"People ask how to change the world.
You, Bob, have changed the world."
Bishop Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda
The United Methodist Church
North Katanga Episcopal Area
Democratic Republic of the Congo
"You understand our issues.
We've had missionaries who have been here 30 years
and they never understood our issues."
Bishop Kainda Katembo
The United Methodist Church
Southern Congo Episcopal Area
Democratic Republic of the Congo
"This is my first adventure!"
The Rev. Joseph Mulongo Ndala
United Methodist Pastor
District Superintendent of the Mulongo District
North Katanga Conference
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Last Missionary is a bicycle adventure story set in remote districts in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bob Walters travels with a team of Congolese colleagues discovering the state of the villages run over by the Pan-African war that devastated the region's people through the terror of rape and the killing of millions.
Along the way, Bob offers the reader a number of short tutorials and reflections on missiology, the study of mission systems. He ponders patronage and cargo cults, and asks the question, "Is Jesus the answer?" But this is not an answer book, it is a book in search of better questions.
The Last Missionary is a challenge to both evangelicals and progressives in the church, missionaries and mission volunteers, and even non-religious aid workers.