We live in a distracted, secular age.
These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits--and devices--that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"--an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives.

But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.
Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

Wasn't the South African Apartheid supported by Christians? Weren't the Crusades motivated by greed, but advocated by the church? Don't phoney television preachers manipulate viewers into donating money? William Edgar addresses these and other questions honestly, without attempting to dismiss or explain away their uncomfortable realities. He displays the good aspects of the church even more brilliantly through frankly and Biblically acknowledging the bad. If you have ever asked the question Does Christianity Really Work? this will be an interesting and enlightening read, whatever your prior convictions.

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls believers the salt of the earth and light of the world. Indeed, we must reach out to tell others His story of sacrifice and grace so glory is given to God throughout our communities and the entire planet.

With all of that in mind, Reid organizes his research and experience in effective modern evangelism into four clear and actionable categories: Biblical (with chapters on Jesus, Paul, and evangelism in Acts), Spiritual (the work of the Spirit, the power of prayer and other disciplines), Intentional (leadership, creativity, worship), and Missional (church planting, reaching the unchurched).