Ian Campbell, Alison Rader Campbell and Robin Rader
Salvationists Alison and Ian have devoted their lives to health-related community development and integrated mission. Through participating with communities around the world, they have witnessed God’s healing grace and the amazing capacity of local communities to deal with crisis and conflict when appropriately accompanied.
In 2018 Ian embarked on a 28-day, 630-mile journey on the South West Coast Path in England. Sustained listening through daily encounters on the path led Ian to recall stories from the past 30 years and to reflect on and document their meaning. Each chapter represents one day’s journey on the path and focuses on a global community story, leading to a synthesis of learning around one theme. The interrelatedness of the themes and local stories encourages deeper consideration and reflection, and each chapter concludes with questions that take the reader forward to living out what has been learnt.
Walking with Communities will be attractive and useful to those already in community development and mission work, and anyone with a heart for real encounter with people and the healing presence of God in their neighbourhood community story. Fascinating photos and beautiful illustrations lead the reader through the narrative.
Ian and Alison comment: ‘The stories of local communities which have sustained their action and hope despite enormous obstacles are the roots of experience, and the learning that has emerged is due to their effort. We need to honour them, and a way to do so is to share particular examples and to listen carefully to the main theme that emerges from each of the stories. We have tried to listen well. We are different and better today only because we have walked with communities worldwide and have been awakened all the time to God’s healing grace. We hope this book will help do the same for its readers.’
Published May 2022.
