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Holy spy

Student ministry in Eastern Europe

Spooks!

HOLY SPY
Student ministry in Eastern Europe
By Alex Williams
Christian Focus/Harmat (Hungary). 200 pages. £5.99
ISBN 1 85792 906 3

This is the story of the beginnings of the IFES work in Central Europe, told through the eyes of Alex Williams whose ten years of active travel form the back drop for an inside look at life under Communism and the early development of the significant and important work of IFES.

Sections of the book are firsthand accounts written by men and women, now Christian leaders in their countries, telling of the impact of IFES staff during their formative years. By giving them a voice the book reflects the high value IFES has always demonstrated by respecting local believers. It is also refreshingly honest about the struggles and difficulties of juggling a specific calling to a travelling ministry and a general calling to family and other responsibilities.

The book demonstrates how many small acts of goodness, each on its own apparently insignificant, accumulate over time to accomplish much.

For anyone who needs to understand the history of IFES in Central Europe, it is essential reading. For those who want to know what it was like under Communism, Alex Williams captures the spirit of the age. For the many young students who have come of age after Communism and who do not know what their parents lived through, it will be very helpful. The book does jump backwards and forwards in time which is a minor irritation but does not significantly disturb the reader.

It is a great delight to see a book originally published in Hungary coming to the UK. Christian Focus is to be congratulated for the work they have done to encourage publishing in Central Europe. The Hungarian publisher is the publishing arm of the Hungarian Student Movement, a group of dedicated people led by Dr. Kornel Herjeczki who is a quiet hero of the faith and was one of the key figures in the establishment of the Student Movement in Hungary.

Marsh Moyle
Marsh Moyle's home church is Mount Road Baptist Chapel in Hinckley, Leics. He works in Central Europe and lives in Slovakia (www.CityGate.org).