Marty Troyer

An Anabaptist view of evangelism and promotion of the Gospel in a local area.

The book is divided into sections, focusing on how the Gospel exposes and illuminates what is going on in society, how Christians are to look like Jesus, promote what He promoted, and participate in effective discipleship, seeking peace and the common good, and work in social justice.

The Anabaptist tradition is big on pacifism and justice, and has taken well to modern social justice causes, and so that emphasis is not terribly surprising. The author works and lives in Houston and tells many stories about the work done there.

The author's primary audience is Evangelical Christianity, and attempts in many ways to cause discomfort among the comfortable, and for good reason. Thankfully, whereas the author thinks highly of social justice causes, and believes they are to be incorporated into the work of the promotion of the Gospel, he recognizes that social justice on its own does not inherently save. He points out the incongruity between the thirst for violence in culture and how the Gospel treats violence. He does well to show that concern about souls without concern for real-world situational difficulties is insufficient. Even though he works within systems he recognizes the value of individual interaction and individual effort in reaching people.

But the social justice emphasis is quite strong. It is easy to get very taken in by such causes and neglect the greater spiritual issues. Nevertheless, a book that will challenge your thinking.

**galley received as part of early review program.… (meer)