Summer reading
Something refreshing for the plane or the pool (and probably cheaper than a cup of tea on most airlines...)
Huw Williams | 11:55, 02 August, 2012 | Turin, Italy
It's that time of year when we head for our holidays and pack some books for the journey or the beach. Or maybe you find yourself at home with a little more time on your hands and some of the regular activities of the year shut down for the Summer and have a bit more free time. As we went for our holiday this year, I took a pile of books, some of which I was hoping would benefit my ministry, without being too heavy (in any sense) and appropriate for an hour or so by the pool.
And what Strauch makes abundantly clear is that if we try and do this without answering the Lord’s call to love, we are in real peril.
And here's one of them, an excellent little book – Leading With Love, by Alexander Strauch. The beauty of this book is that it is for anyone involved in any kind of leadership in the church. So it's not just for your pastor, if you lead a Bible study group, a coffee morning, a kids' or youth group, an evangelism course, if you're on a cleaning rota, finance committee, music group, whatever – when you stop and think about it, you’re in some form of leadership. And what Strauch makes abundantly clear is that if we try and do this without answering the Lord’s call to love, we are in real peril.
The book is extremely easy to read, very simple in style, no Greek and Hebrew (but you can go into those in the Appendix if that’s your thing), short chapters (I read a chapter a day in ten or fifteen minutes) but simple in style does not mean light in content. This is an extremely challenging book.
I can't recommend it highly enough. It’s not a leadership manual (thank goodness!), it is a highly readable presentation of the Bible’s mandate for our ministry and lives to be covered in love. Essential reading on a surprisingly neglected subject.
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