This book is a faithful history of missionary work in Europe. I offered to review it because I have a professional interest in modern Europe (especially the European Community), and I wanted to get a better handle on the church in Europe. I served my mission in Europe (Belgium, Brussels mission), and I have recently been back to France.

The book starts out with a history of the missionary effort in Great Britain, and ultimately culminates in the spreading of the Gospel in Eastern Europe in the 1990's. I found that while the history of the church in 19th century Europe was interesting, I was more intensely involved with how the church was spreading into Eastern Europe. The book talks extensively about the history of the church behind the Iron Curtain and after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. This was very inspiring reading, and made me realize that the young elders and sisters who are now serving in those areas are very much like the original missionaries sent to Great Britain in the 1830's and 1840's.

Given the scope of the book, it just skimmed over many subjects. For example, as a returned missionary who served in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, I was interested in reading about the church in those countries. However, in this I was disappointed, as the information on these countries was very brief. But given the nature of the book, this problem was probably unavoidable.

I would recommend this book to those interested in how the church is progressing outside of the United States. Though fairly long, it was worth the read.

Newell Wright
nwright@wcu.edu