To win our Neighbours for Christ

In many modern histories of Christian missions, the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is depicted as a movement lacking missionary zeal. it has virtually become a given that the Reformation was not oriented to the church’s missionary task. in to win our neighbors for Christ, Wes Bredenhof answers these charges, proving that it is a mistake to say the Reformation and the confessional documents it produced have nothing to say about missions. the author demonstrates that the three forms of Unity—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort — properly understood, have much to off err the study of missions. more importantly, they encourage us to care about a world lost in unbelief, making us more mission oriented and outward looking.

Series Description

Explorations in Reformed Confessional Theology (editors: Daniel R. Hyde and Mark Jones)

This series provides introductory volumes on statements in the Reformed confessions that tend to trouble modern readers. Each book examines confessional issues in four ways:

• textually—exploring such things as variants, textual development, and the development of language within the documents themselves as well as within the context in which these documents were writ­ten.
• historically— exploring social history and the history of ideas that shed light upon these issues.
• theologically—exploring the issues of intra- and inter-confessional theology both in the days these documents were written as well as our day.
• pastorally—ex­ploring the pressing pastoral needs of certain doctrines and the implications of any issues that cause difficulty in the confessions.

The series is intended for educated lay people in Reformed congregations as well as ministers who must repeatedly teach and preach the doctrines in the confessions.

Author

Wes Bredenhof is pastor of Providence Canadian Reformed Church in Hamilton, Ontario, and former missionary among the First Nations in north-central British Columbia.

Endorsements

“To Win Our Neighbors for Christ is a helpful tool for every Reformed Christian seeking to understand and use our confessions in a missional way. It gives the historical background for each of the three forms of Unity and shows that the original intent of our confessions was indeed to reach the lost with the good news of the gospel. It also shows how we as a church need to have that same desire to clearly articulate these truths to our own generation of souls today.” — Richard Bout, missions coordinator, United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA)

“Full disclosure: Dr. Wes Bredenhof is my family’s enthusiastic pastor, through whom we are fed with pure gospel preaching. His heart pulses with true love for the biblical, Reformed faith and with a deep desire to reach the lost. In this book he shows us that these two things belong together— indeed, that the Reformed confessions themselves encourage mission. i pray that many more believers would see the intricate interconnections of these two pulses, and i’m sure that this book will help them." — Dr. Theodore Van Raalte, professor of ecclesiology, Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary