Missions Resources - Bibliography
Shining Like Stars
Authors: Lindsay Brown
ISBN: 1844741672
Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press (UK)
Number of pages: 224
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary:
reviewed by Jill Feldkamp – July 1, 2007
Shining Like Stars is a farewell gift from Lindsay Brown, outgoing General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). This July in Toronto, Brown will turn responsibilities over to Daniel Bourdanné, who’ll become the fourth IFES General Secretary. For people who want a better understanding of the IFES, this book is required reading. It’s Brown’s retrospective from his years of leadership of the IFES. He relates many stories of the powerful work of God worldwide which illustrate the mission and vision of IFES.
An outstanding feature of Shining Like Stars are the many vignettes that Brown shares from his IFES tenure. He moves from continent to continent with stories of the impact of Jesus Christ on campuses and in individual lives. Brown tells of the founding of various IFES movements: in Albania, in Zambia and elsewhere. He also relates tales of individuals whose lives have been transformed by the gospel and who have gone on to have transform others. The book chronicles the emergence of countries from the non-western world, such as Chad and Nepal, as missionary-sending nations. He covers amazing stories of reconciliation and forgiveness in Africa and the former Soviet Union. Each brief anecdote on its own can be moving, but their cumulative effect becomes a stirring testimony of the power of God.
The context which Brown provides for the stories is a brief historical review of the impact of youth on mission, starting with the biblical story of Daniel. Throughout the book, the author returns to Daniel as an historical figure with contemporary relevance. In spite of what Brown sees as a contemporary disregard for the importance of history, he grounds the book with comments on history’s importance to our past, present and future. The past reminds us of what God has done. History gives us identity and roots today. And history guides us as we formulate a vision for the future.
While the book is a collection of stories, it is also a missiological primer. Brown covers a threefold approach to evangelism that includes friendship evangelism, evangelism in small groups, and public proclamation. He offers strategies for maintaining an ongoing evangelical presence on campuses of colleges and universities. When urging readers to develop a missions mindset, he provides a brief list of practical suggestions. In addition, Brown challenges his readers to live lives of sacrifice and perseverance, and he offers practical lessons on those topics.
This brief book is filled with stories of ordinary people used by an extraordinary God which will encourage and inspire readers. It also informs the reader about some fundamental missiological principles. Each of the many tales Brown includes illustrates Christians around the world who are “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which [they] shine like stars in the universe as [they] hold out the word of life.” (Philippians 2: 15-16) His goal is for the readers to act likewise.
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