Steve’s journey of mission.

First, I admire his and Sarah’s sacrifice for God and for the people they love. As a recipient of the Gospel in East Asia, I am thankful for the bearers of the Good News who exemplify God’s love in their sacrificial service. Second, their humility is important. The book has no hint of portraying mission as a means to “convert the heathens.” Rather, I find two Aussies willing to spend a huge amount time in learning the local language and sharing their lives with the local people.

Third, they love culture, and they love the people. I know some so-called “missionaries” who are more motivated by converting people than loving them, to the extent that one wonders whether they love them at all. But in this book I find that Steve and Sarah are motivated by love. They took time to learn and understand the culture of the people. They listened to them, and appreciated their customs and traditions. Their desire was that people might come to faith in Christ, but with no intention to change their culture. In the book, for example, Steve tells us his experience of visiting Aceh after the tsunami in 2004, which killed more than 170,000 people. Here we see Steve’s deep sense of love for the people of Aceh - not as a Western foreigner to “save” them from their plight, but as a human being desiring to share his life with other human beings at a time of great pain and suffering.

Finally, I value Steve and Sarah’s lifelong commitment to mission. For them, participating in the mission of God is a long-term vocation. Their steadfast commitment is demonstrated by their continual engagement in mission despite many difficulties and Steve’s mental illness. Their humility and love for people are signs of their dedication to the vocation that God has called them to.

I recommend this book to all followers of Jesus.

5th April, 2016

YAN CHAN