Review: Friendship at the Margins

Mission and evangelism have long been stalwarts for the Western church. For centuries, American churches have supported missionaries in Third-World countries, celebrating stories of conversions and touting the great work for the Gospel those missionaries accomplished. Oftentimes these one-sided give --> give --> receive relationships are models as "successful" evangelism.

In response to this and other perceptions about mission and friendship, Christopher Heuertz and Christine Pohl collaborated to produce Friendship at the Margins, the latest in the Resources for Reconciliation Series from Duke and IVP. Rather than approach the standard view of mission and dissect it, they start the discussion by posing a series of questions:

• "What does reconciliation look like when you love Jesus and want the best for people who are caught in situations of terrible evil, need or despair?"
• "How would our lives and our ministries be different if our understandings of love emphasized friendship?"
• "What difference does it make for mission, discipleship and the church when friendship with people who are poor is a central dimensions of our lives? What is the impact on those with whom we minister? How are we changed?"

This work tackles one of the most standard characteristics of the Protestant church and turns it on its head. Heurtz and Pohl examine the realities of friendship and mission, even asking if the disciples and their desertion of Jesus during his arrest would be deemed a failure by today's church metrics. They emphasize as well the difficulty of this type of Christian lifestyle, observing how they have been forced into touch moral quandaries with their friends and neighbors. All this to further emphasize their strongly-held believe that a life lived to glorify and serve Christ cannot be fully modeled without this radical approach to friendship.

In his memoir, Stanley Hauerwas writes that he tries "to live a life I hope is unintelligible if the God we Christians worship does not exist." Throughout Friendship at the Margins, we feel Heuertz and Pohl calling us into this same reality. To live lives seeking radical, passionate friendship can only make sense if Christ walked among us, died for us, and rose again to save us.

This short work serves as a strong reminder to all of us in the church. Evangelism and mission are not simply actions that can be tracked by sales techniques and "numbers saved" metrics. They are not simply a series of buzz words, catch phrases, bracelets and presentations designed with mass-market appeal.

"If we use words and get words in response, sometimes we think we have done mission or evangelism. Ministry among poor and vulnerable people reminds us that words are rarely enough - what each of us needs is to know that we are loved by Jesus, beloved by God. Everything else flows from that. IN situations of injustice or despair, words alone are particularly insufficient. People need to be loved and valued by others. They need to see what love looks like." [pp 10-11]

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Intervarsity Press to read and post a review on my site. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”