Review: Travelling the world as Citizens of Heaven

A few weeks ago I received an email. It read:

Dear Brian,

I want to recommend a book. It’s ‘Travelling the world as citizens of heaven’ by Stephen Liggins, from Matthias Media.

 

I’ve ordered a copy for our university age grandchildren as so many CU people come around their place and it’s a book I wish I’d read before I first travelled overseas as a young Christian.

 

I think you’d enjoy reading it and if you react the way I’ve done you may be able to recommend to Year 12 and university students.

Blessings,

 

Trusting that my correspondent wasn't going to be wasting my time, I purchased this book and I'm glad I did. Liggins writes a lot about his own experiences of overseas travel, beginning with an extended stay in London honing his skills in Cricket. It didn't lead to a career in sport, but had a massive impact on his spiritual life. This is something he hopes others will experience too, and his tips will help to achieve that. 

 

As is the case with most new books, it could rightly be asked, "Do we need more travel books?" Fair question. There are an endless number of travel guides printed in book and digital form. There are more travel documentaries than you could watch in a lifetime. But what sets this book apart is the audience he writes for, and the purpose he writes about. 

His audience is the Christian traveller, and his purpose is to encourage that Christian to consider how such travel will help their faith. Or how it might not help their faith. 

 

There are seven chapters in the book and chapters 1-6 all speak positively about the travel experience. Liggins writes about the people that he met in his journeys who were an encouragement to his faith. Some of these were people he had planned to meet up with, such as an old family connection. Some you would expect would encourage his faith, like the international fellowship group at All Souls Anglican Church. But some of those who encouraged his faith were simply fellow travellers he met along the way who were also Christians. 

He also writes about the encouragement he found in simply sharing his faith. Not in a street-preaching kind of way, but rather just talking about his faith a part of his life. This also led to many positive conversations about his faith. 

If I was going to summarise these chapters it would be "Don't neglect God while your travelling. And don't let sin ruin your time abroad - or your life." But that summary lacks all the story and experience that he writes about. 

Chapter seven - "Why travel?" - is the chapter that many young people should read though. Here he asks his readers to consider the motivation for their journey, and in doing so confronts us with the reality that maybe such a trip is a monumental waste of money and time. Not always, and maybe not usually, but it's a good question to ask. In fact, it's a question that burns in my mind at the moment as I consider travelling to England for a youth conference. 

This book is easy to read and understand. His liberal use of stories and his own experiences helps it to read more like a travel blog rather than a "how to evangelise" kind of book. The printing also helps to make it easy to read with a clear font and good spacing. 

I'm glad I've read it, and I will be sharing it with others. Or buying one for them to read. Or encouraging them to buy their own copy.