The Hand and the Road: The Life and Times of John A. Mackay is biography that needs to be read by church leaders. It is a well written and detailed biography on the life of John Mackay. In this biography, John Metzger, the son of Bruce Metzger and grandson of John Mackay chronicles the events of Mackay's life. Because Mackay kept detailed journals, Metzger is able to articulate not only Mackay's actions, but also the thoughts and feeling that motivated his actions. The book give a true view into the life of an inspiring and accomplished leader in the church.
In the book Metzger begins to put the pieces of Mackay's life together beginning with his childhood in Scotland. He does this so meticulously that the reader is clearly able to see the hand of God at work in Mackay's life. Mackay was born for a purpose. There was a clear path (or "road") that God had paved for him to travel. The road led him to Aberdeen University to study philosophy, to Princeton Seminary to study theology, to Peru as a missionary, and back to Princeton to be the President of the seminary during a very challenging time in the seminary's history (and of course there were many other stops along the road as well).
One of the central ideas that shaped Mackay's life was the principle: "Earn the right to be heard." When Mackay went to Peru as a missionary not only did he started a school, teach at the university, and served the locals through the YMCA, but he became a Puruvian. He became a part of the indigenous culture. Mackay wasn't just some Scot telling the heathen in Peru about Jesus, he work hard to rid himself of his "Scottishness" in order to earned the right to be heard.
As followers of Christ today in an increasingly pluralistic and secular world we must earn the right to be heard. The luxuries that Christendom afforded the church (prominence and popularity) are waning. We are living in a post-Christendom world where cultural Christianity is no longer a reality in many places. These changing dynamics in American culture bring to forefront the importance of John Mackay's life. He was one amongst many other missionaries who understood what it meant to live missionaly before missional was a buzz word in the church. John Mackay teach us that true missional living is about "earning the right to be heard."
