We Are Not the Hero

A Missionary’s Guide to Sharing Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency

By: Jean Johnson

Narrated by: Michele Rossi

While globalization gives North American Christians unprecedented opportunities to influence the world, we need to take care not to slip into a type of postmodern colonialism in which we make ourselves the experts or the "hero come to save the day". Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations, not to spread Western cultural Christianity or solve the world with American dollars.

In We Are Not the Hero, the author invites you on a learning journey—through Cambodia and other parts of the world—to discover ways to contribute to self-sustaining and reproducing church movements that are organic to the culture.

If you are a student, missionary, church planter, missions-oriented church, or Great Commission-minded disciple, you will find this book both inspirational and valuable to your experience.

©2012 Jean Johnson (P)2023 Jean Johnson

Critic reviews

“This is no ivory tower book of pontification and pronouncement; this is a field manual smeared with mud from front-line trenches. Get it. Use it. And see your people, neighborhood, region, even your world, transformed.” (Brian Hogan, assistant director, Youth With A Mission's Church Planting Coaches; author of There's a Sheep in my Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church Planting Movement)

“New Testament guidelines for multiplying churches leap out with startling clarity from sharp, action-packed examples that need no abstract explanation. Had I read this before going to the field, I’d have avoided serious and painful cultural errors.” (Dr. George Patterson, originator of Train and Multiply and author of Church Planting Multiplication Guide)

Fascinating, Practical, Highly Recommend!

The information in this book is life-changing, even revolutionary! And yet it is so practical and makes perfect sense. It guides you through recognisising how we, as Westerners, have unintentionally decreased our effectiveness in connecting the Gospel to the hearts of people from other cultures. It is full of true stories that demonstrate this, as well as stories of the organic way lasting, deeply-rooted faith developed when these barriers were identified beforehand, and replaced with methods that reinforce the God-given strengths in other cultures. It is beautiful to see how God has already been working in the hearts of people, and this book equips you to connect to that, allow the good news of the Gospel to flourish unhindered. Highly recommended for anyone in missions or preparing for missions, or sharing the Gospel with people from other cultures domestically. In reality, this book will benefit any Believer.