For the Cause of the Son of God: the Missionary Significance of the Belgic Confession

The Reformation is usually not associated with missionary fervor. Similarly, the confessions of faith produced by Reformed churches have seldom been viewed as missionary statements. This book argues for a reconsideration of these positions. The focus is on the Belgic Confession of faith written in 1561 by the Belgian martyr, Guy de Bres. Bredenhof argues that the Belgic Confession was an effort on the part of de Bres and the Reformed churches of the Low Countries to reach those they considered to be non-Christians. He demonstrates how the structure of the Confession represents a contextualized witness to sixteenth century Europe. FOR THE CAUSE OF THE SON OF GOD also looks at missionary uses of the Belgic Confession in the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, both from theoretical and practical perspectives. The church will surely be enriched by a more careful reflection on the relationship between confessions such as the Belgic and the call of Christ to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.