Cows, curses and Christ : disciple making among the Laarim of South Sudan by Philip and Linda Byler.
Privately published, 2012 1786 pages £4 (available from Amazon) ISBN 978 8 718 387 742
This is a well told story of missionary work in a very troubled part of Africa – Sudan.
It has one very attractive feature (for me, at least), which is that the chapters are short – 3 pages for the most part – 56 chapters in 176 pages. That means that the book can be picked up and and dropped easily without losing the flow of the overall narrative. Each short chapter therefore has just one focus, an item of particular interest.
Apart from the day to day account of life on the mission field with all its ups and downs, the ongoing story leads to the founding of small, indigenous churches with converted, transformed believers, some of them trained to be leaders.
Simply told in an attractive and accessible style, the authors effectively describe what it is to take the gospel as liberating news to a people who were ancestor worshippers, cattle rustlers and murderers.
The impact of the gospel is there for all to see.