Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town (2009) - Warren St. John

Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town (NF 2009) Warren St. John (Hardcover, 320 pages, $24.95, Spiegel & Grau, ISBN 9780385522038) Available in stores, online, and on the Amazon Kindle.

What’s this? A book about soccer for this month’s book recommendation? Maybe I’ve been hanging out too much with Trip? Allow me to explain: Several of my friends (including Trip) are passionate about soccer. Since they’re my friends, and friends typically want you to share in their interests, they’ve tried to engage me in a love for soccer, alas, to no avail. So when I tell them I’ve just read this great book and that it’s a book about soccer, they’re quite skeptical.

I don’t blame them, especially since I’m still not that interested in soccer. But I am interested in people, particularly people from different cultures. I’m interested in how we all try (and mostly fail) to understand each other. Outcasts United is a book I care about because it forces us to deal with these issues on both microscopic and global levels.

Outcasts United is the story of the Fugees from Clarkston, Georgia, a soccer team (actually three teams of varying ages) made up of refugees from such war-raved countries as Liberia, Sudan, Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia...and those are just the African countries. It’s also the story of how a small Southern town handles the mixing of cultures into their small corner of the world. It’s a fascinating study of culture. The book is certainly making me examine my own reactions to people of different cultures. “What if all these people from different countries moved into my community? Would I be welcoming or fearful?”

Take that a step further. Would I be willing to share my faith with people from other cultures? Or try to understand theirs? Would I be willing to invite them to church? Even on a more fundamental level, would I be willing to simply talk with them? Or would I give in to local peer pressure and just ignore them?

It is impossible to read this book and not take a look at yourself. This is not a “Christian” book, per se, but it is a book Christians should read. Why? Because the Global Community is here and it can’t be ignored (nor should it be). Outcasts United is an engaging, humorous, sometimes sad, and often thrilling look at the challenges of living in that Global Community.