BE MY WITNESSES
Christ’s last words: our first concern
By Kieran Beville
EP Books. 160 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 0 852 349 627
This book is written to encourage personal evangelism. The author is pastor of a Baptist church in Co. Cork, Ireland, and is well qualified to write on the subject. His heart for the lost and his experience in telling others of Christ is evident in the book. He has also lectured on mission around the world.
He covers our duty to evangelise and the cost of doing so, emphasising how it is an intentional process. Having spent a chapter dispelling myths about what a Christian is not, he then explains what a true Christian is. The next chapter on befriending sinners is very helpful and challenging as is the following chapter on relational evangelism. He demonstrates that there are many forms of evangelism and we need to find a way that suits our individual personality, but the best evangelism springs out of relationship. The following chapter encourages us to ‘go fishing’ for Christ. It’s a good reminder both of the need to have Christ’s compassionate heart and also the need to pray.
Sovereignty and responsibility
There then follows a theology of evangelism to encourage us to be clear in the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility in salvation. This is a long section. While it is great theology, it is more suited to the lecture theatre than as a book to motivate the general church member to evangelism. For example, several pages are spent refuting the doctrines of Arminius and showing how the response of the Synod of Dort, the five points known by the acrostic TULIP, are the correct biblical doctrine.
The final chapter of practical advice is generally very good. Some examples, like the fear of mixing with non-believers in case they contaminate our holiness, are more suited to a religious culture than to secular Britain. This is a good book from a Reformed theological perspective. However, it seemed to be an amalgamation of sermon notes, lecture notes and practical advice. As such it taught rather than encouraged and lacked motivational emphasis.
