TO WIN OUR NEIGHBOURS FOR CHRIST
The Missiology of the Three Forms of Unity
By Dr Wes Bredenhof
Reformation Heritage Books. 95 pages. $10
ISBN 978 1 601 783 527
I opened the package and thought ‘Great! A book on personal evangelism from a Reformed perspective!’ Then I read the subtitle and realised that the book does not do what it says on the tin.
However it does do what it says in the subtitle. It is an investigation of the three Reformation confessions known as the ‘Three Forms of Unity’. These are: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Confession and the Canons of Dort. From this it is obvious that this book is not for the average church member unless they are knowledgeable about Reformation history and theology.
Dr Bredenhof is pastor of Providence Canadian Reformed Church in Ontario. His contention is that modern histories of mission are wrong to dismiss the Reformation as a movement lacking missionary zeal. He attempts to show from these three Reformation Confessions that they were missional. His argument is that if they can be shown to be missional then the Reformation was mission-al. Additionally he wants to demonstrate that they can still be used in mission today.
He takes each confession in turn and follows the same pattern with each. First he gives the historical background. Then he attempts to prove the confession is mission-al. Finally he shows how people are using it today in mission.
As a scholar he is thorough and detailed in his examination. Many of the footnotes are from academic books and papers. His select bibliography is seven pages long, for a book of only 92 pages! I am not convinced he proves his point and he even admits so in the section on the Canons of Dort. Again, in his examples of the use today of these Confessions in evangelism, it is always amongst the churched rather than the unreached. It is a book which is too academic for the average church member and probably not academic enough for theologians.
