Having spent many years working with the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), Trevor Harris has been privileged to witness the way in which the church in Eastern Europe itself ‘missioned' the gospel, not only during the repressive days of Communism, but also with the subsequent freedoms that came after the 1989 revolutions, typified by the fall of the notorious ‘Berlin Wall'.

But what of the situation elsewhere? The danger appears to be that any efforts at mission work become confined exclusively either to our own country, or to overseas work; but not necessarily both. True mission, the author fears, has been sidelined and marginalized in the life of our local churches.

In this helpful and challenging book, Trevor Harris's desire is to stir readers into examining the place of mission and returning it to its rightful place at the heart of our local churches. He draws not only on his extensive experiences with SGA but also on biblical practices and theology, leading us to reassess our own attitudes to mission and challenging us to see what a privilege it is to proclaim Christ, both home and abroad.


Trevor Harris has been traveling into Eastern Europe since 1971 in connection with the ministry of Slavic Gospel Association (UK), being appointed to the full time staff in 1975 and from which he retired last year. Prior to serving as General Director over the last seven years, he fulfilled the role of Field Director. A major part of this role involved establishing in-country Bible teaching programs, in terms of their curricula and operation. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the unofficial programs that had been running for a number of years - following requests by Eastern European church leaders and pastors - formalized into 12 in-country lay training Mission Schools in the various countries of Eastern Europe. This now makes up the ‘core activity' of SGA (UK)'s Eastern European ministry and is still being developed further.