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Ten books I would save from the flames!

By David Bedford.

I am not naturally a book person. Rather I am a nose on the ground, learn it through experience person. Yet as my Christian life has developed and my pastoral experience deepened over twenty years I have come to realise how I have been influenced and shaped not just by the Scriptures, but godly authors writing, in the power of the Spirit, books to instruct and equip today's Church.

In this article I am allowed to indulge myself and rescue from the flames of my burning study ten books that have left their mark on me. It is a given that I will pick up my Bible (NIV popular cross reference edition). However I would also rapidly gather the following books (as well as my stamp and first day cover collection).

The first book to give me a glimpse of what could be as a Christian was David Watson's Discipleship (Hodder, 1981) which underlines Watson's key contribution to the whole Church. Fear No Evil (Hodder, 1984) was David Watson's testimony during his struggle with cancer and a wonderful tool to help many in similar situations.

Lifestyle was an important early issue for me as a Christian which Watson's insights helped but Richard Foster's Money, Sex and Power (Hodder, 1985) was seminal because it gave a practical way of living out a truly biblical Christian response that is both appropriate for modern society and authentically Christian.

Spiritual Warfare was a confusing area and Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness (Monarch, 1989) helped me think through the reality of the spiritual world via a novel cleverly written and, although it had some limitations, it clearly helped a generation of believers to wake up.

John Houghton's A Distant Shore, (Nelson, 1994) was for me a modern Pilgrim's Progress with a similar depth and challenge to the original. Of my ten books this is probably the least well known, yet possibly a gem waiting to be discovered. Robert Warren's Being Human, Being Church (Marshall Pickering, 1995) was a wonderful wake-up call to the Church to help it first to diagnose and treat those problems which stifle its spirituality and then to empower its members and leaders alike to become visionary, missionary congregations. It draws out well the Celtic missionary heritage we need to rediscover.

Every Christian needs to understand about the Second Coming and live in the light of it. David Pawson's When Jesus Returns (Hodder & Stoughton, 1995) helped me grasp this truth and work out the implications for me and the Church. Not losing our radical roots as Christians has always been important to me. Dr. Kim Tan's Lost Heritage: the heroic story of radical Christianity (Highland, 1996) is the best book of this kind I have read, exposing me to the zeal of the New Testament believers and their practices plus the freedom that comes from not being an institution. It tells the story of the early Church and Reformation - with a focus on the roots of the modern Baptist-evangelical-charismatic movement.

Church Growth theories come and go, but Christian A Schwarz's Natural Church Development: A Practical Guide (BCGA, 1996) does not offer another theory, but simply presents the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the causes of church growth/decline. More than 1000 churches in 32 countries, in all five continents, took part in this project. Its thesis is that Church Growth is God's doing and we can cooperate with this natural process by working on making our strengths stronger and our weaknesses less so. Finally Roger Ellis and Chris Seaton's New Celts (Kingsway, 1998) is a re-examination of key biblical values in the light of both the inspiration provided by the early Celtic Christian movement and the challenges of contemporary culture. It calls us away from individualism to biblical community and a journey with a purpose.

Oh, and by the way, I do read secular books (one a month). I'm an avid Ken Follet fan even if the Prime Minister is no longer!

David Bedford is pastor of Westborough Church in Guildford, Free Church Chaplain at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, and a member of the RBIM Board of Management.