Book Review -Contents Page

Book Reviews
This is the Book Review section of Mark Cowling's YAM site www.mark1830.blogspot.com.  

Be excited that God is doing amazing things in our world -some of it written in books, so see the regular book reviews here for a short-cut to these ideas.

CLICK THE BOOK TITLE TO SEE THE REVIEW
September 2016 Book Review:  God's Undertaker -Has Science buried God?

November 2015 Book Review:  The Silo Effect

October 2015 Book Review: The Ticking Box Story

September 2015 Book Review: Starting, Assessing and Sustaining Pioneering Mission

June 2015 Book Review: Center Church -Balanced Gospel Ministry in your City 

May 2015 Book Review: Missional Communities -the rise of the post congregational church


May 2014's Book Review: Making Sense of Generation Y (the world view of 15-25 year olds)

March 2014's Report Review: From Anecdote to Evidence (Church Growth is happening)

October 2013's Book Review: On God's Side -Jim Wallis

July 2013's Book Review: New Monasticism As Fresh Expression of Church

God's Undertaker -Has Science buried God? by John Lennox

God's Undertaker -Has Science buried God? by John Lennox


A must read!  In a world shrill with rhetoric, the field of science has experienced plenty of poor logical argument, especially from esteemed and titled scientists like Professor Richard Dawkins and others.

Lennox brilliantly exposes the poverty of logic by some scientists who claim God is illogical or obsolete.  He then makes the case that science points towards God's existence.

This is such essential reading in my view, that I have tried to create set of notes called "Unbelievable!" for leading a discussion group on the book. This can be downloaded free from this link

 

The Silo Effect by Gillian Tett

The Silo Effect -Gillian Tett

Do we have a blind-spot crisis ahead?

Gillian Tett is an editor of the Financial Times Newspaper with a background in Anthropology researching community cultures.  Her book explains how we sub-divide our work into silos, ever since Adam Smith advocated the division of labour for productivity efficiency.  However, her analysis of the Banking Crisis and the other global organisations such as VW's emission's disaster have shown how the silo effect leads to major failings.

It's interesting to reflect that the Anglican Church with it's parish system is very much a silo structure with a similar potential for a blind-spot.  One of Tett's conclusions is the need for people who are employed to look at the bigger picture:  "People with a curiosity and a generosity of spirit (to listen to others)".   In an Anglican Church that is struggling to reach young adults, we have to embrace more of the mixed economies of church that Rowan Williams has advocated -listening and trying Fresh Expressions as Leicester Diocese are doing for example. Click here

You can read a great review of this book on this link. 

The Ticking Box Children's Novel by Mark Cowling

The Ticking Box Children's Novel by Mark Cowling

Emily Grace was nine years old and lived at number nine Coalpit close on the edge of a large old industrial town.  Tall brick chimneys were still dotted across the town and Emily discover that the one casting its shadow over her house is a portal to times past and future.  With the help of the Ticking Box she goes back to the beginning and meets Adam and Eve and is gripped by the news that their garden is dying.  Emily then travels onwards to see how the story will unfold...

A fresh take on familiar bible characters, Emily meets Prime Minster Joseph, feeding his monkeys in Egypt, gets caught up in a rowing boat race with Daniel in Babylon, and lots more as she discovers what the great big Bible story means for her...

The Ticking Box Story was written and published on Amazon and Kindle by Rev’d Mark Cowling, a Church of England Minister, based in Bolton, Greater Manchester.  Mark is married to Rachel and they have three children.

The book has received good reviews from school teachers and children’s church ministry leaders.

“This story is brilliant and the character of Emily really drew me into here story from the outset.  I was hooked by the portrayal of temptation and evil through the odious Galah.  And the fresh insight into biblical characters and their motivations are gripping.  I also loved how Herth brings a wonderful picture of heaven that’s accessible to children.”

Sam Wolstencroft, Classics Teacher, Bury

“A wonderful story that will take you and your child on a journey of discovery, providing a refreshing take on familiar bible characters and brining some great life lessons.  Well worth a read.”

Cath Hargraves, LightHOUSE Children’s Leader, St Peter’s Halliwell, Bolton

Click here for the website for teaching and schools resources and how to order.

Starting, Assessing & Sustaining Pioneering Mission

Starting, Assessing & Sustaining Pioneering Mission -Steve Hollinghurst

Hollinghurst's Grove Booklet offers some valuable insights for churches and pioneers:

1) Collaboration is key, even when it seems in competition with the local church: The local church is often the broker and supporter of mission projects.
2) Pioneers are risk takers and experimenters and create tensions for managers. But the relationship must work for accountability and backing.  Permission givers must release pioneers as with Nehemiah.
3) Being clear about charitable status and structures is important for well managed pioneering.
4) Incarnational mission has 5 steps over 5 years...and produces signs of UP IN OUT discipleship, Self -financing, governing, reproducing, theologizing.
5) Pioneers must model the Twelve & Seventy-two pioneering model of Jesus to all including new Christians.

Center Church -Tim Keller

Center Church  by Tim Keller is easy to read (for a large book), with a sharpening message about a missional imperative in the city and churches being fruitful there.  

Keller's "fruitful" involves finding a healthy balance along three axes: 1) gospel (with legalism at one end -and relativism at the other), 2) city (only challenge-only appreciate), 3) movement (institution - organic).


For each axis Keller gives an overview of church history and why the pendulum has swung to extremes on the axes and how we might hold a balance today in a "late modern" post-Christendom West.  Full of biblical reflection and referencing the big ideas that have shaped our faith, he provides a "how to communicate to city culture guide" which he calls "contextualisation". 




Analysing missional community (MCs) models (Breen p267), small and large attractional churches he concludes "no single form of church is intrinsically better at growing spiritual fruit, reaching non believers, caring for people and producing Christ shaped lives" but he offers six marks of a missional church p 274 (confront society's idols, contextualise, equip mission, seek common good, seeker friendly, practice unity).  

I'm a bit surprised Keller doesn't provide more nuance about "no one form of church being better..."...Redeemer Church Manhattan is conservative in many ways typically reaching those who are probably more comfortable with institution.  I'd want to ask Keller about church models for cultures that relate to new power more than old power (see Reggie McNeal book review click here). MCs surely reach places other can't.

That said, whatever your churchmanship you will be better balanced and better equipped after reading Centre Church and hopefully more excited about God's mission.

Watch Tim Keller's short videos on vision in the city centre 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8DOGy0vCewQ

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfHx2NiV50

Missional Communities by Reggie McNeal

The fastest growing religious affiliation is “non-affiliated”.  In surveys 25% young adults aged 18-29 (in US) tick non-affiliated religion.  Half of this number believe in God and the Bible (p8)... 

"People aren’t seeing [traditional] church as the way they want to pursue their spiritual journey."

Missional Communities are about church outside the routines and rhythms of the congregational model.  Typically missional communities (MCs) have no buildings to maintain and many cases no clergy to support.

A post-congregational model requires a strategy of engaging people right where they already live and work...It’s incarnational.

Mike Breen (St Thomas Sheffield & now in South Carolina) says MCs work best when they are;

·         -group 20-50 w/ shared vision & values to gel

·         -lay led (with accountability huddles of invited leaders)

·         -focus on local relational mission

·         - have a "up in out" ministry balance

·         -includes non Christians

·         -worship, prayer, scripture at its core

·        - reproduce missional communities

·         -partner with pre-evangelistic Spirit led work through the "person of peace" gatekeeper

-Breen also argues MCs work better for the different spaces human beings like to occupy (intimate, personal, social and public distances known as Proxemics click here). 

Reggie McNeal enthuses that MCs can fit almost any church context and writes about rhythms of community in Soma MCs Tacoma p65, a University Campus MC in Austin, Texas p85 and MCs as a large church strategy.  

My reflection:
So should all churches be aiming to launch MCs?
As Young Adult Missioner, part of my job is pioneering MCs with teams of volunteers drawn from local churches and new evangelism.   We must increase this economy of church to reach out more effectively.  But there are challenges... 

Attractional churches take a lot of resources to keep their show on the road, creating an "invisible bungee rope" that pulls people back.  Sometimes they're also just an easier option for families with kids. 

These two economies of church are different animals and there are various ways to describe them:  The Starfish and the Spider click here analogy is one way to describe the tension.  New Power vs Old Power click here is another aspect of the tension worth digging into. The tension is probably pronounced at the moment because we're at a bridge between one culture which finds change hard and a new culture that is more comfortable with it.  Understanding this difference will help...