This book is made up of five chapters that focus on one of the main areas of debate in the missionary scene today—the kingdom of God. I reached the end of ch. 2, and with a sense of excitement wondered what would be Mr Castro’s thinking on mission and the kingdom of God in the world. Chs. 1 and 2 looked at various parts of the world where mission is responding to different challenges—at Latin America and the burdens brought about by history, at Asia and the challenge of a culturally relevant Christianity, at Africa and its longing to ‘revolutionize’ Christianity and at the West where, because of dwindling numbers, the churches are obliged to rethink mission. The book then moves on to look at the tension often seen, especially in the West, between priority of evangelism or/and social concern.

I was not disappointed when I came to the last three chapters. Primarily Mr Castro seeks to show that the Lordship of Christ is at the centre of the vision of the kingdom of God. This Lordship means that we are called to accept and welcome the total invasion of Christ in all aspects of our work and evilness. We are called to preach, to love, to obey and to be free to respond to new challenges. There are many good quotes and questions in the book, e.g., ‘Missionary freedom means asking Christ what we shall do, and being perpetually prepared to do what he asks of us’; ‘Missionary freedom—the capacity to respond in love to the need of all’; ‘How do we testify today anew, to the Servant King of the Kingdom of God?’

I would have welcomed questions at the ends of chapters for churches or missionary societies to discuss, and I would have welcomed too a little more spelling out of what Christian love is. We often interpret this only through Western eyes, and maybe our understanding of love, like other aspects of Christian experience, needs to have its cultural blinkers removed. Not all would go along with the idea of ‘re-animation of Asian religions’ (p. 8), but basically the book is stimulating and challenging to us and has left me wanting to know how as individuals and as a church we can increasingly be part of that ‘invasion of love’.

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