Sung Joon Kim

The book cover claims that this is the story of the first missionary from South Korea to the unreached tribesmen of the vast Amazon jungle. Whilst this statement is true in part, unfortunately that is not all that this books records.

The first lengthy section of the book describes Sung Joon Kim's journeys, procedures and frustrations in attempting to get to the jungle. It isn't until chapter 9 that he reaches his intended destination. By that time he has cut off all external support and refused to work with any partner agencies preferring to go it alone, with the exception of his long-suffering wife. Whilst I can understand why he chose to do this I don't think it is healthy for someone to be completely unaccountable, maybe he should have tried to find areas of agreement...there must have been some.

The saving grace is the centre section of the book that documents his work with the tribe. There are some truly extraordinary chapters about his engagement of the tribe, his living amongst them and early attempts to learn the language and customs. I admired his persistence and love for the tribes people. This section convinced me that his heart was truly in the right place and that maybe he just had some lessons to learn. This section made the book worth reading for its fascinating detail. Kim is unusual in that he participated fully in all aspects of tribal life--he ate their dirty food, followed their daily routines and risked his life many times in the process. His golden rule was to avoid causing unnecessary offence and his trust that God would protect him didn't waver. However, he makes derogatory comments about other missionaries who choose to do things differently--it would have been better for him to highlight what he was doing as an example rather than with a superior attitude.

The final section of the book when he is expelled from the jungle by officials wanting to treat the tribe as a "zoo" type experiment is sadly when the book deteriorated again. Kim documents the arguments, frustrations and conflicts that occurred and names and shames some individuals which isn't really helpful. However, he then seems to recover himself and throws himself into the evangelistic efforts of his church and into prison ministry locally. It is hard to know what becomes of his wife during all of his activity as she is barely given a mention.

I'm sure that Sung Joon Kim has done some great work and that some have been saved through his ministry. I feel that the title of the book is slightly misleading as 40 years in the Amazon jungle is not what this book contains. Maybe a few chapters about the jungle but the rest is about internal politics and disappointments/frustrations in his ministry. I do think it is important for others to understand the trials of missionary life (I have also documented them in my books) but not in so much detail and not by naming and shaming others in the process. He would have done better to focus on the work itself.

This book may be of interest to some. It is clean, there is no sexual content, some violence but not graphic.… (mehr)