Review of "Serving with Eyes Wide Open"

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence. David A. Livermore. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2006. 188 pp.


In Serving with Eyes Wide Open, David A. Livermore seeks to educate participants in short-term mission trips to see the impact of their work beyond their own immediate perspective. Although the subject of this book is specific to short-term missions, there are principles which can be applied to both short and long-term missionaries.

The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, Livermore seeks to begin opening readers’ eyes by presenting a “wide-angle” view of the effects of globalization on the world and on the church. He notes that as a whole, the global consciousness of America is “pretty dismal.” He provides several “snapshots” that give readers a brief synopsis of world events and global church situations in order to begin creating a greater global consciousness in readers. He notes the growing population of Christianity outside North America and Western Europe and replaces the phrase “third world church” with “majority world church” to better describe where the majority of the world’s Christians live.

In the second section, Livermore seeks to open readers’ eyes by comparing the comments of the “giving” Western short-term mission participants with the comments of the indigenous “receiving” peoples. Among other subjects, Livermore examines various motivations held by short-term participants. Livermore notes how short-term mission trips need to first identify the needs on the mission field and attempt to work with long-term missionaries, rather than hoping the long-term missionaries and indigenous church leaders will work with the short-term team. This section also examines the difference of perspective on topics such as urgency, finding common ground, interpreting the Bible, and use of money.

In the third section, Livermore seeks to describe the theory of opening readers’ eyes by introducing the concept of Cultural Intelligence (CQ). Cultural Intelligence combines knowledge CQ, interpretive CQ, perseverance CQ, and behavioral CQ. After introducing each of these four concepts, Livermore provides the reader with areas of cross-cultural training to enhance this area of one’s CQ. He then provides a continuing illustration of a group of students on a short-term trip to teach English who are faced with these components of cultural intelligence.
Together, these three sections present a picture of how short-term missions can be more effective and more perceptive to the host country’s needs by employing cultural intelligence. By combining the theory of cultural intelligence with the practical experiences of the author and others, this book addresses the problem of ego- and ethnocentric short-term mission trips and seeks to provide a solution by widening the perspective of the participants.

Serving with Eyes Wide Open presents countless possibilities for readers to widen their perspective on another culture. Readers will be challenged by the possibility that Western ideals of urgency and sharing financial resources are not necessarily shared values with non-Western recipients. Livermore spends a chapter examining various motivations for short-term mission trips. On one hand, those who simply want an adventure should take a vacation rather than disguising their vacation as a mission trip. On the other hand, mission trips have the potential for participants to return as long-term missionaries.

In Serving with Eyes Wide Open, Livermore does not restrict his illustrations to his own personal encounters. He has surveyed both national hosts and Western team participants, and has included excerpts of this research in the book. Additionally, he has included an imaginary team of students in the third section of the book. Another strength of this book is that Livermore bases his presentation in researched theory concerning Cultural Intelligence rather than simply relying on his own experience. The research is presented in such a way that makes it easy for persons to read who are not familiar with the finer points of cultural anthropology.

Livermore’s treatment of cultural intelligence brought to mind several of my own experiences. During the semester I spent in Romania, I learned the content of the theory of cultural intelligence, although this specific term was not used. That training has helped me gain a more holistic picture of a culture rather than jumping to conclusions based on a few incidents. Livermore’s section on common ground, or looking for the familiar, struck a chord with me. Once I had begun to adapt to the Romanian culture, I began to see more and more in common between our two cultures. I sometimes lost the tension that “They are just like us, but not like us at all” (74).

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence is a helpful resource designed primarily for those participating in short-term mission trips but with a broader audience of all missionaries. This book is even helpful for those persons who do not leave the United States at all, but come into contact with people from other cultures on a daily basis.


Note: This review has been published in Engage Magazine.