Take the Challenge

This is a reprint of a book first published in 1985 in which the primary author George Campbell records his experiences in the service of Christ as a pioneer evangelist in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the summer of 1984 he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in light of which he desired to write this book as a testimony to the grace of the Lord Jesus, as an incentive to younger men to follow in his steps, as well as an encouragement and example to all believers as to what God can do with a life that is yielded to Him.

The opening chapters follow Mr. Campbell’s life from early years through to his conversion at the age of 24 and his call to the Lord’s work some three years later. Within this book he writes of: the ‘The Challenge of the Gospel’; ‘The Challenge of the Great Commission’; and ‘The Challenge of Suffering’, describing both the difficulties and the joys he encountered in the service of the Lord. He went forth with clear convictions of ‘New Testament church principles: the autonomy of local assemblies, the plurality of elders, the priesthood of all believers’, convinced that those ‘principles are still workable today’ and from his personal experience exhorts his readers to ‘be willing to do what God wants you to do, when He wants you to do it’ and then to ‘be sure to give Him the glory’. It is a pity that the book does not include a map of the locations in which this brother laboured but, in spite of that one shortcoming, this is an excellent and challenging book and one that is heartily recommended.

[Our thanks to Richard Catchpole, South Norwood, London, UK, for this review]