Here’s a rip-snorter of a South Texas murder mystery, with a Presbyterian flavor, a Presbyparson’s first book. Mark Stoub, pastor in Bay City, Texas, weaves a yarn of murder, conniving and the dark (and lighter) sides of human nature among small-town Presbyterians in Shoestring, Texas.
The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church’s Spectators Into Active Participants
by Scott Thumma and Warren Bird
Jossey-Bass (a Leadership Network publication). 256 pages
reviewed by ANDREW PLOUCHER
What about the inactive members? Where’d they go? If you’ve ever asked this question, deflected it during a tense session meeting or been frustrated with the challenges of developing a more active church membership, “The Other 80 Percent” is a must read.
Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help
by Robert Lupton
HarperOne, San Francisco. 208 pages
reviewed by MIKE LITTLE
Can our charitable efforts to help the poor actually harm the very people we set out to help? In his most recent book, “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help,” Robert Lupton contends the answer is unequivocally “yes.” In fact, he believes the harmful consequences of our charitable work are a national scandal.
Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples
by Thomas H. Groome
New York: Harper Collins. 384 pages
reviewed by JAMES F. CUBIE
Thomas Groome is a wise practical theologian who has written a superb book on how to do educational ministry that gives both a compelling, systematic vision of the theology that should support any practical effort to educate and grow disciples, and leads its reader through a series of personal and communal questions that relate directly to how a church operates day-to-day.
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
by Amy L. Sherman
InterVarsity Press Books, 272 pages
reviewed by JANICE HORTON
This book hits the spot. The “Vocational Sweet Spot” that is. Defined by Amy Sherman as “that place where our gifts and passions intersect with God’s priorities and the world’s needs,” it’s the place Christians ought to be aiming for when they consider their life’s work.
Cynthia Holder Rich provides a volume with a huge historical and informative value, tracing the Fifohazana, a spiritual revival movement in Madagascar, from its genesis in the late 19th century until now.
