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John, Book Review                                          100 

 

Book Review 

 

Undivided Witness: Jesus Followers,  

Community Development, and Least Reached 

Communities 
By Greenlee, David, Mark Galpin, and Paul Bendor-Samuel, Eds. 

 
Reviewed by T.S. John 

 
 

 
 

Oxford: Regnum Books, 2020. $13.68 

 

In Undivided Witness, editors David Greenlee, Mark 

Galpin, and Paul Bendor-Samuel, along with a 

seasoned group of nine contributors, grapple with the 

challenge of combining church planting with 

development among “least reached peoples.” Their 

purpose is to assess the potential synergy between 

Christian development and a growing indigenous 

church planting phenomenon labeled by the editors as 

“Vibrant Communities of Jesus Followers” (VCFJ). 

The structure of the book is the presentation and 

evaluation of ten principles drawn from the rich 

experience of the contributors. The editors hope the 

book will “help dissolve the perceived tension between 

[church planting and community development] (12)”. 

Because few if any published scholarly works have 

examined the intersection of Christian community 

development, least reached peoples, and VCFJs, 

Undivided Witness is a pioneering work in this space.  

Indeed, the ten principles are helpful in guiding the 

application of the synergies discovered in least-reached 

contexts. It is also true that some of the contributors’ 

conclusions about handling the perceived tensions 

between the two approaches are understandably 

debatable and, in my view, show a bias towards 

achieving community development outcomes at the 

expense of spiritual/VCFJ outcomes, without fully 

exploring the costs entailed in doing so. Given the 

controversies surrounding such topics, the book’s value 

should not be judged by its ability to reach uncontested 

conclusions. Rather, its importance is derived from the 

helpful conversation it initiates within an unexplored 

space. In the spirit of this stated outcome, I take the 

liberty to add the voices of Laura Dudley Jenkins and 

Dena Freeman for consideration. 

The book proceeds by providing a robust 

exploration of its ten guiding principles. The principles 

were created by Operation Mobilization (OM) to 

ensure that their own development practices aligned 

well with their other goal of achieving VCFJ outcomes 

among least reached peoples. It is important to note 

these principles are not the brainchild of an individual, 

but emerged instead from extensive discussions with 

OM development practitioners and partners, 

missiologists (including Bryant Myers), and 

development-savvy faculty from both Oxford Centre 

for Missions Studies and All Nations Christian College. 

The principles were then published as a scholarly 

article in the journal Transformation (Greenlee, et al. 

2020), and are presented in this book in a more robust 

form. While the editors have confidence in the 

universality of the ten principles, they also see them as 

“under development” and hope they will stimulate 

further discussion and insights from Christian 

community development practitioners and 

missiologists.  

The first four principles, “Understanding the 

Kingdom of God is Fundamental,” “Understanding 

How People Enter the Kingdom of God Shapes How 

We Do Ministry,” “The Gospel Impacts Whole 

Peoples and People’s Whole Contexts,” and “A Broad 

Vision of Glorifying Christ” are an important reminder 

of current thinking on the theology of development 

from an evangelical perspective. The contributors argue 

that helping the poor experience the socio-economic 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 2(2),  Winter 2021 

                   
John, Book Review                                          101 

 

implications of God’s Kingdom is a biblical form of 

witness that points to the King and can lead to the 

emergence of VCFJs. The contributors also surface 

challenges that can impede the emergence of VCFJs. 

They encourage practitioners to believe God is working 

through their development initiatives despite the lack of 

spiritual fruit. In my view the contributors in this section 

should have been a bit more circumspect about the 

absence of spiritual fruit and VCFJ outcomes in light of 

their strong views on the importance of VCFJs in 

development. If one accepts Bryant Myers’ claim that 

“it is impossible to imagine a transforming community 

without a transforming church in its midst” (2011, 177), 

which is echoed by Mark Galpin in Principle 7, then 

the lack of spiritual/VCFJ fruit should be deeply 

disturbing to Christian development practitioners. It 

would certainly disturb church planting movement 

proponents, and their voices on these issues would 

provide some helpful balance. 

It is for this reason Holly Steward’s chapter on 

“Principle 5: Prayer, Spiritual Warfare, and Change” is 

so important. Steward’s engagement of spiritual warfare 

is often ignored by Christian development practitioners 

from the West, but lies at the roots of spiritual/VCFJ 

growth. Not only do her stories and lessons reflect the 

perspective of grassroots Christian development and 

church planting practitioners I have encountered in 

South Asia, they also reflect the growing movement of 

Pentecostals transforming traditional societies in ways 

that, according to Dena Freeman (2012), rival if not 

exceed the work of development organizations, 

Christian and secular alike. Bryant Myers is right that 

Western-influenced Christian development theorists 

must take the transformative impact of Pentecostal 

efforts much more seriously (Myers 2015). 

Consequently, the chapter is a welcome and relevant 

addition to the literature. 

Robert’s Sluka’s chapter on “Principle 6: Caring 

for Creation as Worship, Witness and Obedience” is 

another important contribution, partly because he 

brings much needed attention to the issue of creation 

care, but also because he helps readers understand how 

it can be applied at the intersection of community 

development, least reached peoples, and VCFJs. 

Editor Mark Galpin takes on “Principle 7: A 

Vision for Renewal and Vibrant Communities of Jesus 

Followers.” Like Myers, Galpin argues that community 

transformation can only happen if the strategy 

incorporates “a vision for vibrant communities of Jesus 

followers (VCFJ) and the renewal of the whole person 

and community” (97).  Ultimately, the book’s thesis 

rests entirely on Galpin’s argument and he does a 

commendable job defending his position. Still, his 

analysis of the practical outworking of this vision and his 

concerns about proselytism (discussed in greater detail 

in the epilogue of section one), would benefit greatly 

from analyses like those of Laura Dudley Jenkins’ study 

of Dalit mass conversions in India (2019). Her analysis 

encourages those working in the international Christian 

development sector to reconsider their Enlightenment-

influenced conceptions of conversion among 

marginalized people groups, to question their 

relationship with State and international actors who use 

these conceptions to reinforce marginalizing systems, 

and to stimulate fresh, maybe even prophetic 

perspective on how Christian development initiatives 

can support VCFJs to become a grass-roots force for 

systemic change. 

In “Principle 8: Community Development 

Workers are Committed to Professional Excellence,” 

Scott Breslin unpacks this important principle through 

an analysis of seven stakeholders: the affected people, 

host governments, donors, the international 

development sector, the development organization, the 

development worker him/herself, and God. While the 

analysis is helpful in addressing and resolving faith-

based challenges (and opportunities) faced by the 

practitioner in the development “workplace,” Breslin 

leaves out the church as a stakeholder (local, regional, 

or otherwise) and does not integrate VCFJ as a defining 

outcome that influences his measure of professional 

excellence.  

In “Principle 9: Shared Principles of Excellence,” 

Andrea Waldorf provides an insightful comparison 

between the defining principles of community 

development and principles outlined by David 

Garrison in his seminal analysis of VCFJ movements 

among least reached people, “Church Planting 

Movements” (CPMs). While there are significant 

overlaps between CPMs and Christian community 

development principles, there are also some key 

differences that Waldorf does not address. The chapter 

nevertheless offers a helpful bridge between CPM 

proponents and proponents of Christian community 

development that will prove valuable for ongoing 

discussion between the two.    

In the final chapter, “Principle 10: The Least 

Reached Are So for a Reason,” Rosemary Hack draws 

from her own experience to help readers understand 

why the “least reached” are such. Geographic, linguistic, 

political, and climate (I would add cultural and 

infrastructural) barriers have made access to least 

reached peoples anything but easy both for the Church 

and even, in some instance, the rest of the international 

community.  Hack’s overview reminds readers that 

cross-cultural missions remain relevant and vital to the 

spread of Christ-centered human flourishing. Her 

challenge to the Church to go where few have ventured 

to tread shows that the world still needs risk-taking 

“sodalities” of the Church (to use Ralph Winter’s 

terms) to bring Christ’s transforming power to the least 

reached.  



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 2(2),  Winter 2021 

                   
John, Book Review                                          102 

 

Finally, Paul Bendor-Samuel wraps up the book 

with a call to “listen closely” to the communities served 

and to what God is doing among them, to “see clearly” 

to find and respond to the least reached, and “ask 

humbly” how God might have readers respond to their 

needs. 

Throughout the book, Undivided Witness 

provides important recommendations and food for 

thought within a space that is largely unexplored. 

Though there are times the conflict between 

community development and church planting leans in 

favor of development, Undivided Witness makes an 

important contribution to this important debate. In 

addition to providing helpful principles and addressing 

important issues, the book may kick-start further 

discussion on the most biblically sound strategies for 

integrating Christian community development with 

church planting efforts among least reached peoples. 

Practitioners in both camps have much to learn from 

each other.  

 

References 

Freeman, Dena. 2012. Pentecostalism and 

Development: Churches, NGO’s and Social 

Change in Africa. Non-Governmental Public 

Action Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Greenlee, David, Mark Galpin, Andrea Christel, and 

Cameron Willett. 2020. “Exploring the 

Intersection of Community Development, the 

Least Reached and Emerging, Vibrant Churches.” 

Transformation 37(2): 105–118. 

Jenkins, Laura Dudley. 2019. Religious Freedom and 

Mass Conversion in India: Pennsylvania Studies in 

Human Rights. Philadelphia: U Penn Press. 

Myers, Bryant. 2011. Walking with the Poor: Principles 

and Practices of Transformational Development. 

Revised. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. 

_______. 2015. “Progressive Pentecostalism, 

Development, and Christian Development NGOs: 

A Challenge and an Opportunity.” International 

Journal of Missionary Research 39(3): 115–120. 

 
 

 

TS John is Founder/CEO of South Asia Access and 

lived in South Asia for 18 years. He holds an MA 

in Intercultural Studies from Wheaton, an MBA 

from Hope International University, and is 

currently a doctoral student at Asbury Theological 

Seminary. 

 

Author email:  tsjohn@southasiaaccess.org  
 

 

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