« Back to Issue 66

SHORT NOTES

Reviewed by Paul Beasley-Murray.

Available in England through SPCK, Reformed Catholicity: The promise or retrieval for theology and Biblical interpretation (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 168pp; £12.99; ISBN 978 0 8010 4979 8), by American systematic theologians Michael Allen and Scott Swain, with an 18-page ‘afterword’ by Todd Billings, relates more to the American scene rather than the British scene, for American evangelicals have tended to dumb down the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments in a way which would not be true for instance of British evangelicalism within the Church of England.

Applied Leadership Development: Nine Elements of Leadership Mastery (Routledge, Hove, East Sussex 2015; 312pp; £29.99; ISBN 978 1 138 95206 5), by Northern Americans Al Bolea and Leanne Atwater, is a practical book on leadership written within a secular context. The authors believe that mastering leadership is achievable by everyone: “It’s not about ability, where some people have it and others do not. It’s about the journey”. As part of that journey, the following nine elements need to be mastered: set direction, build a team of people, create key processes, steward structure, nurture behaviours, (have) conversations, provide support, set boundaries, and (give) space to deliver. A church setting is clearly different from a business setting, yet there are insights to learn, although hard work is required to transfer those insights into a church setting.

Igniting the Heart: Preaching and Imagination (SCM, London 2015; 205pp; £16.99; ISBN 978 0 334 05319 4), by Kate Bruce, Tutor in Homiletics at Cranmer Hall in Durham, is based on an earlier PhD thesis. Her argument is that “imaginatively conceived and delivered, guided by the revelatory impulse of God, the sermon has the potential to move and inspire people; in short, it can ignite the heart”. This is a book from which seasoned preachers could benefit. However, much as I appreciated this helpful approach to applying God’s Word, congregations also need to be ‘taught’ from the Scriptures.

Subversive Obedience: Truth-Telling and the Art of Preaching (SCM, London 2011; 111pp; £9.00; ISBN 978 0 334 04494 9), by Walter Brueggemann, consists of a series of eight essays in which the author reflects on the challenge of preaching amidst the sexual, financial and political lies that surround us.

First published in the USA by Wipf and Stock in 2014, Into Your Hand: Confronting Good Friday (SCM, London 2015; 48pp; £7.99; ISBN 978 0 334 05413 9), by Walter Brueggemann, contains seven illuminating meditations on the seven words of the Cross – each of which the author links with a Psalm. Brueggemann has a great gift for finding something to say fresh to say about familiar words. This is a book to buy.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: his life and relevance for the 21st century (IVP, Nottingham 2015; 155pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 1 78359 383 5), by Christopher Catherwood, a grandson of Lloyd-Jones, is an interesting read for those who remember ‘the Doctor’, yet to my mind marred by a narrowness of view, which of course was true of Lloyd-Jones himself. Ecumenism is dismissed as being “fundamentally dishonest and based upon pretence”; social action is associated with “liberalism”; and the calling out of Baptists from the Baptist Union in 1966 is hailed as “a great success”. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was indeed a towering figure in the mid-20th century, but the book fails to make the case for his relevance today.

Love, Sex and Marriage: Insights from Judaism, Christianity and Islam (SCM Press, London 2013; 262pp; £16.99; ISBN 978 0 3340 4405 5), by Dan Cohn Sherbok, George D Chryssides and Dawoud El-Alami, is an interesting book which deals not just with sex law, marriage, family life, and divorce, but also such issues as polygamy, intermarriage, and divorce. Highly informative, at times it is also provocative, when such issues are raised such as ‘Are Christian marriages more stable’ or should we ‘celebrate’ divorce.

Available from Alban Books of Edinburgh, A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament (Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 443pp; £19.99; ISBN 978 0 8254 4340 4), by Philip Wesley Comfort, is a fascinating book for ministers able to handle the Greek text of the New Testament, but sadly of no interest to others.

Available in the UK from Alban Books of Edinburgh, Room to Grow: Mediations on Trying to Live as a Christian (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2015; 170pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 8028 7258 6), by Martin Copenhaver, now president of Andover Newton Theological School, is quite outstanding. It consists of 25 thought-provoking ‘meditations’ on a variety of Scripture texts which Brueggemann in his foreword rightly describes as “disclosing a dimension of possibility in real life that we hadn’t noticed”. Not only is this book personally enriching, it is also a wonderful resource for preachers. This is a book to buy!

The Message of Joshua (IVP, Nottingham 2015; 226pp; £10.99; ISBN 978 1 7835 9365 1), by David G Firth of St John’s College, Nottingham, is a welcome addition to the Bible Speaks for Today series combining lightly held scholarship with practical application – a great commentary for preachers.

Love for the Lost (Marylebone Press/SPCK, London 2015; 410pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 1 910674 03 1), by Catherine Fox, is yet another superb and gripping novel about faith and forgiveness, love and loss, from this established and gifted author.

Sensing God: Learning to meditate during Lent (SPCK, London 2015; 125pp; £7.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07546 1), by Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman, is a practical introduction and guide to meditation and includes 46 daily reflections on the Gospels for the period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It is a helpful devotional resource.

Robin Greenwood is a William Leech Research Fellow at St John’s College, Durham, and has written widely in the field of ecclesiology. His latest book, Sharing God’s Blessing: How to renew the local church (SPCK, London 2016; 184pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07215 6) is a practical guide intended to enable traditional local churches to regenerate patterns of mission and ministry through a series of guided conversations. Questions which the book seeks to address are, among others, “In what senses is God wanting this church to ‘grow’ at this time? What forms of worship will most nurture existing Christians and invite the participation of others? How can we positively honour the spiritual pathways of one generation while opening doors to many other routes that are developing? How do congregations grow in responsibility, moving from dependency on a minister, and recognize ministries as callings to be shared and mutually supported? How do we build up the worshipping church – in every sense – while working for the good of the neighbourhood?” Greenwood’s passion is that “local churches will rediscover themselves as communities of God’s beloved: blessed and to become a blessing, and to work for the final beatitude of creation”. Alas, I found Greenwood’s style is not easy, and it contains much theological and sociological jargon which would make the book challenging for most lay people. Perhaps this is more a tool for church consultants?

Available in the UK through SPCK, Defending Substitution: an essay on atonement in Paul (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 128pp; £11.99; ISBN 978 0 8010 4977 4), by Cambridge academic Simon Gathercole, is a helpful book. For instance, over against Steve Chalke’s charge of ‘cosmic child abuse’, the author points out that, first, the death of Christ is not that of a third party, but is the ‘self-substitution of God’; second, that Jesus offers himself as a sacrifice in line with his own will; and third, over many centuries millions of Christians have not perceived this doctrine as cruel, violent or unjust.

First published in hardback in 2014, When God Breaks In: Revival Can Happen Again (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 228pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 1 444 78795 5), by Michael Green, is an almost breathless popular account of revival from Pentecost through to the present day, written with the purpose “to ignite the torch of hope that God can do it again”.

Understanding Grief: An Introduction (Routledge, Abingdon 2015; 211pp; £24.99; ISBN 978 1 138 83979 3), by Richard Gross, is a good secular guide to bereavement theory, from which ministers could well benefit However, the section on ‘cultural and religious aspects’ is a little disappointing.

Published as an ‘SCM Core Text’, Paul (SCM Press, London 2009; 267pp; £25; ISBN 978 0334 04206 8), by Geoffrey Harris of the East Midlands Ministry Training Course, is a superb introduction to Paul, rooted both in scholarship and the practicalities of ministry, which seeks to draw an ‘all-round’ picture of the Apostle, combining both Paul the theologian and Paul the pastor.

The Upside-Down Bible: What Jesus really said about money, sex and violence (DLT, London 2015; 192pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 232 53207 4), by Symon Hill, is a provocative commentary on seventeen passages from the Gospels. Each chapter contains a Scripture passage, then some ‘insights’ and a ‘reflection’ together with a series of chapters. Here is excellent material for a home group, provided the members of the group are prepared to read!

Published as an SCM Studyguide, Biblical Hermeneutics (SCM Press, London 2006; reprinted 2012; 216pp; £19.99; ISBN 978 0 334 04004 0), by David Holgate and Rachel Starr, is written for first year theological students; wide-ranging in content, evangelicals will not find this an easy read.

Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh, Empty Nest, What’s Next? Parenting Adult Children Without Losing Your Mind (Hendrickson, Peabody, Massachusetts 2015; 137pp’; £9.99; ISBN 978 1 61970 666 8), by American writer Michelle Howe, is a book full of common sense for parents coping with the emotional ups and downs of their newly independent children.

Available in the UK through SPCK, Reading Barth with Charity: a hermeneutical proposal (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 186pp; £14.99; ISBN 978 0 8010 9531 3), by George Hunsinger, a professor of systematic theology at Princeton, is a scholarly engagement with Barth’s theology of the trinity and election. It is a book for the academy rather than for the ordinary working minister.

Twelve years ago, Mark Ireland and Mike Booker wrote Evangelism: which way now? In some ways, Making New Disciples: Exploring the paradoxes of evangelism (SPCK, London 2015; 206pp; £12.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07336 8) is a follow-up by the same authors. Full of good things, I found it highly stimulating, abounding in wisdom and insight. As for the issues raised, the chapter headings speak for themselves – for instance: ‘growing the church or growing people?’; ‘strategy of spontaneity?’; ‘Alpha revisited’; ‘courses: shorter spans, longer bridges?’; ‘Alpha revisited’; ‘Messy Church: Messy enough? Church enough?’; ‘Church-shaped disciples, or disciple-shaped Church?’. This book is a real ‘must’, not just for every minister, but for key church leaders in general.

True worshippers: seeking what matters to God (IVP, Nottingham 2015; 174pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 1 78539 380 4), by Bob Kauflin, a North American pastor, songwriter, and worship leader, is a practical popular book on worship. There are no great theological insights, but preachers could find some of the ideas quite helpful.

My Rock and My Refuge: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 372pp; £12.99 hardback; ISBN 978 1 473 61422 2), by Timothy and Kathy Keller, takes the reader through every verse of the Psalms. Every day there are five or six verses of a Psalm, followed by a comment and a prayer. It could be a useful tool for family prayers.

Published in The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary series, which seeks to build the gap between biblical studies and systematic theology, Hosea (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2015; 260pp; £16.99; ISBN 978 0 8028 2700 5), by Bo Lin, an Old Testament scholar, and Daniel Costelo, a theologian, both teaching at Seattle Pacific University and Seminary, is a thoughtful exposition of and reflection upon the main themes of Hosea. Also available in the same series is Proverbs (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2015; 407pp; £18.99; ISBN 978 0 8028 2710 4), by Ernest Lucas, vice principal emeritus of Bristol Baptist College, contains not just a careful exposition, but also ten substantial theological essays on such subjects as ‘character in Proverbs’, ‘characters in Proverbs’, ‘family, friends and neighbours in Proverbs’, ‘Wisdom and Christology’, and ‘Wisdom in creation’. In the UK, both books are available from Alban Books of Edinburgh.

First published in 1964 and available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh, Paul, Apostle of Liberty (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2nd edition 2015; 407pp; £22.99; ISBN 978 0 8028 4302 9), by Richard N Longenecker, an evangelical scholar and professor emeritus of New Testament at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, established itself as a classic introduction to the Apostle Paul. Apart from a ten–page foreword by Douglas A Campbell, in which the work of Longenecker is glowingly assessed, the main difference between the first and second edition is a substantial addendum of over 100 pages on ‘Understanding Paul and His Letters during the Past Twenty Centuries, with Particular Attention to His Letter to the Christians at Rome’.

Published in the Christian Belief for Everyone series, The Christian Life and Hope (SPCK, London 2015; 118pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 0 281 06841 8), by Alister McGrath, is a lively and popular guides to such issues as the sacraments, the resurrection of the dead, heaven and eternity, and living ‘between the times’.

The Heaven Promise: Engaging the Bible’s Truth about Life to Come (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 210pp; £12.99; ISBN 978 1 473 62857 1), by Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, is divided into four parts: 1) The Heaven Question; 2) The Heaven Promise; 3) God’s Six Promises about Heaven; and 4) Ten Questions about Heaven. Although its theology is light-weight, preachers can undoubtedly benefit from the stories and quotations this book contains.

Available in the UK through SPCK, Reading the New Testament in the Church: A Primer for Pastors, Religious Educators and Believers (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 226pp; £13.99; ISBN 978 0 8010 4980 4), by Francis J Moloney, an Australian Roman Catholic academic, is a thoughtful guide to the New Testament.

Published in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A biblical theology of the book of Leviticus (Apollos, 2015; 347pp; £16.99; ISBN 978 1 78359 368 2), by Michael Morales of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in South Carolina, is a study of the narrative context, literary structure and theology of Leviticus. The author argues that the description of the way in which God had opened up a new (Levitical) way for humanity to dwell in his presence is the drama and plot of the Bible as a whole. Unfortunately, at no point does the author seek to relate his theology to the church and world of today.

The Price of Love: the selected works of Colin Murray Parkes (Routledge, Hove 2015; 240pp; £31.99; ISBN 978 1 138 02610 0) is a collection of 26 papers on bereavement published by the author over the years. The collection is divided into five parts: love and grief; crisis, trauma and transition; death and dying; disasters; war and terrorism – breaking the cycle of violence. It contains much food for thought. For instance: “Grief is not like the measles; and you don’t recover from it and go back to being the person you were before you suffered the bereavement. We are all permanently changed by grief. But the changes which take place need not be changes for the worse. Out of the fire of grief can come wisdom.” This would be a good volume to study during a sabbatical!

In the Gift of this New Day: Praying with the Iona Community (Wild Goose Publications, Glasgow 2015; 198pp; £11.50; ISBN 978 1 84952 447 6), edited by Neil Paynter, consists of a month’s cycle of prayers which focus on a wide variety of issues such as education, poverty, human rights, and gender justice. This collection certainly expands the horizon of many of our prayers.

Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh, Jesus and the Last Supper (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2015; 590pp; £35.99 hardback; ISBN 978 0 8028 4871 0), by Brant Pitre of Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans, is a detailed study of the historical Jesus and the Last Supper which comes to the conclusion that the Last Supper was indeed a Passover Meal, and that Jesus saw himself as God’s Messiah. Scholars and students will welcome this volume, but I doubt whether it will make much difference to pastoral preaching.

All Questions Great and Small: A seriously funny book (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 187pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 1 444 79316 1), by Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas, has its origins in a so-called ‘Seriously Funny’ tour of the UK, in which audiences were invited to listen in to a conversations between two evangelical ‘celebrities’. Questions dealt with include ‘Have you ever faked a manifestation of the Holy Spirit?’, ‘Do parts of the Bible ever make you cry?’, ‘Where are all the hot single Christian guys?’ and ‘Is it all right for Christians to enjoy magic?’ There is little here to stretch the mind!

Discovering Genesis: Content, interpretation, reception (SPCK, London 2015; 214pp; £19.19; ISBN 978 0 281 07085 5), by Iain Provan, a Church of Scotland minister teaching at Regent College, Vancouver, is at one and the same time a superb introduction and insightful commentary on the Book of Genesis, which will inspire any minister preaching on Genesis.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy: A Christmas Feast of Faith and Fun (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 248pp; £14.99 hardback; ISBN 978 1 473 63003 1), by Pam Rhodes, is a popular collection of carols, poems, readings and light-hearted reflections on the Christmas story, which will no doubt appeal to many.

A Celtic Liturgy (SPCK, London 2015; 169pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07410 5), by retired Canon Pat (Patricia) Robson, is a beautifully-written collection of alternative services and prayers for various occasions, all constructed in the style of the ‘Celtic tradition’.

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest based at the Centre for Action and Contemplation in Alburquerque, New Mexico, and is a popular writer and speaker on spirituality. Breathing Under Water (first published in the USA in 2011, and published in the UK by SPCK, London 2016; 147pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07512 6) and Breathing Under Water: Companion Journal (SPCK, London 2016; 118pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07514 0) are based on the premise that we are all ‘addicted’, and that the wisdom behind the American twelve-step programme first developed for alcoholics contains what St Francis called “the marrow of the Gospel”. For Rohr sin is a “very destructive disease” and “if sin… made God unhappy, it was because God desires nothing more than our happiness, and wills the healing of our disease”. Rohr argues that all too often the church has given people “a bogus version of the Gospel, some fast-food religion, without any deep transformation of the self” – the religion of many well intentioned Christians “has never touched them or healed them at the unconscious level where all of the real motivation, hurts, unforgiveness, anger, wounds, and illusions are stored”. Much as I agree with much of the criticism of the “consumer-oriented, proud, warlike, racist, class conscious” church all too often found in North America, I question whether Rohr’s approach to spirituality is what the British church needs today.

The Passion and the Cross (Hodder and Stoughton, London 2015; 143pp; £9.99 hardback; ISBN 978 1 473 62668 3), by Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonia, Texas, had been produced with Lent in mind, and consists of 40 popular reflections, which draw on Scripture, story, theology and contemporary culture. Endorsed by Brueggemann, preachers may find it a useful resource.

Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2015; 669pp; £29.99; ISBN 978 0 8028 4732 4), by Fleming Rutledge, an American Episcopalian who has had a major preaching ministry, is a great book, which could revitalize preaching! The author is writing primarily to help preachers preach the cross, and to do so in such a way as to bring out ‘the living significance’ of the death of Jesus. Beautifully and thoughtfully written, it is divided into two parts, Part I looks at the Crucifixion, and has chapters on the primacy of the Cross; the godlessness of the Cross; the question of justice; and the gravity of sin. Part II looks at the Biblical Motifs, and has chapters on the Passover and the Exodus; the blood sacrifice; ransom and redemption; the great assize; the apocalyptic was (Christus Victor): the descent into hell; and recapitulation. The conclusion is entitled “Condemned into redemption: the rectification of the ungodly”. Full of simulating insights, this book deserves to be read carefully and to be pondered upon. It also provides a wonderful resource for a host of sermons on the Cross of Christ. Just as in the past every preacher needed to read John Stott’s The Cross of Christ, so today every preacher needs to read this book!

God and Churchill: How the great leader’s sense of divine destiny changed his troubled world and offers hope for ours (SPCK, London 2015; 268pp; £19.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07527 0), by Jonathan Sandys, a great grandson of Winston Churchill, and Wallace Henley, a former White House aide to President Nixon and now an associate pastor of a mega Baptist church in the States, has been warmly commended by people like Os Guinness and Christopher Catherwood, but I confess that I am less enthusiastic. As the authors admit, although Churchill had a sense of ‘divine destiny’, he was not a Christian believer. This is not to deny that God could have used Churchill as his means to defeat Nazism, just as God clearly used Cyrus of old to bring home the people of Israel. An interesting biography, but I am not convinced that the authors have proved that Churchill’s life offers hope for our world today.

Places of Pilgrimage (SPCK, London 2015; 184pp; £12.99; ISBN 978 0 281 07518 8), by the professional artist Ian Scott Massie, is a beautiful record of the author’s tour of well-known and less familiar places of pilgrimage throughout the British Isles. As an Essex man, however, I was disappointed that there is no reference to the Chapel of Peter-on-the-Wall near Bradwell, which dates back to AD 654 and is the oldest church in England.

The revised and expanded edition of Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving (Paulist Press, New York, 2015; 138pp; £19.99; ISBN 978  0 8091 4926 1), by Don Frick and James Sipe, is a development of Robert Greenleaf’s 1986 The Servant as Leader, and is targeted not at church leaders, but rather at business leaders. In summary, a servant-leader “is a person of character, who puts people first. He or she is a skilled communicator, a compassionate collaborator who has foresight, is a systems thinker, and leads with moral authority”. Highly practical, this could form a useful study book for a ‘Lent group’ made up of business men and women. In the UK it is available from Alban Books of Edinburgh.

Life in the Spirit: a Post-Constantinian and Trinitarian account of the Christian life (James Clarke, Cambridge 2015; 209pp; £16.50; ISBN 978 0 227 17552 1), by Andrea D Snavely, an AOG professor of Bible and theology in the USA, saw life first as a PhD thesis. The author argues that, as Jesus lived as the Son of the Father in the Spirit, the Spirit also makes other sons and daughters of the Father in the image of Jesus Christ.

Systematic Theology (SPCK, London 2015; 453pp; £20; ISBN 978 0 281 07330 6), by Anthony Thistleton, Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Nottingham University, has been produced as a teaching tool for theological students – the 14 chapters match the number of weekly sessions in an average-length semester. My surprise with this excellent resource is that many of the references to scholarly works are quite dated: for instance, in the 102 notes on the section on the church (which often refer to more than one book), only three of the books listed had been published in this century, and none of those three were core books; the section on baptism reflects the debate in the 1960s. In that respect the book is a disappointment.

Awe: why it matters in all we think, say and do (IVP, Nottingham 2015; 198pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 1 78359 377 4), by Paul Tripp, Director of the Pastoral Life and Care Centre in Fort Worth, Texas, consists of a series of devotional reflections on the subject of awe, looked through a number of lenses such as ministry, materialism, growth, church and work. For instance, in his chapter on ministry he argues that “God intends every moment of ministry to inspire awe of himself in his people”. He goes on: “We minister to people who are hardwired for awe, who have lost their awe, and who need awe given back to them again…”

Recent booklets from Grove of Cambridge, all 28pp in length and £3.95 each, include:

Caring for Carers: Insights for carers and those in pastoral ministry (Pastoral Series 142, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 940 9), by John Waller, who cares for a wife with MS, is an excellent guide for ministers to understand the pressures and challenges faced by the one in ten people who give regular voluntary unpaid care to relatives or friends.

Growing Leaders from Diverse Cultures: Leadership in a Multicultural Church (Leadership Series 21, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 944 7), by Andy Jolley, an Anglican vicar in Birmingham, should be essential reading for white ministers working in multicultural areas – as the author notes, there has yet to be a beautiful symphony of brotherhood, for “some jangling discords of cultural misunderstanding are still present”.

A Model for Christian Youth Work (Youth Series 39, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 941 6), by Nigel Pimlott of Frontier Youth Trust, is a useful resource to enable youth leaders “to pause, reflect and appraise what exactly it is that the youth work they have undertaken is trying to achieve”.

Creative Tension in Urban Mission: Reflections on Missional Practice and Theory (Evangelism Series 111, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 947 8), by Andy Weir, the Church Army’s Research, Review and Training Officer, is an excellent examination of tensions such as between evangelism and social action, or between collaboration with secular organisations and the church’s call to be counter-cultural.

Loneliness: Reaching out to the elderly and isolated (Pastoral Series 143, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 949 2), by S John Dawson and Pete Rugen, is a wide-ranging reflection on loneliness and gives practical pointers to how churches can serve the lonely and elderly.

Ten Essential Concepts for Christian Youth Work (Youth Series 40, 2015; ISBN 978 1 85174 950 8), edited by Sally Nash and Jo Whitehead, has been published to celebrate ten years of Grove’s youth work publishing and presents insights from ten of its previous authors on concepts that have helped them in their ministry – a booklet to give to youth leaders in the church!