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Dangerously alive

African adventures of faith under fire

Am I bovvered?

DANGEROUSLY ALIVE
African adventures of faith under fire
By Simon Guillebaud
Monarch. 251 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 0 857 210 111

‘I hope this book has stirred your heart to give your life unreservedly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t hold back. Don’t settle for less than the best. Please choose to be dangerously alive.’ These are the words that close Simon Guillebaud’s book, which combines prayer letters, diary entries and reflections of ten years of ministry in Burundi.

In 1998 Simon prayed: ‘God I’ll do anything, I’ll go anywhere. Just make it clear’. And God did! He called him to serve, particularly among young people, in war-torn Burundi. His life was constantly in danger, but he stayed and God has honoured his faithful, pioneering work.

Did it stir me? Yes, undoubtedly. It is one of the most challenging books I have read in a while. In the book he doesn’t only report what happened, but challenges Christians to consider if they have exchanged cross-shaped discipleship for merely existing as Christians. He challenges us to think about our willingness to answer the call of Christ; to examine if our priorities are biblically-orientated or comfort-orientated; to consider if we are really investing daily in building an intimate relationship with God.

It is hard to criticise a book like this, but some readers, like me, will find the pattern of Simon’s ministry in terms of altar calls, healings and exorcisms uncomfortable. The book is a very personal and honest sharing of ten years of godly living and sacrificial service, but, because it is described through diary entries and prayer letters, the reader is not given a framework of Simon’s theology and some entries, therefore, beg a few questions.

What cannot be doubted is the need to heed the call of this book to ask ourselves: ‘Are we really hungry to reach the lost and willing for the dangerous adventure of faith?’

David Sprouse,
pastor, Cuckfield Baptist Church, West Sussex