Worth the Read
People with a penchant for learning understand the importance of reading. And with the new year around the corner, you might be looking for some new titles to add to your reading queue. The staff and faculty from MB Seminary have developed a short list of recommended books based on what they’ve read over the past year. Some are new, some are seasoned, but all of them have been helpful resources to this team.
Have a look, share these suggestions, and enjoy the experience of grappling with new ideas and wisdom.
[These titles are listed in alphabetical order by title.]
Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, Stephen C. Meyer (HarperOne, 2013).
Meyer is a philosopher of science (Ph.D. Cambridge) who offers a sober but extremely persuasive foundation to bring the myth and the theory of evolution (they are supposed to be distinct but they dangerously overlap these days) back to the more humble status of scientific hypothesis.
Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, Chip Heath & Dan Heath (Crown Business, 2013).
A well written and practical guide for better thinking and better decision making. It is immediately applicable to almost any decision you may be wondering about and filled with case studies that are easy to identify with.
Discerning Your Congregation’s Future: A Strategic and Spiritual Approach, Roy M. Oswald & Robert E. Friedrich Jr. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996).
Now 20 years old, this book continues to resource congregations who are looking for a wise approach to discern God’s call and movement for the future.
The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World, Peter Scazzero (Zondervan, 2015).
Drawing from his own struggles and failures, Scazzero explains the practices he follows to establish and maintain emotional health which is the foundation for sustainable and effective leadership.
Green Shoots Out of Dry Ground: Growing a New Future for the Church in Canada, John Bowen (Wipf & Stock, 2013).
These essays and stories inspire hope for the church’s mission in the 21st century by highlighting new developments across Canada, such as vibrant immigrant churches, uniquely innovative practices among Indigenous congregations, the spirituality needed for mission, and the widely diverse Christian traditions that are all engaged in God’s mission.
The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence, Gary A. Haugen (Oxford University Press, 2014).
For every Christian who wants to think more deeply about how to respond to crises related to economic development, education, and aid, this book will be both encouraging and deeply disturbing. Its focus on the need to eliminate violence as the root issue is based on thoroughly documented research and in-person interviews.
Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward, Dr. Henry Cloud (HarperBusiness, 2011).
We’re too busy to keep adding things to our workload and this book teaches how—and why—to end activities, partnerships, relationships, and projects, so that we can move ahead with greater health and effectiveness.
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant (Viking, 2016).
A new book that debunks the common myths of originality and outlines what it means to move beyond the status quo.
Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, Andy Crouch (IVP, 2013).
Crouch explores how God originally designed power to be used and the various ways that people can “play God” in redemptive ways.
Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples, Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger (Broadman & Holman, 2008).
Research based, readable, and just plain common sense. The authors show how the healthiest churches have a simple process for making disciples, using four things: clarity, movement, alignment, and focus.
Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? Philip Yancey (Zondervan, 2014).
At a time when grace seems to be vanishing from the church and the culture, Yancey makes a plea for reclaiming the good news of the gospel and offers several models for becoming grace dispensers. There's also a particularly interesting chapter on Christians and politics.
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Timothy Keller (Viking, 2013).
Keller uses the “fiery furnace” as the organizing principle to address the universal experience of suffering. The book begins with a philosophical approach, then moves to a more personal approach, and ends with a practical angle.
You are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, James K.A. Smith (Baker, 2016).
Your life is shaped by who and what you love, but you might not love what you think you love. Smith argues that we are influenced more by our desires than by our ideas which has a profound impact on how we view culture and discipleship.