To Win Our Neighbors for Christ: The Missiology of the Three Forms of Unity

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 offer 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

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.

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