You Will Be My Witnesses: Theology for God's Church Serving in God's Mission

by Brian A. DeVries

A Theological Introduction to the Witness of the Church within the Mission of God

Mission is God’s work. God spoke the first promise of gospel hope, sent his Son into this fallen world, and commissioned his Spirit to empower his church for witness. Until the day Christ returns, God has called his people to participate in his mission through evangelism, apologetics, church planting, cultural engagement, gospel suffering, and many other activities that faithfully communicate gospel hope in Christ.

This practical introduction provides a biblical framework for understanding the church’s role in God’s mission. It reviews the biblical story of God’s mission, draws insights from the church’s witness since Pentecost, and studies aspects of contemporary Christian witness. Each chapter ends with study questions to encourage further reflection and discussion by church members and ministry leaders. Readers will gain refreshing insights into how they can participate in faithfully bearing witness to Christ through the church’s work in the world today.

Confessional and  Precisely defines the biblical aspects of God’s mission and Christian witness, built upon time-tested theology, yet freshly applied for witness in the post-Christendom world  Written for church members, college and seminary students, ministry workers, and church leaders who are committed to creating a community that bears witness to Christ in an unchurched society Practical and  Clear and crisp writing style, enhanced by many helpful figures and charts, and infused with a gospel passion to declare God’s glory among the nations Spurs  Thought-provoking study questions at the end of each chapter to encourage further reflection and faithful action

Genres: Theology

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Emily Waits (emilylovesreading_) · Rating 5 out of 5]

{Thank you to @crosswaybooks for my gifted copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.}

I simply must preface with: it was SO hard to pick only a few quotes to share! Here are some favorites:

“Mission is God’s work; witness is how Christians participate in it.”

“A faithful Christian witness is a person who knows Christ experientially and who is nourished daily in spiritual relationship with Him.”

“Who is a witness of Christ? Every true believer. All Christians have experienced forgiveness of sin and new life in Christ. We all give evidence of this salvation by displaying the fruits of Christ’s Spirit, by publicly confessing this salvation in our communities, and by testifying publicly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that the Bible is God’s authoritative word.”

Missiology is one of the things I feel most excited and passionate about. I was so very excited to learn about this new release from Crossway and it was every bit as amazing as I’d hoped! This book is so rich and full of deep theology and a history of missions.

This book is written in three parts: first, “The Biblical Story of God’s Mission,” second, “Concise History of Christian Witness,” and lastly, “Our Witness in an Un-Christian World.” Such an incredible overview of what witness and missions really are and how each Christian is called to be a part of what God is doing.

I found myself highlighting part of each page! I especially love the way that this book begins with theology and missiology from the Old Testament before discussing the new. How often do you see that in missiology texts? So good!

Highly recommend!

[Jon Pentecost · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is essentially a biblical foundations of missiology book. It won't go in depth in analyzing different movement, fads, or even flesh out that much how different theological convictions have shown themselves in different approaches to missions. Nor does it do that much direct critique of different views of missiology. What it does do well is lay out a positive exegetical argument for the role of the church as witnessing to the wonderful redeeming work of our Lord.

Part 1 (Biblical overview) is the by far the strongest section. Particularly the chapter on the mission of the Holy SPirit I found sharp, invigorating, and thought provoking. Here is a great model of discussing the importance of the third Person of the Trinity without divorcing him from the Father and Son.

Part 2 (concise history) was in my view altogether too concise.

Part 3 (application/synthesis). There is a lot of good in here. Unfortunately, DeVries uses lists of about 8-12 subcategories to summarize the components of the church's witness, the nature of missional reform, and so on. The result is these chapters feel cluttered, and it's difficult to keep clear in my mind as I read what is prioritized/foremost in DeVries argument. Lots of good, and worth reading, but difficult to treat this as a one-stop shop book to hand someone.

[Jessica Pool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful, but definitely read like a textbook.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very dry book. Not much to disagree with, but nothing all that perceptive or fresh, either. I do appreciate DeVries' refusal to buy in the modern progressive ideas of how the church is supposed to "help usher in the kingdom" or any of that baloney. He definitely gets the important things right, though, as I said, not any differently than has been done in many other books with better writers.

[Clark Cowden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure how this book won a Christianity Today award. It's very theoretical and says nothing new. It seems very removed from the everyday issues the people in my congregation are curious about.

[Brian Whittaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great brief summary of England’s history, drawing out some quirks and themes along the way.