First thing's first: Amy Peterson's Dangerous Territory should be required reading for any teenager or adult considering a mission trip.
I've never read missionary biographies or dreamed of a mission trip myself, but I was fascinated by Peterson's touching account of her mission to an unnamed country in Southeast Asia where proselytizing is outlawed, and the complicated grief that follows her home. Even if this book had just focused on that, I'd have enjoyed it.
What makes this book so rich is Peterson's ability to weave together her own story with her considered, thought-provoking commentary on the history of overseas mission work and the state of modern day missions. Before reading this book, I really didn't know anything about how American missionary organizations came of age around the same time as the industrial revolution, and how this shaped much of missionary work into something corporate in nature with large boards, overhead, and benchmarking. I also hadn't given much thought to the merit of short-term service trips, and how - well-intentioned as they are - they often don't invite the communities they serve to express what they really need and cost locals employment opportunities. If you are at all intrigued by this books description, give it a read - you won't regret it.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC copy of this book.

I very much enjoyed Amy Peterson's account of her missionary experience. She gives a little of her background and why she was interested in missions. I can identify with this author, because I too have what she calls "wonderlust".

Each chapter begins with a famous (or maybe not so famous) missionary quote. Ms. Peterson goes on to tell us the beginning of her journey to China where she just wanted to teach English and be Jesus to the people around her. She tells many funny stories of misunderstandings due to culture and language.

She also shares her very conflicted feelings about her "calling" to be a missionary and really what that means.

I think this is a must-read book for any person (especially a woman) who is considering or has ever considered missions.

I appreciated the author's unique perspective on her experience as a single female missionary and her willingness to admit and open up about her doubts and struggles. I would definitely read more from Amy Peterson - she has a gift for respectfully asking the hard questions about women's roles in the mission field and in the church. And I liked the love story interwoven throughout the book!

Summary:
Amy Peterson was a 22 year old graduate student who was ready to embark on a mission trip. However, she did not want to call herself a missionary. She did not want people to know she was going on a mission trip. She stated she was ready to, "change the world for God" and she was ready for "adventure", but she did not want to be marked as an "imperialistic" traditional type missionary. Peterson grew up in a Christian home. She had read books about missionaries. She was drawn to becoming a missionary; however, she was reluctant to do things the way she'd judged past missionaries had done.

My Thoughts:
When I first began reading Peterson's story, I was shocked at her naivety about serving God as a missionary. I was shocked at her cutting remarks about Missionaries. I wondered, had she prayed about becoming a missionary? I wondered, if this is how she felt, why did she go? She seemed so unprepared about being a missionary. She seemed so unprepared about the world beyond her life in America. With reluctance, I continued to read. As her mind-set and spirit transformed during the story, my attitude changed about reading the story. I understood she was a young idealistic young woman, but I saw an arrogant and prideful attitude. She stated, "I wanted to be the greatest." I'm reminded of what James and John's mother asked Jesus, "Promise, that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left in your kingdom." Jesus asked the two disciples if they were, "able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said, "We are able." Matthew 20:21-22. CSB.
No human understands the cost of being a missionary. Further, no human understands the cost of marriage or being a parent. We have an inkling of difficulties ahead, but not of what will really happen. Only God knows our future. But God does equip us, and He is whom we serve. We certainly don't tell Him how we will serve. I appreciated Peterson's candor and transparency in the story, especially in regards to her struggles with belief and faith, it prepped the story for her later transformation.
I loved the story once Peterson arrived in the (secret) country she served in as an English teacher. It was a southeast Asian country. It was a large city, rice fields were nearby, and the people were not free to worship as Christians. While working as an English teacher, teaching the English language to the locals, she was able to share the Gospel. She came to understand quickly, it was not her work that brought these people to her to hear the Gospel, but the work of the Holy Spirit. This was a significant moment in her mission work, understanding who was in control, God.
I loved reading about Peterson's assimilation into this new culture. Her perspective on the people group and their perspective of her.
I loved reading about Peterson's additional chapters on history of missions and the history of women missionaries.
Most of all, I loved the change I saw in Peterson. She went from a prideful young woman to a woman of humility. Living far away from family, friends, and the life in America grew her up, in both character and spirit. She came to realize several significant points:

No vocation is more spiritual than another. And every Christian is called to share the gospel.

To put it plainly, I was discovering that restlessness is not always a virtue. For anyone to have a meaningful presence in the world at some point the desire to go must transform into a desire to stay.

The last chapter is a reflection of things she learned and hard questions she asked about doing mission work. Some examples of these questions, "What if we could cut costs by creating more local partnerships?" and "What if we had more bi-vocational missionaries?"

Dangerous Territory

My Misguided Quest to Save the World



by Amy Peterson

Discovery House Publishers

Discovery House



Biographies & Memoirs , Christian

Pub Date 01 Feb 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Dangerous Territory through Discovery House Publishers and Netgalley:

Amy Peterson grew up in the church, and would eventually feel the calling to become a missionary. She served as a missionary in Southeast Asia, where she was determined to save as many souls as possible, but would discover she had to be careful because she could put herself and others in danger.

Dangerous Territory is the memoir of a young woman determined to do "Big Things for God." But would learn that being a Child of God was big enough, that not everyone was called to be missionaries.

I give Dangerous Territory five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

What is our motivation for mission and evangelism? It's easy to just say: we want to save the lost souls. Very often that's not our real or prevalent reason.
We forget that God loves us unconditionally apart from performance.

Are we open to learn from history and other cultures? What is the role of women in missions? Are our mission organizations just capitalist corporations?

Amy Peterson writes openly and honestly about all the questions that arose by her experiences in Southeast Asia.

Parts were amazing. Parts were disappointing, and much of it was unsettling.
Part of this book is a critique of short-term missions trips, and she has some a valid points. Then the odd ‘interlude’ about Taize jumps in. The salvation of her friend was amazing. The following persecution was heartbreaking, but it moves off that really quickly. It’s more a personal struggle to find and accept God’s will in her life.
It sounds like she was heavily influenced by American Feminism. Domination, Colonialism, Patriarchy, Misogyny, Capitalism, Imperialism, Privilege, White, Male, American, and Diversity, she uses those words to describe her culture over and over again. At times she sounds quite guilty about being a white American, but that’s offset by being an oppressed woman. There is a lot in this book about gender roles, but not much about it from the Bible. Well, she does see one thing very clearly, the conflict between the roles that are deemed acceptable for women in overseas missions and the acceptable roles for women in the Church at home. Unfortunately, she bases her new beliefs on experience rather than solid Biblical exegesis or seems to. She never states a definite conclusion. That’s how she handles just about every issue. By the end of the book, it looks like she has given up knowing anything for sure…
Then at the conclusion of the book, she states, “I needed to learn about prayer from the Catholic Church, where it was something communal and liturgical and sensual…I needed to learn about meditation from Buddhists, and to learn from Muslims how posture and practice affect prayer.” I’m sorry, but I cannot accept that. Didn’t Christ teach us to come to God as our Father and not with the mindless repetition of Buddhists? At one point in the book, she talks about how unbiblical Catholic practices are and then at the end just accepts them. Didn’t God forbid the use of false religious practices over and over in the Old and New Testament?
It was very sad to read that last part. I can’t recommend this book. I believe many of the influences she quotes favorably are indeed leading her and many others away from the sure foundation of the Word of God and into very dangerous territory.
I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley and Discovery House.