My 5 best books of 2015.

The books mentioned here may or may not have been written in 2015, but I read them this year, so that is how they get a place on the list! This year I was writing my MA dissertation on Jesus' meals in the gospels, so some of the choices reflect that fact.

A Place of Refuge - Tobias Jones

This is the compelling story of how the writer Tobias Jones set up a 'woodland sanctuary' in Somerset with his family. As the title suggests, it was founded as a place where those in difficulty could come for refuge and healing. The book contains the story of the first five years of the community, and is fascinating, challenging, and inspiring in equal measure. Jones doesn't hold back in his honest descriptions of the reality behind the often romantic image of communal living, but within the grittiness and difficulties there are stories of real hope and beauty.

I found it fascinating to read about the challenges of raising a young family whilst welcoming all kinds of people including addicts, people with serious mental health issues, and ex-offenders, into the family home and around the dinner table. There are huge ups and downs for the family and they come close to burn out more than once, but they are passionate about their calling (and they do see it as a calling) and persevere, emerging stronger and wiser as a result.

This is brilliantly written, you can almost smell the camp fires and freshly baked bread, and hear the birds singing and the wood being chopped as you read. I would recommend this for anyone interested in simplifying their lives, living more communally, working with vulnerable people, or just to anyone who enjoys a great bit of story telling!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Place-Refuge-Experiment-Communal-Windsor/dp/1848662483

Shrink - Tim Suttle

Take all you've read about successful churches and put it to one side, and read this book with an open mind. This is the best book on church and leadership I have read for years. I had felt uncomfortable with the values and principles of the church growth movement for some time, and with the way churches often adopt business principles and techniques without questioning whether they are kingdom principles. Tim Suttle addresses all these concerns head on, using the Good to Great movement as an example. Whereas in business, Good is seen as the enemy of Great, Suttle contends that in the kingdom of God, Great is the enemy of Good, and we should be focussing on pursuing goodness rather than greatness.

Suttle challenges the narrative of faster, stronger, bigger, which is often the aim of the mega church movement he has been involved with, and uses the teachings of Jesus to measure success not by growth but by faithfulness. He compares much of the church growth movement to the way athletes achieve success through illegal drug use - it works but it is hugely unhealthy to the body. Pretty strong stuff!

I can't state strongly enough how much this book encouraged and challenged me. It articulated much of what I have been feeling for years, but haven't managed to spell it out. How often do you read a chapter on gentleness in leadership in church leadership books?? How often to you read about the importance of vulnerability for Christian leaders? His writing on individualistic decision making in church communities is utterly brilliant.

If you read one book in 2016, please read Shrink. It is one of those books that is so good that as soon as I finished it I went out and bought 5 copies to give to my friends!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shrink-Faithful-Ministry-Church-Growth-Culture/dp/0310515122/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451421544&sr=1-1&keywords=shrink+tim+suttle

Searching for Sunday - Rachel Held Evans

Rachel Held Evans has produced another absolute cracker! I loved her Year of Biblical Womanhood, and this book retains that great combination of humour, depth, and narrative that gently draws you in until you realise you've been deeply challenged when you thought you were just reading a story!

Evans weaves her thoughts about loving, leaving and finding the church into chapters on the sacraments - baptism, confession, holy orders, communion, confirmation, anointing of the sick and marriage. She is one of many evangelicals who has found depth, meaning and identity in the ancient practices of the historical and liturgical churches, but she has the ability to write about her journey with beauty and poignancy.

The story is incomplete - and that is the point. There are so many people asking big questions about faith and church and mission, and Rachel Held Evans provides some space for people to explore their questions yet stay connected to the historic Christian faith. I would recommend this to anyone rethinking what church is all about, and assure you that whether you agree with her or not, this book will really make you think.

(NOTE: currently on Kindle at £2.99 - bargain!)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEARCHING-SUNDAY-Religion-Evans-Rachel/dp/0718022122/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451422384&sr=1-1&keywords=searching+for+sunday+evans

From Tablet to Table - Len Sweet

This is the first book I've read by Len Sweet and I really enjoyed it. After spending a whole year writing about Jesus' meals in the first century, it was great to read someone applying it to the 21st century! Sweet is a great writer, full of brilliant quotes that fit into 140 characters!

The book is a cry to 'bring back the table'! Sweet says that 'the table is the place where identity is born - the place where the story of our lives is retold, re-minded, and relived'. He shows how central the table has been in Jewish and Christian history, and how desperate things will become for our sense of identity and community if the current trends of eating quickly, individually or in front to the TV are to continue.

He quotes Jean Leclerc's summary of the gospel: 'Jesus ate good food with bad people'. This is great. I could go on and on with one quote after another, but I would rather you just buy the book and enjoy it for yourself, then go and buy a bigger dining table and start inviting lots of people round for dinner much more regularly than you do now.

One more quote: 'Jesus didn't keep a moral table, he kept a healing table'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tablet-Table-Leonard-Sweet/dp/1612915817/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451423002&sr=1-1&keywords=tablet+to+table+sweet

America's Pastor - Grant Wacker

In a year where Billy Graham's son Franklin has been getting himself into all kinds of unpleasant debates, it was brilliant to read this in-depth but immensely readable study of the life of Billy Graham - 'America's Pastor'. The book particularly focusses on Graham's role in American public life, including his close friendships with a number of American presidents and their wives.

There are lots of fascinating insights into what made him tick. I loved reading about how he would go into training like a boxer preparing for a fight, in preparation for his crusades. Wacker doesn't hold back when discussing the more difficult issues - accusations of anti-semitism, getting too involved in politics - which leads to a balanced picture of the man, human rather than just an untouchable all-American icon.

As I listened to this on audio book, I don't have any quotes, but this was my favourite biography of the year. Go and get it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Americas-Pastor-Graham-Shaping-Nation/dp/0674052188/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451423583&sr=1-1&keywords=wacker+americas+pastor