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Costly Mission: Following Christ into the Slums
This second book in the new urban ministry series offers profound insight into the inner struggles of one called to mission in the slums of the city.
Duncan's story is one of loss, pain and perseverance as he sought to encourage development in the Manila slum of Damayan Lagi. This candid narrative portrays the journey of a man who set out to live mission with the call of God in his heart and sheer determination. But it also reveals the broken heart of a missionary when he can no longer hear the call and his determination fails.
Duncan's tribulations attest to the well-known but often forgotten fact that mission is indeed costly - often at a personal level. Duncan comments, "The discipleship of loss is disturbingly scriptural. I have had more pain and suffering as a Christian than I ever did as a non-Christian. But the pain in God's service need not surprise us. If the gospel cost Jesus his life, then surely that same gospel will also cost us dearly."
Duncan's story is more than inspirational - it provides valuable lessons about the nature of modern-day mission. For anyone considering front-line mission, for anyone incarnating the gospel and for anyone who is called to minister in the inner city, Costly Mission is necessary reading.
Michael Duncan is a New Zealander who took over from Viv Grigg as leader of Servants to Asia's Poor in Manila. For nine years the Duncans lived in a Manila slum before returning to their native New Zealand. After 16 months in New Zealand, the Duncan family began 1996 by moving to Australia, where Michael has become pastor of St. Kilda Baptist Church, an urban ministry on the margins of inner city Melbourne.
Duncan's story is one of loss, pain and perseverance as he sought to encourage development in the Manila slum of Damayan Lagi. This candid narrative portrays the journey of a man who set out to live mission with the call of God in his heart and sheer determination. But it also reveals the broken heart of a missionary when he can no longer hear the call and his determination fails.
Duncan's tribulations attest to the well-known but often forgotten fact that mission is indeed costly - often at a personal level. Duncan comments, "The discipleship of loss is disturbingly scriptural. I have had more pain and suffering as a Christian than I ever did as a non-Christian. But the pain in God's service need not surprise us. If the gospel cost Jesus his life, then surely that same gospel will also cost us dearly."
Duncan's story is more than inspirational - it provides valuable lessons about the nature of modern-day mission. For anyone considering front-line mission, for anyone incarnating the gospel and for anyone who is called to minister in the inner city, Costly Mission is necessary reading.
Michael Duncan is a New Zealander who took over from Viv Grigg as leader of Servants to Asia's Poor in Manila. For nine years the Duncans lived in a Manila slum before returning to their native New Zealand. After 16 months in New Zealand, the Duncan family began 1996 by moving to Australia, where Michael has become pastor of St. Kilda Baptist Church, an urban ministry on the margins of inner city Melbourne.
- GenresChristian
135 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 27, 2016
“Costly Mission” has taken its place among the most personal and honest stories of service I have ever read. On the surface, it is a brief summary of the highs and lows of 9 years of Christian ministry spent among the poor in the slums of Manila. Really, though, it is a book around the true meaning of Christianity and the true practice of Christian service. Michael Duncan is intent in taking us case by case through everything he did wrong – and he did so many things wrong! – so that we may not make the same mistakes he did….or, at least, recognize them sooner and rectify them quicker.
Costly Mission is a very raw book. Duncan wrote it fairly soon after leaving the field, and as a result the pain of the trials that he and his family and their poor neighbors went through there drips from the pages. Yet a very interesting aspect of the book is that this 2nd edition published a decade later also contains epilogues to each chapter, reflecting on the lessons Duncan has learned in the proceeding dec-ade with more distance from the events. These epilogues are an invaluable part of the book and I wouldn’t suggest reading an edition without them.
Rarely have I read a book as upfront and firm in what it states as Costly Mission. Yet rarely also have I read a book by an author who was as devoted as Duncan to shaping what he knows by experience, un-derstanding, and prayer. Read it, and take it seriously. The service that Mr. Duncan and his family went through for 9 years in Manila was a service for God, and he has words of God to speak to us as a result of it.
Costly Mission is a very raw book. Duncan wrote it fairly soon after leaving the field, and as a result the pain of the trials that he and his family and their poor neighbors went through there drips from the pages. Yet a very interesting aspect of the book is that this 2nd edition published a decade later also contains epilogues to each chapter, reflecting on the lessons Duncan has learned in the proceeding dec-ade with more distance from the events. These epilogues are an invaluable part of the book and I wouldn’t suggest reading an edition without them.
Rarely have I read a book as upfront and firm in what it states as Costly Mission. Yet rarely also have I read a book by an author who was as devoted as Duncan to shaping what he knows by experience, un-derstanding, and prayer. Read it, and take it seriously. The service that Mr. Duncan and his family went through for 9 years in Manila was a service for God, and he has words of God to speak to us as a result of it.
February 19, 2009
Review by Janet M. JOHNSON
READ MORE AT:
http://www.tear.org.au/education/revi...
With raw honesty, a humble heart and great compassion, Michael Duncan has delivered a book that challenges, educates and inspires its readers to 'get uncomfortable' for the gospel. Its accessible 130 pages share mistakes, achievements and practical and positive ways to actively care for the poor both in Australia and on the international mission field.
What strikes the reader more than anything is the godliness of Duncan's journey, owing not to his achievements and experiences living within the slums of Manila, but to his willingness to humbly pour out his broken heart, doubting faith and to share mistakes and actions he isn't proud of. Duncan's uncompromising faithfulness to God's word throughout it all is both exciting and refreshing.
He devotes much of the book to the importance of holding the balance between social justice and evangelism, and how to practically ensure that social justice does not mean liberal theology. This is an invaluable and perspective-shifting read, a vital resource especially for those planning to, or who have delved into, incarnational missional communities both in Australia and overseas.
READ MORE AT:
http://www.tear.org.au/education/revi...
With raw honesty, a humble heart and great compassion, Michael Duncan has delivered a book that challenges, educates and inspires its readers to 'get uncomfortable' for the gospel. Its accessible 130 pages share mistakes, achievements and practical and positive ways to actively care for the poor both in Australia and on the international mission field.
What strikes the reader more than anything is the godliness of Duncan's journey, owing not to his achievements and experiences living within the slums of Manila, but to his willingness to humbly pour out his broken heart, doubting faith and to share mistakes and actions he isn't proud of. Duncan's uncompromising faithfulness to God's word throughout it all is both exciting and refreshing.
He devotes much of the book to the importance of holding the balance between social justice and evangelism, and how to practically ensure that social justice does not mean liberal theology. This is an invaluable and perspective-shifting read, a vital resource especially for those planning to, or who have delved into, incarnational missional communities both in Australia and overseas.
June 7, 2010
It has been a while since I have picked up a book while browsing in the library, but the author of this book, Michael Duncan, caught my eye. I had read another book about his experiences in Manila called Servants Among the Poor which had shaped the way I saw work amongst the poor and this one seemed short enough. A friend who has done work in Bangkok in the slums had also recommended the book to me.
To be honest, it's brevity almost made me give it four stars. Duncan has so many excellent ideas and he hits you with new ones every single chapter. But it isn't as rich a book as it could be with the ideas more fleshed out.
But I don't think that was the purpose of the book. The purpose was to give good and hard reflection on him and his family's time in Manila. To reflect on the struggles and challenges, the victories and defeats. And to emerge with a better understanding of who God is and what mission and ministry are. And to that goal he definitely succeeded.
I only wish his wife had written a chapter or two. it would have been excellent to have received her perspective.
Definitely a book I want to purchase and return to in time to come.
To be honest, it's brevity almost made me give it four stars. Duncan has so many excellent ideas and he hits you with new ones every single chapter. But it isn't as rich a book as it could be with the ideas more fleshed out.
But I don't think that was the purpose of the book. The purpose was to give good and hard reflection on him and his family's time in Manila. To reflect on the struggles and challenges, the victories and defeats. And to emerge with a better understanding of who God is and what mission and ministry are. And to that goal he definitely succeeded.
I only wish his wife had written a chapter or two. it would have been excellent to have received her perspective.
Definitely a book I want to purchase and return to in time to come.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews