Mission-Shaped Spirituality Susan Hope • CHP 2006, £7.99 • ISBN 0 751 4080 9
One of the burdens Christ has borne for 150 years or so is the ever increasing academic leanings of professional believers. It has tipped western churches into maintenance rather than mission. We get stuck with hymns where resonance has gone, buildings not fit for purpose and a “safe” complicity with the decreasing few who find such belief congenial. One of a series responding to ‘Mission Shaped Church’ this volume almost commits the same sin of academic argument – but not quite.
Quoting examples, it draws out a seemingly dangerous way of living the faith. Not specifically for the country church, it argues for personal experimentation and going to where the worship suits you; hardly an option in some villages. Nevertheless when many have no idea what religion is about, let alone Christianity, a reaching out through risk and individual journeying is extolled. This is a thought provoking read.
Peter Lawrence
Rural Evangelism in the 21st Century Barry Osborne • Grove Evangelism Series No.EV76, 2006 • ISBN 1-85174-639-0
Grove Booklets are well known and respected, exploring many aspects of Christian life and ministry. This is a welcome addition to the series.
It covers context and strategies by which rural churches may engage in appropriate and effective evangelism. Understanding context is vital if the Gospel is to have any significant impact on individual and community life. Understanding the sociological characteristics of the countryside - also found in the village church - and their implications for evangelism is also vital, methods need to suit context and characteristics.
Are rural churches a help or hindrance to evangelism? Probably both. After giving some statistics of church attendance the author reminds us that our church type will have implications for community relationships and methods of evangelism. Methods also need to suit our church type. Obvious but often overlooked.
You may be tempted to start reading at the survey of possible strategies and methods. Don’t! Read the first part first. Evangelism is about engaging with people, the more the local church engages with its community the more it will find effective methods to share the Gospel and be accepted by the community around it.
Graham Wise
Harvest Food, Farming and the Churches Timothy Gorringe • SPCK 2006, £9.99 • ISBN 978-0-281-05817-4
Professor Gorringe is to be congratulated on this excellent and timely book, which he says “is intended as a study resource for congregations.” A congregation or house-group that uses this book will have their understanding of the theological, social and economic issues surrounding world agriculture significantly deepened.
The book outlines how different cultures have understood attitudes to creation’s resources, ranging from a ‘common treasury’ to resources to be privatised and exploited for individual or corporations’ profit. It looks at ‘another gospel’, the false gospel of the free market. The book then considers how those understandings affect food production, water resources, environmental attitudes, fisheries and genetic modification of crops.
What I would have liked to see was some clear simple steps that churches and individuals could take to radically change the injustices he identifies. But they are not in the book, probably because they don not exist!
Robert Barlow
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book reviews
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