50 years ago, in Scottish schemes, gospel halls were thriving as City Missions opened outreach posts on housing schemes. Many never quite made it to local church status as they were run more by committees than by elders. City centre churches saw them as nothing more than outreach centres they could send interested members to […]

Those of you who know me personally or have followed this blog for any length of time will know that I read a lot of books. A while back, I read a book entitled, ‘Toxic Charity: How the Church Hurts Those They Help (and How to Reverse It)’. I will enclose a short review here, […]

What is the role of the church on our society today in social issues? Are we merely to preach or should we be engaged in social action? All very modern questions within evangelical circles right now. But they’re not new. The early church had to make these kinds of decisions thousands of years ago in […]

This is quite a lengthy book (245 pages) given that it only contains 6 chapters. Is written by a lady who was born in a large housing estate in Birmingham, UK and latterly lived in the East End of London. She writes with a tangible sense of injustice at the way those of us who […]

Let me start by saying that at 170+ pages long, this book by Tim Chester is a short, sharp read on what is often quite an involved topic. For those of us who have read anything written by Ron Sider particularly, it is not going to add anything new to our armoury, but it is […]

I bought this book with no little excitement given the list of theological luminaries that have recently been recommending it as a must read. Ron Sider, for instance, calls it: “probably the best book on how to do holistic community development.” There is no doubt that it is comprehensive in its treatment of the issues, […]