Reviewed by Thomas Scarborough.

I previously reviewed, on this website, Don Fleming’s book “Across the Bridge”. While I gave that book a mixed review, this is not the case with “A Different World” (an older book), which Fleming most recently sent me. While Fleming’s book “Across the Bridge” seemed to me to be too much of a patchwork (although it had many highlights), “A Different World” contains cohesive and thoughtful chapters throughout, and makes a fascinating and satisfactory read.

Don Fleming, although he is by now a famous Christian author, points out that “writing books has only been a small part of my ministry”. His writing, he notes, was “a by-product of something else – evangelism, church planting, Bible teaching” (:63). With this in mind, “A Different World” describes, among other things, just HOW his writing and publishing grew out of his missionary activity and ministry. But mainly, it describes his various experiences in missions and ministry, mostly in the Third World.

The book shines in three areas:

Firstly, it represents both a gripping and insightful account of the rough and tumble of missionary life. The first chapter, on “Noise”, is one of the finest. Fleming writes: “Nothing we had heard of or read beforehand had prepared us for the noise level we had to live with… The place never went to sleep and never became quiet” (:9). Then follows a hair-raising account (unimaginable, if it were not for this book) of what the young missionary and his wife (Gae) had to put up with. The book contains many other, riveting narratives from the Third World (some not for sensitive readers)!

Secondly, the book is a treasure trove on the challenge of “provisioning” the Third World with much-needed Christian literature, for which Fleming’s own Bridgeway Publications has now become so well known. Fleming records the sentiments of a senior pastor in Kenya, with regard to a consignment of books: “I want to tell you that since [our preachers] have been using these books, the standard of teaching in these churches has gone up…. The people like it and church attendances have gone up. That is my testimony” (:39). This, in short, is what Fleming’s writing ministry has been all about. In keeping with this, “A Different World” contains many more insights into this specific ministry.

Thirdly, I would consider that the book accurately reflects the thinking and priorities of the Church in the Third World. This would seem rare. As an example, Fleming notes: “By contrast [with the West], most Christians in the poorer countries know nothing of a social welfare system… In circumstances of constant uncertainty, Christians have learnt to trust in God. They survive only by faith” (:195). This and many other such observations give the best insight into the “heart” of the Church in the Third World that I have yet read.

Having said this, I perceived one “absence” in the book, as postmoderns would say. Fleming made only fleeting reference (no more than a few sentences in all) to the experience, at times, of severe strain upon the missionaries. For instance: “The physical wear and tear… caused a few crises…” (:12), and despite significant triumphs, “we had many failures, reversals, problems and even the threat of collapse” (:68). While such aspects of missionary work were not concealed, they were not meaningfully developed in this book. In light of the almost universal problem of burnout in missions, and the experience and hindsight that Fleming has, this seemed to be a missed opportunity.

All the proceeds of this book go towards “help[ing] Christians in countries from which the stories come” (:7). Not least, this means supplying the Churches with basic Christian “tools” such as Bible dictionaries and commentaries. “A Different World” has already raised tens of thousands of Australian dollars towards that end. It is available from Bridgeway Publications, GPO Box 2547, Brisbane 4001, Australia, http://www.bridgeway.org.au. Click on “Contact Us” to make an inquiry.

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Rev. Thomas Scarborough is registered as a postgraduate student at Fuller Theological Seminary and at the South African Theological Seminary. He ministers in an urban, multicultural Church (Congregational) in Cape Town. He keeps a daily ministry blog at http://thomasscarborough.blogspot.com.