“It wasn’t the half-naked woman breastfeeding her baby on one breast that captured my attention. Rather, it was the piglet munching down on the other breast that stunned me into silence.”
So begins David Sitton’s autobiography, and I must say that the tone of that first sentence captures the tenor of the book. Reckless Abandon is a the summary of Sitton’s 35 years as a church planter among unreached people groups in Papua New Guinea, with a few forays into México (and one pit-stop in Minneapolis). The introduction explains that for Christians there is no such thing as a risk, because the worst-case scenario to all of our actions is death (“airmailed to Jesus” is Sitton’s phrase), and the rest of that book demonstrates this kamikaze world view.
If Jesus is worth more than our lives, then we should be willing to face death to take the gospel to the nations. What would a person’s life look like if they a) actually believed that, and b) actually lived that out? Reckless Abandon provides a good answer to that question. Sitton labors among the most difficult to reach groups in PNG, capitulates home to get a wife, returns to PNG until he gets expelled, then recapitulates to the states to start a lifetime of tourist visas. Reading this book made my passport feel tired.
I can’t remember another missionary biography where there were so many beatings, and where they were recorded so nonchalantly. Sitton keeps the focus on the spread of the gospel—as opposed to the multiplicity of threats—and that keeps the book moving. The chapters are brief, the violence is real, and converts are baptized.
The stunning thing about this book is that it is contemporary. This is not the 1940’s, and some of the most dramatic scenes in the book take place after the 9/11/2001. Sitton describes a land where there are unreached people groups right now, and his readers meet a group of missionaries (and their wives) who are willing to lose their lives for the sake of reaching them.
I remember reading Bruchko as a new Christian and being blown away by radical abandonment for Jesus. It took every ounce of self-control not to go buy a one-way ticket for Venezuela the night I finished reading that book. Well, David Sitton does not have my self-control. Reckless Abandon begins with Sitton showing up in PNG with one suitcase and a surf-board, and he keeps up that reckless approach throughout. Unlike Bruchko, this book does not have a unified story line. It is not one church in one place. Instead, a bigger picture is painted. What emerges is a portrait of a movement of missionaries, bent on reaching the unreached in the world.
There are a few chapters of the book where traditional missionary approach to story-telling is set aside. The most memorable section of the book is written by Sitton’s wife, and it describes what being the spouse of a frontier missionary is like. This chapter is intense, describes the births of their children in a land with little training and less medicine. Her sacrifices are different than her husband’s, but they are real and come through brilliantly in her writing.
Another chapter takes us to Mineappolis, where Sitton spoke at Piper’s pastor’s conference. We see Piper’s personality, as well as the gravity with which Sitton views the task of preaching. Strangely enough, he is more wrecked by the daunting task of speaking to American pastors (who are not going to kill him—even at Bethlehem), than he ever was in PNG, where the threat of death is real. This chapter shamed me at how little I tremble when I preach to the collegians at Grace Church (an army of prospective missionaries).
A final chapter describes the much publicized 2009 murder of Sitton’s niece in Jupiter, Florida. I’m not sure if Sitton included that chapter to make a statement about the dangers of being a Christian in the US, or to demonstrate the fallacy of thinking that because you live in the US you are safer than PNG. Either way, the story is effective and emotional.
Today Sitton is 55-years-old, based in Texas, and is trying to reach the unreached in México. He takes annual trips back to PNG, where it has been 35 years since his first visit there. The churches there are led by the grandsons of some of his first converts, and they are sending out their own missionaries to other unreached places. This is a rare missions book because it has both perspective and urgency. It looks back, but ends with Sitton saying he is relatively young, and has many more potential beatings for Jesus in his future.
Even if you are not interested in missions, this book is worth reading simply for the introduction. If you are a Christian, you should be ready and excited to die, because death is gain. That tension, when rightly understood, should motivate us to live for Christ in a real and sacrificial way. Sitton’s story will motivate you to count the cost, and will provoke you to live with Reckless Abandon.