Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence

by David A. Livermore and David Livermore

Book Overview

Short-term mission trips are great ways to impact the kingdom. Yet they can lack effectiveness because of mistakes or naivet on the part of participants. In this insightful and timely book, David A.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801066166
• ISBN13: 9780801066160
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Usable Book for Doing Missions with Cultural Intelligence

While there are times that it feels like Livermore is implying that short-term missions are more harmful than helpful (which he repeatedly says is not his view), the basic thesis that we should be thoughtful, careful, and aware while doing cross-cultural missions is absolutely correct. For those who want to have a global perspective on life and a realistic view of culture and its influences, this is a very good "primer". It is not a how-to book or a "training manual" for short-term missions. It is what the title says, an "eye-opener" -- not in the sense that there is anything surprising for those who have served cross-culturally, but in the sense that it reminds us to be aware of ourselves as much as we are aware of others. In essence, its purpose is to set the stage for thinking wisely about how best to do short-term missions, an endeavor well worth looking into further. I very much enjoyed this book for its accessibility combined with research and insightful thinking.

Beyond good intentions

David Livermore's Serving With Eyes Wide Open is the best resource I have ever seen on serving the world church with cultural intelligence. As a long-term missionary of 34 years, I have frequently worried and fretted about American youth groups, synodical tour groups, and short term missionaries who confidently breeze into an Asian, Latin American or African setting armed with plenty of good intentions but with little cultural sensitivity and intelligence. Many leave as ignorant as they come, totally unaware of the problems their individualistic, achievement-oriented personalities and programs have created for national counterparts. Kudos to David Livermore! It's about time a manual like this was written - not only for those taking short term mission trips but for anyone desiring to serve in another cultural setting with eyes wide open.

A long overdue critical look at STM

With the amount of money spent on short term missions trips, it is about time that we begin to take a critical look at them. The majority of short term missions trips that I've seen advertised have 2 selling points: 1) the positive change that will take place in the lives of those going on Short Term Missions, 2) All of the amazing sight seeing tours that can be "tacked on" to the Missions trip. This book challenges the motivation for such trips and causes one to focus on the people that we are supposed to be serving, rather than the benefits to the short term missionary. I would recommend this book for anyone considering a short term mission. I would emphatically recommend it for "habitual" short termers. This book gave me a better understanding of my own culture and how it influences the way that we Americans do missions.

Surprisingly good!

As a doctor who goes on short-term mission trips on a regular basis, I felt I ought to read this book. I must admit that the title and the cover had me expecting a dry read. Instead, I found this little book to be extremely pertinent. In fact, it has affected my outlook on much more than the actual mission trips. I'm afraid this book will have limited readership, which is a shame. I would recommend this book for everyone with a Christian world view who has any interaction with people from different worldviews or cultures. Isn't that almost all Christians, except maybe those who intentionally separate themselves (e.g. the Amish)? I wish the book had been titled "Engaging the World: Being a Christian with Cultural Intelligence" or something like that. I'm glad I ran across a book review and decided to check out this gem.

great questions about cultural differences

I have lived in four different countries and visited many more, but this book really opened my eyes to the ways I could be more sensitive to the cultural differences. I really enjoyed the section where he asked short term missions worker what they thought they had accomplished and compared their answers with with the answers of the people in the country visited. Eye-opening! As so many want to serve abroad, this is a good book to be more thoughtful and more helpful to the places where we go. Marla