The Insanity of Obedience by Nik Ripken (2014) Paperback

Insanity

by Nik Ripken

Wise Sheep Among the Wolves

All Christian disciples have one thing in common: as they carry the gospel across the ocean and across the street, persecution will become the norm for those who choose to follow Jesus. How believers respond in the face of persecution reveals everything about their level of faith and obedience.

The Insanity of Obedience is a bold challenge to global discipleship. Nik Ripken exposes the danger of safe Christianity and calls readers to something greater. The Insanity of Obedience challenges Christians in the same, provocative way that Jesus did. This book dares you—and prepares you—to cross the street and the oceans with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Some of Jesus’ instructions sound uncomfortable and are potentially dangerous. We may be initially encouraged by His declaration, “I am sending you out.” But how are we to respond when He then tells us that He is sending us out “like sheep among wolves"?

In light of the words of Jesus, how can modern day believers rest comfortably in the status quo? How can we embrace casual faith in light of the radical commands of Jesus which are anything but casual? Ripken brings decades of ministry experience in some of the most persecuted areas of the world to bear on our understanding of faith in Jesus. The Insanity of Obedience is a call to roll up your sleeves . . . and to follow and partner with Jesus in the toughest places on this planet.

"We have the high privilege of answering Jesus’ call to go," Ripken says. "But let us be clear about this: we go on His terms, not ours. If we go at all, we go as sheep among wolves."
 
Jesus gives us Himself.  And He gives us the tools necessary for those who dare to journey with Him.

Genres: Christian, Christian Living, Nonfiction, Theology, Christianity, Faith, Biography

Paperback

First published December 9, 2013

About the author

Nik Ripken is the world's leading expert on the persecuted church in Muslim contexts. He is a missions veteran of 30 years, having served primarily in North Africa and the Middle East. He is the author of The Insanity of God and the new book The Insanity of Obedience. He and his wife have done extensive research on the persecuted church, and on Muslim background believers, in approximately 72 countries.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really, REALLY wish I had read this book four years ago before I got on a plane and said goodbye to America. There is so much practical advice I could have learned here instead of slowly through mistakes and trial and error during my time in Turkey. I can't tell you how often I a light bulb went on where I was like "Oh, that's why this works!" or more often, "Duh. Why didn't I realize that? No wonder I've been moving in circles getting nowhere."

This book is primarily a manual for those who are serving God overseas in difficult places. It is most certainly not, however, a book exclusively for them (us). Anyone who has a heart to help be a sender or an intercessor (please, we need more of you) for those who have gone could greatly benefit from this as well. It will help give a better understanding of what is going through the heart of both those sent ones and the church that is living under persecution. It can help people pray wiser, more targeted prayers.

There are two small things I was not really a fan of, however in this otherwise excellent book. 1) Ripken is a much bigger fan of numbered lists and "boxed up order". I feel that sometimes he is trying to fit dissimilar experiences or interview results together so that everything can fall nicely into his list of seven... (or 9, or 13, or...) Sometimes he also does this with scripture. Ripken is sharing a valid and true point, but then he includes an illustration or application from scripture that doesn't quite fit the context or lesson that scripture story is meant to share. Examples from Abraham and the story of the Ethiopian eunuch come to mind, but the biggest of these for me was his use of the terms Pre-pentecostal, Pentecostal, and post-Pentecostal churches. While what he is saying is valid, the use of these terms in my opinion completely distorts what Pentecost is and what it means for the church today.

In all, this is an excellent book that I believe everyone would benefit from reading, but it should also be mandatory reading for anyone who feels God's call to serve Him within the 10-40 window.

[Kristen Yoder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes yes and yes. This is a book needed by all Christians

[Todd Luallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the hardest Christian book I've ever read. Nik doesn't pull any punches in this book, and if you're a Christian in the west, or even a missionary sent by the west, you will likely read this book with a twinge of guilt.
I enjoy reading books about missionaries and Christians overseas because they are a great encouragement to live a life more devoted to Christ. The last book by Nik, The Insanity of God, was one of my all time favorites because it tells many, many stories of persecuted Christians around the world today. I was encouraged to pray longer and with great expectancy. I saw believers that fasted without hesitation is many circumstances, and that spurred me to start doing the same. I saw believers that had virtually zero affinity for "things," and again, I was encouraged to simplify and focus on what really matters. Those are just a few of the things the last book accomplished in my life.
This book was just plain hard. I like hard messages, and yet this book frequently made me think that we're a lost cause. He never says that, but I definitely felt like that. Often in the book the case is made that Western Christians (sending organizations, missionaries, believers in the west) are doing more harm than good in places where Christians are truly persecuted. At one point during the book I wanted to stop reading because I felt like I needed time to absorb, repent, and heal. It's a hard message to hear that well intentioned, God-fearing people, are doing more harm than good in the very lives and areas they desire to impact the most.
But fortunately Nik doesn't end the book there. As I continued to read, there were some very practical steps to improving and learning from our mistakes. In fact, Nik states clearly that some of what he has learned came from his own mistakes in Somalia.
I do think the book is a bit much to fully take in with a single reading. I feel like it may be best to read chapters at a time and discuss with others. While the first book is full of stories about persecuted Christians around the world, this book is probably 85% philosophical or logistical. He peppers the book with anecdotes here and there, but for the most part it is a treatise on following after Jesus in a world that guarantees persecution for those that follow after the high calling of Jesus.

[Jenel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow — so much wisdom in this book. It’s definitely one I’d highly recommend to current/future global workers.

Some highlights based on the authors research and data:
- Most Muslims come to faith after 10 pm (I had never considered this)
- The Bible you know by heart is YOUR Bible (so convicting)
- It is a rare worker who works hard to stay among the lost — we have to model how to stay among the wolves.
- Secondary persecution dramatically diminishes when the M knows the language and culture.
- Most Muslims accept Jesus only after death of the father (had never considered this, but it does line up with much of what I’ve seen).
- The hardest part isn’t going, it’s not staying, it’s sending our children.

[Rafael Salazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was assigned to me as required reading for a missiology class. Despite the differing tradition and many misguided specific directions that follow from it, I am really thankful that this book exists. Its main message for the urgency of missions as well as a deep embracing of suffering and persecutions is utterly needed in the modern evangelical church. I would've written it differently but it would not hold the same effect. Overall, I'm glad Ripken wrote it and positively surprised with the result. It's a countercultural, radical call to see persecution and think through the issues it brings to missions.

[Amanda Lyons · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was excellent, encouraging, and challenged some of my thinking. It was more about missions strategy and work in a foreign context than I expected so I only gave it 3 stars. However, for anyone working overseas, I'd give it 4.5.

[Cherie Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

An urgent study for every missionary, to be read in a posture of prayer!

[Mariah Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! Kept me thinking about ways to minister well and to live life on mission while not avoiding persecution.

[Carol Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a hard read. It was not what I was expecting. After reading The Insanity of God, I was expecting more of the same kind of stories. This book, however, was more of an instruction manual. The blurb on the back cover said, "...as they carry the gospel across the ocean and across the street..." So I was expecting a two-fold challenge; a challenge to go on missions and a challenge to share the gospel at home. It was much more a book about missions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone planning on going to the mission field. That is why I will be passing this book on to Krystle Leach if she is interested. This book was very challenging to the Western Christian to rethink about the way we "do" missions.

[Kholin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Insanity of Obedience. Even though I'm not a missionary (and I think the intended audience of the book was rather vague in that department), I took a lot out of it and I think any Christian can. It's eye-opening as it pertains to persecution and the usual approach of missionaries and sending agencies. Nik Ripken and his wife have conducted many interviews with persecuted believers that really help to solidify his points and suggested methods. At the least, I've come out of it with a better knowledge of how to pray for persecuted believers, a better awareness of their situation(s), and application to my own life as I seek to show others what it looks like to be a follower of Christ.

[Katya B · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is really challenging. I recommend it to everyone who wants to understand missionary work, or to those who want to challenge their faith. this book took me three week to finish because almost every chapter challenges what you know and believe about evangelism.

i am giving it four stars because i wish most topics were discussed even more, and for chapters to be longer.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories make me cry every time and make me think we are doing it wrong here in the US. We put too many rules on it. Put it simply, in spite of fear talk about Jesus anyway.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke me in a way few books have. Highly recommend!

[Adam Balshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars [Missiology]
(W: 3.08, U: 4.33, T: 3.67)
Exact rating: 3.69
#3 of 22 in genre

My first reading was in 2014. Ten years later, myself on the field for almost 10 years and reading it alongside other field workers, some of his assertions were revealed to be overgeneralized or overbold. The boldness appealed to me sitting amidst the ennui of America, but emanated a different vibration from the line. Much is quite true, and is echoed in other, serious missions books. But some ideas, which may be eminently true in Somalia or Russia, aren't true everywhere and the author's assertions ought to have contained a few more caveats in order for his bell to chime truer.

The 'Needs triangles' in Chapter 6 seemed particularly misguided, not mirroring the biblical praxis in which care and allegiance is for Jesus first, then family, then Body of Christ, then all else. He seemed to champion the triangle with "Needs of the Lost" on the top vertex—and that ordering has led to destroyed families, burnout, and field departure for such a long time that it was baffling that it was proposed as the correct triangle.

Nevertheless, Ripken's report remains of good missiological utility. The author and his wife conducted hundreds of interviews of Christians in the persecuted church around the world. I recommend this book to Christians, but especially Westerners, intending to "go" in missions of any duration.

[Dan Sr · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many fantastic lessons in this book, however in so many places the authors come up with their own ideas instead of simply looking to see what the Bible says. I wish they would take all the lessons from every chapter and do a careful study. Then they would have a book with authority.
As just one example they list 5 qualities of someone who should be descipled as a future church leader. It turns out that these 5 are part of the qualifications of elders listed in 1 Timothy and Titus. Why not use God's list and call the leader in training an elder candidate? It's because the authors, although seeking to be true to the Bible, haven't really understood that man does not live by bread alone but by EVERY Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
They think worship is a type of meeting instead of declaring God's worth to Him. They have never thought about the Lord's request to be remembered every Lord's Day.
Similarly, through their research, they almost came to understand a NT church structure, church planting, etc, but having not compared scripture they make new recommendations instead of Biblical recommendations.
So in my assessment with Scripture, this book gets 3 of 5. I can only recommend it to those who are already solid in God's Word, not to those who are main-line denomination tradition minded like the authors.
I do pray a revised and solid version would be printed. That would be a great book.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is interesting but for me a bit too opinionated. I disagree with some of the authors ideas. As someone who lives in a Muslim country and also sees the obstacles both workers and national believers face. I think the author would have done better to not seem so insistent and careful to not make his opinions or those of national believers seem to be the only possible answer. I work around many workers who use some of these ideas. They are our friends. I read this book in hopes of understanding their philosophy better. As he said in the book, every place is different. One would be wise not to take this book as a how to manual.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

If "The Insanity of God" was mostly a memoir, "The Insanity of Obedience" is more of a manual -- just as the subtitle says, how to walk with Jesus in tough places. The author has been in some of those tough places and talked to those who have persevered in many other situations. If there's a single take-home, it's that the same God who was alive and active in the Book of Acts remains alive and active today and continues to look out for His people in miraculous ways.
This is a convicting and compelling book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was tough to digest, and the author acknowledged that up front. It challenges commonly accepted missions strategies and cultural perspectives. I'm not sure if I agree with all his points, but it definitely raised a few issues worth pondering

[Dan Rutledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Convicting and thought provoking. Much more theoretical than the first book, the Insanity of God, which is the backstory. Read the other first, for sure.

[Ashton Becht · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I purchased this book I thought I was buying a book more like Nik's other book "The Insanity of God" a book which is more story based and biographical (one which I have read and reread over and over again). I was hungry for more stories of believers living out their faith in difficult places. I was honestly disappointed when I opened this book for the first time and realized that wasn't at all what this book was and so I put it on a shelf and let it collect dust for several months. I am so glad I finally picked it up and started to read it. While it wasn't what I was looking for it was exactly what I needed. As a teacher I read it in-between classes, stealing time between lessons and lectures to read a few pages at a time. That's a lot slower than I normally like to read, but slowing down really helped me take my time to process through what Nik was writing. This book challenged me a lot in several places and there were chapters and pages I read in frustration, but wrestling with those thoughts and passages made it an even more enjoyable read. Nik is an incredible author and it breaks my heart that he doesn't have more books in his repertoire for me to read after finishing this book. I already know this is a book I'm going to come back to again and again. I personally think that this book should be read after reading "The Insanity of God" as it establishes Nik's story and credibility. I don't think I would have been as willing to listen to some of the points he made in this book if I didn't know about his experiences and heart.

[Caleb D · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Insanity of Obedience, Nik Ripken builds on the themes of his first book, The Insanity of God, adding statistics and data to illustrate just how “insane” true obedience to God can be. The central question he raises is: How can we in the free West take the hard-won lessons born out of suffering and apply them to our missionary efforts? Once again, the focus is on radical faith lived out in the midst of suffering and persecution.

In the introduction, Ripken even suggests an alternate title—Feeble Hints to Fellow Strugglers—which sets the tone for a book that is both honest and challenging.

Overall, I gave this book a 3 out of 5. While it offers helpful insights, it doesn’t really stand on its own and, to me, wasn’t nearly as impactful as The Insanity of God.

[Keren R. Mccullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading to this book I wish I would’ve taken more time to truly digest all its content.
While a lot of it does revert back to the original book (insanity of God) it holds all of the answers to the deep questions the last book held.
A insane display of true Christianity and beautiful sacrifice. Persecution should not be a rare as it in our Baptist culture or even Christian culture. Persecution comes when Gods servants post a treat to the enemy….if there is no persecution, there is no threat….

If you venture into reading this book take your time. Go into it with an open mind. Re read pages and chapters if you need to.
Over all, I highly recommend this book.

[Onisim Pînzariu · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished The Insanity of God I wasn’t exactly sure how Nik and Ruth’s research had an impact on them or how they used what they learnt in their further ministry. But now I understand. They’ve compiled everything they learnt from their ministry and all the stories they gathered over the years in this book that’s basically a missionary’s manual, a how-to and how-not-to book for every Christian out there. I loved the way they didn’t only state some facts but also challenged the reader to go & to be obedient!
Definitely coming back to this in the future!

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripken has produced another insightful compendium arising from extensive interviews with persecuted believers. There is a broad range of missiological issues addressed.

The reader will gain a profound understanding of the critical dynamics that factor into the rise of church planting movements in spiritually hostile situations. There is a devotional tone to this otherwise well researched treaty of missionary practice that is at the cutting edge of the global kingdom work.

[Sarah Gerbers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is filled with lots of information and discussion points, as well as challenges and thought-provoking truths. However, I felt overwhelmed by the endless numbered points and sheer volume of thoughts and abbreviations. Chapter to chapter felt choppy and less than fluid...more like an information dump.

However, the ideas in this book will give our book club much to discuss - of that I am sure!

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book started out slowly with a lot of information based on research. Later in the book I engaged with what I was reading and was challenged and inspired to love Jesus by the testimonies of persecuted Christians. What is my heart song? How much of the Bible do I know by heart?
Read this book and take time to think and process what you read. There's a lot to learn from Christians in other countries.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely some good concepts & issues with the modern way of doing missions that the author tackles. However, it definitely seems like he has an axes to grind with seminaries and higher education. He makes a good amount of broad, sweeping statements that are partially true but not in their entirety.

[Jessica Daugherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. What can I say? This book left me with a lot to pray about and to examine in my own life. It gave me deeper insight into life as a worker in persecuted countries, which I highly value as a previous long term worker in Southeast Asia. The Holy Spirit has stirred my faith through these testimonies! Jesus really is worthy of it all.

[Jacob Fulkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much geared towards active overseas missionaries, so not all was directly applicable to me, but still a ton of good knowledge regarding the persecuted church.

[Anna Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a practical and needed book after the Insanity of God