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Living His Story Together

Mar 31, 2025 | 2025 - Summer – Free, Book Reviews

Living His Story Together

Author Hannah Steele
Publisher SPCK £10.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780281087266

Hannah Steele writes about mission as a way of church life – so central to church DNA that a church cannot function without it. Mission is not something the Church ‘does’, but ‘is’: not a duty, but an identity. She writes with feeling about the struggle of faith in a culture of atheism and ridicule. The book covers contemporary topics: Covid, Brexit, with Ukraine, Gaza and President Trump in the headlines. The future of the world is at stake. Hannah explains that effective mission has never been so important, and that the Church must be on the move and culturally significant – the body of Christ in the community. Her best chapters are about living the gospel in the power of the Spirit. Hannah’s style is academically strong and theologically focused. Incisive quotations from theologians past and present make this an intelligent read. If Hannah should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, she can lead the church to be what her book portrays. It would be great to be a member of her church team.

Reviewed by HOWARD ROWE

Mission

 

On Mission with Jesus

Sep 11, 2024 | 2024 - Autumn - Free, Book Reviews

On Mission with Jesus

Author Graham Cray
Publisher Canterbury £18.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786225412

At first glance this book may seem to be one voice among many. Lay people and Christian leaders often long for a Spirit-led Church and local community instead of what Graham Cray calls ‘the default setting’ of the Church or even – as he knows from personal experience – ‘Fresh Expressions’. And here is a Spirit-led expression of Christian life for today’s world and contexts which Cray likens to the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:42). This longing by the Church to follow the Spirit into new directions, to become true ‘Jesus dwellers’ as Cray puts it, is nothing new. What is different here is an in-depth exploration and intensity of purpose of new directions without discarding much loved traditions and patterns of congregational worship rooted in Gospel faith. Useful notes follow each chapter, plus a section on the rhythm of life intended for the shared missional life of the Church and its local communities. Other voices are quoted – Martin Luther for example – and there is a detailed bibliography and index. Altogether a thoughtful approach to long-held longings.

Reviewed by RAYLIA CHADWICK

Mission

 

Here’s Hope

Jul 13, 2023 | 2023 - Autumn - Free, Book Reviews

Here’s Hope

Author Roy Crowne
Publisher Hope Together £5.00
Format pbk
ISBN 9781739739447

This book is written in a ‘magazine-style’ format with photographs and poster-type quotes interspersed in the text. Crowne recounts his spiritual journey of Christian service, culminating in the foundation in 2006 and subsequent development of ‘Hope Together’, a mission agency to energise the church in her outreach through acts of service in local communities. The book’s 10 chapters cover the life of Hope Together through these initiatives prompted by the leading of the Holy Spirit. For Crowne, relationships are key – he rightly sees the need for church leaders to develop relationships of trust and fellowship with each other, both nationally and locally. This enables the growth of an entrepreneurial outreach in church communities and their environment. These are often in response to national celebrations in a rapidly changing and challenging post-Christian society. Each chapter ends with 10 brief sentences pointing the way forward. ‘The heartbeat of HOPE is the heartbeat of mission…seeing communities in churches and churches in communities…filled with joy, peace and trust in God’. All this expressed by acts of love and service. A book to inspire and challenge us.

Reviewed by ROGER THORNINGTON

Mission

 

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