SPCK Publishing

Diddy Disciples is a creative and playful new worship and Bible storytelling resource for babies, toddlers and young children.

Diddy Disciples aims to encourage participation, discipleship and leadership from children's earliest years, using storytelling, singing, colour, repetition, art and lots and lots of movement! Peer-learning is actively encouraged with many opportunities for young children to learn from each other.

Groups are invited to build their own Diddy Disciples sessions, choosing from different options. Leaders can use the material to create a service to follow the pattern of their church's Sunday worship, a simple midweek baby and toddler singing session, or anything in between!

Book 1 includes:
Over 20 weeks' worth of fully worked-out sessions organized into 4-6 week units from September to December.
All the information you need to set up and run Diddy Disciples in your group
Plenty of opportunities to tailor the material to your own context, resources and tradition
All sorts of creative 'starter ideas' for using everyday art and play resources to sparkchildren's imaginations and engagement as they respond to the biblical stories.

The Units are:
Jesus' wonderful love: six weeks introducing some of Jesus' most famous parables
God the maker: six weeks on creation and caring for it, including a Harvest celebration
In November we remember: four weeks including All Saints and Remembrance Sunday
Getting ready for baby Jesus: five weeks journeying through Advent to Christmas

'For any who long for more order, peace and joy.' Stephen Cherry, Dean, King's College Cambridge

Our world badly needs Christ's light and peace. One way to bring these blessings to one another is to attend to our own hearts and to learn to live well.

Living Lent well involves turning back to God to receive his blessing. In this deep and practical book, a guide for Lent and the rest of the year, Sr Laurentia distils the sixth-century Rule of St Benedict as a series of blessings. Closely based on Scripture, the Rule highlights that the whole of life has a Lenten character and points to a joyful eternity.

This accessible guide also includes ideas for reflection and action at the end of each chapter.

Alister McGrath shows how science can take us only so far in answering the big questions about our origins, and how Christianity can take us further.

A book for all who want to explore the reasons why the universe exists, and why we are in it.

Matt likes nothing more than to watch the football, sink a few pints with his mates, and throw a few punches.
But when his friend is killed in a riot after a match, Matt has to choose what he loves more, the footie or his family.
This book is particularly suitable for adults who want to improve their reading skills. It includes ‘What do you think?’ questions at the end of each chapter.

Many have been hugely helped by mindfulness practice. But how do we move beyond our initial goal of functioning well to live a life marked by deep awareness, genuine compassion and ease of being?

Tim Stead is an accredited mindfulness teacher who seeks to explore this very question. Offering new versions of familiar practices, he meditates on three key themes – see, love, be – that connect strongly with the concerns of many great spiritual traditions.

This warm-hearted book will resonate as much with those who do not have a faith commitment as with those who do.

‘Thoughtful and intensely practical, See, Love, Be offers a fascinating insight into the human condition. I particularly enjoyed the use of the well-judged poems at the end of each chapter.’
Michael Mosley, science journalist, TV presenter and producer

'An enjoyably pacey read.' Times Literary Supplement

'Eloquent... brilliant and very moving.' Paul Cartledge, Emeritus Professor of Greek culture, University of Cambridge

'On the morning of 6 October 1536, a frail scholar was taken from a dungeon in the castle at Vilvoorde, just north of Brussels. Armed guards kept the crowds at bay as he was led through the streets of the small town. He was to be burned. The funeral pyre, a wigwam stack of planks surmounted by a cross, was ready. Gunpowder would be thrown on the wood to encourage the flames. He was allowed a few moments of prayer. As a priest, prayer had been the keystone of his faith. After the brief pause, he walked up the steps to be tied to the cross. As he waited for the flames, he called out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!'

'This was William Tyndale, the man whose translation of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament was to bring about more profound changes to the English-speaking world over the next five centuries than the works of any other man in its history.'
From Chapter 1: Innocence and genius

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From living rooms to church basements, Sarah Bessey grew up amongst prayer circles filled with women from diverse backgrounds who prayed in diverse ways. In A Rhythm of Prayer she captures the spirit of those prayer circles, bringing together a range of faith leaders, including Barbara Brown Taylor, Amena Brown, Nadia Bolz-Weber and many more, to offer daily inspiration for connecting with God.

With thirty one original prayers for every mood - tiredness, anger and sorrow as well as hope, love and reconciliation - and journaling pages to add your own prayers to the circle, this is not just a devotional book, but a celebration of unique voices. It is also a warm, inviting invitation to renew and revitalise your prayer life, ideal for anyone who is looking for fresh ideas for prayer or for those just starting to explore prayer for the first time.

Filled with wisdom, compassion and words of poetic beauty, A Rhythm of Prayer is a Christian prayer book that provides spiritual nourishment and guidance. It will leave you feeling connected to others who also walk with God and less alone in difficult, uncertain times.

'Gaze on him . . . Consider him . . . Contemplate him . . . As you desire to imitate him.'

This advice from St Clare of Assisi is the key to unlocking the door to the heart of Jesus' teaching. Her words provide a pattern of meditation that brings alive the Gospel reading for every Sunday of the Revised Common Lectionary.

Gazing On The Gospels Year A by Judith Dimond provides a reflection on the Gospel reading for each Sunday in Year A. Short inspirational meditations are used to unlock the heart of Scripture. Beautifully written and widely accessible, Judith Dimond concludes each entry with a specially written prayer. Her words provide a pattern of meditation that brings alive Gazing On The Gospels Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.

'At every point the author persuades the reader that the Gospel readings really are relevant to our contemporary lives... she offers many images that will help congregations and preachers alike... For its sheer poetry and imagination, Judith Dimond's Gazing on the Gospels... is well worth buying'. Robin Gill, in Outlook

‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
(Galatians 3.28)

The revolutionary writings of St Paul have had an incalculable impact on Western history, and continue to influence directly the two billion Christians living today.

Written by a world authority, this brief history begins by assessing what we know about Paul’s life and letters, and his impact on the Roman world of the first century. It concludes by highlighting the key elements of Paul’s thought and considering their consequences as they have played out over two millennia.

‘Packed with knowledge and insight, this brilliant little book offers a remarkably rich, nuanced, and readable introduction to the Apostle Paul and his legacy through the ages.’
David G. Horrell, Professor of New Testament Studies, University of Exeter.

In Revelation for Everyone, bestselling author and theologian Tom Wright helps us understand the complex book of Revelation in a fresh new way.

Many regard Revelation as the hardest book in the New Testament. It is full of strange, lurid, and sometimes bizarre and violent imagery. As a result, people who are quite at home in the Gospels, Acts and Paul's letters find themselves tiptoeing around Revelation with a sense that they don't really belong there. But they do!

Revelation for Everyone offers one of the clearest and sharpest visions of God's ultimate purpose for the whole creation. Here we see how the powerful forces of evil can be and are being overthrown through the victory of Jesus the Messiah, which continues to inspire and strengthen his followers today. The For Everyone commentary series by Tom Wright can be used on its own or alongside his New Testament for Everyone guides.

They commentaries by Tom Wright are designed to help you understand the Bible from a new perspective under the guidance of one of the world's leading New Testament scholars without requiring an in-depth understanding of theology.

Revelation for Everyone is the final book in the For Everyone New Testament Series by Tom Wright. This end times commentary is aimed at all Christians looking to understand this complex book in a fresh way.

Explores the deepest questions of identity, spirituality and meaning.

In Falling Upward (and many of his other teachings), Richard Rohr talks at length about the False Self and how it gets in the way of spiritual maturity, especially if its preoccupations continue into the second half of life.

Here he focuses on the True Self, which he likens to a diamond, buried deep within us, formed under the intense pressure of our lives, needing to be searched for, uncovered and separated from all the debris of ego that surrounds it. In a sense True Self must, like Jesus, be resurrected, and that process is not resuscitation but transformation.

'For a growing number of us, reading Richard Rohr is like sitting around the tribal fire, listening to the village elder give words to that which we've always known to be true, we just didn't know how.'

Rob Bell, pastor and author of Love Wins

David Adam has spent a lifetime exploring the depths of God's love, and this richly contemplative collection of new prayers and meditations draws us very near to the heart of the Trinity.

Based on 'the prayer of seven directions', Encompassing God seeks to increase our awareness of being held by God.

We are nurtured at every moment of our existence in the encompassing love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Whatever we might be facing, we can trust that God is before us and behind us. He is on our right and on our left; above us, beneath us - and gloriously alive within.

What if those moments we put down to coincidence are really the calling cards of God? What if those pinpricks of light in the darkest places are beacons to guide us, telling of the agonizing love in God's heart? What if God is calling to us, 'I miss you, please come home' ?

Lighting the Beacons seeks to expand our everyday horizons by daring us to believe that the realities of heaven can break through right here, right now.

Inspired by her own recurring vision of pinpricks of light being fanned into flame, Bishop Jill writes for a wide audience to kindle faith in our hearts, to light beacons. Lighting The Beacons seeks to encourage those who are curious about the Christian faith, those who feel discouraged and those aspiring to be giants of faith and part of a transformed society.

Lighting The Beacons is illustrated throughout with stories from contemporary culture, Scripture and the writings of the saints. It makes an excellent gift for those who yearn to be transformed by God. With study guides at the end of each chapter, it is also ideal for group discussion.

The book of Acts recounts the birth of the Church and the ministry of the earliest disciples. It is arguably one of the most exciting books in the New Testament; it tells of a shipwreck, a prison escape and political squabbles.

The book of Acts also occupies a place of critical importance in the New Testament. The Gospels tell us about the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth while Acts continues the story of the people who believed in him. It thus bridges the gap between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. It is an immensely valuable historical record of the early Church, a rich source of theological wisdom and a powerful testament to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.

In this helpful guide, the section-by-section commentary draws out the historical, theological and pastoral significance of the biblical text. There are also four theological essays that highlight the relevance of the book of Acts today. Clear and helpful maps and study suggestions at the end of each chapter make A Commentary on Acts ideal for students on Biblical Study courses, and for anyone wishing to learn more about this thrilling New Testament book.

Clergy and churches are increasingly being encouraged to use the internet and social media to promote their ministries. But they may worry about some of the difficult pastoral and theological issues that can arise online.

'Virtual vicar' the Revd Pam Smith guides both new and experienced practitioners through setting up online ministries, and considers some of the questions that may arise, such as:

- Are relationships online as valid as those offline?
- Is it possible to participate in a 'virtual' communion service?
- How do you deal with 'trolls' in a Christian way?
- What is appropriate for a clergyperson to say on social media?

'An extraordinary, authentic example of discipleship, and the honouring and validation of the radiant "broken jewels" on society's margins.' Stewart Henderson, poet, broadcaster and lyricist

Zac’s Place is a church in Swansea. It is a small chaotic community of Jesus followers where some of the most fragile of life’s walking wounded try to work out their faith. It’s also the spiritual home for the local chapter of God’s Squad motorcycle club.

Zac’s Place, founded in 1998, is led by Sean Stillman, whose front-line ministry has cost him dearly and has included physical beatings. In Zac’s Place, chaos and disorder sit alongside community and grace in an environment resembling an AA meeting mixed with a casualty department.

This is Sean’s personal story of a transformed faith amid the broken, the church community that formed from it and the European-wide growth of an unlikely bunch of biker missionaries. God’s Biker asks the questions, ‘What if it’s not about perfection? What if it’s about beauty in broken places?’

What happens internally when we listen to another human being in need? This is a question that arose from the pastoral experience of a team in a hospice. This book by Bob Whorton offers an 'imaginative' listening to the author's pastoral experience.

Reflective Caring will introduce you to the innovative method of "soul reflection" - a technique aimed at transforming people's lives. "Soul reflection" can be defined as an objective inference of our inner reactions. If we apply this principle, we can become a more fulfilled, wholesome version of ourselves.

The whole of life can be found in the psalms. It can also be found in our cities.

Psalms for the City is a beautifully illustrated book of poetry that offers comfort, inspiration and encouragement for the heart and soul, as John-Paul Flintoff puts into vibrant, captivating and sometimes heart-wrenching words the pockets of peace he has found in the midst of the non-stop noise and colourful chaos of the city.

Inspired by the psalms - some of the oldest and most soul-stirring poetry in the world - Flintoff's fluid style and technical skills take us on a private tour of our most-loved urban landscapes and reveal the spiritual nourishment in some of its most famous sights. In countless churches and sacred spaces, he shows us locations to lament; he teaches us to discover joy in crowded marketplaces; and shares how he found hope searching the horizon atop Hampstead Heath.

With his own hand-drawn illustrations to accompany the poems, Psalms for the City is a book that poetry lovers will treasure and is perfect for fans of Charlie Mackesy. Presented in a beautiful hardback format, it will also make a wonderful gift for friends and family, and for those who love the diversity of city life.

Open and honest, these are modern day psalms that chart John-Paul's discovery that the extraordinary places welcomed the ordinary, and that when we're looking closely, the ordinary places can become extraordinary.

Psalms for the City is an invitation to take your imagination on a pilgrimage across the city, experiencing the full depths of what it means to be human today.

EVER THOUGHT LIFE ISN'T TURNING OUT QUITE AS YOU EXPECTED?

Growing up, Katharine Welby-Roberts imagined that being an adult was one big party. But depression, anxiety and crippling self-doubt led her to alienate herself from others. To replay events and encounters as nightmares. Occasionally, to be unable to leave the house.

Aware of the cacophony of voices in her head, Katharine invites us to join her as she journeys to the depths of her soul. Here, with instinctive honesty and humour, she confronts the parts of her story that hinder her most.

As she charts a course that offers ways of coping with everyday issues, we are encouraged to embrace our own self-worth. To recognize the value of our existence. To let ourselves be loved. Exactly as we are.

With each chapter drawing on personal experience and featuring an original illustration, the topics include:

- taking responsibility (the need to accept failure)

- your crap/my crap (the boundaries between caring and taking on others' worries and stresses)

- what sort of special? (what it means to be unique in a sea of unique people)

- comparisons (the destructiveness of comparing ourselves to other people)

- affirmation (the healthy and unhealthy need)

- inner conflict (believing we can do anything/nothing at all)

- numbers (the power of social media)

- never chosen (finding our value in who we are in each situation, not in the people around us)

- major crisis in a minor moment (keeping things in proportion)

- regret (spending less time evaluating ourselves and more time just being ourselves)

Candid but powerfully reassuring, the book reminds us that we are each made - fearfully and wonderfully - in the image of God, our true source of confidence, comfort and joy.

'Brilliantly honest, often funny and wonderfully readable'
Martin Saunders, Youthscape

'Wholly authentic in the face of suffering and struggle'
Will van der Hart, The Mind and Soul Foundation

Gaby and her husband Sean and their four children live in a flat across from Grenfell Tower, and Sean (a Church of England minister) was the first clergy person on the scene. This book stems from personal experience of the impact of the fire. It features the testimony of and commentary on the community that experienced it, and the amazing stories of hope that followed in its wake.

Grenfell Hope will help readers understand what it was like living in North Kensington before and after the fire. It will help engage the reader with poverty issues, to examine attitudes to the poor and to consider how even small gestures in everyday life can change local communities.

In the desperate situation of the fire, God was at work in people’s hearts bringing hope in tiny gestures that mounted up to something enormous. Hope that couldn’t be ignored or even contained. Hope sprang out all over the country.

Tom Wright has completed a tremendous task: to provide comprehensive guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to furnish them with his own fresh translation of the entire text.

Making use of his true scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Wright captures the urgency and excitement of Matthew's Gospel in a way few writers have.

Each short passage is followed by a highly readable commentary with helpful background information. A glossary is included at the back of the book. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily devotions.

'Ruth Valerio's book is perfect for individuals and groups to think, reflect, pray and be challenged together.' JUSTIN WELBY, from the Foreword

'An arresting and thought-provoking book, brilliantly conceived . . . by turns beautiful and sobering, encouraging and challenging.' PETE WILCOX, BISHOP OF SHEFFIELD

Saying Yes to Life (originally published as the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020) lifts our focus from natural, everyday concerns to issues that are having an impact on millions of lives around the world. As people made in the image of God, we are entrusted to look after what he has created: to share in God's joy and ingenuity in making a difference for good. Ruth Valerio imaginatively draws on the Days of Creation (Genesis 1) as she relates themes of light, water, land, the seasons, other creatures, humankind, Sabbath rest and resurrection hope to matters of environmental, ethical and social concern.

Foundational to Saying Yes to Life is what it means to be human and, in particular, to be a follower of Jesus. Voices from around the world are heard throughout, and each chapter ends with discussion questions and a prayer to aid action and contemplation.

'My favourite thing about this book is the different perspectives on one main thing... Worship! Reading it provided much clarity on a word that is often misunderstood.'

Guvna B, Rapper, Author & Broadcaster

What does it mean to be a worshipper? Together, Tim Hughes and Nick Drake explore who, where, why and how Christians worship, what happens when we do and where the future of worship may take us.

With contributions from Graham Kendrick, Lou Fellingham, Kees Kraayenoord, Dr Helen Morris and many more, this book offers a fresh reminder that worship isn't just music and the songs we sing, it is so much more.

The Spring Harvest 2021 theme book, Why Worship? will help you reconnect to the purpose and meaning of worship, so that you can grow closer to God individually and as a church community and get the most out of worship.

Contributors
Tim Hughes, Nick Drake, Dr John Andrews, Dr Helen Morris, Graham Kendrick, Lou Fellingham, Lyn Weston, Kees Kraayenoord, Noel Robinson, Doug Williams, Dr Darell Johnson.

Intimate Jesus is the first book to open up key questions about Jesus' experience of human sexuality and His attitude towards it in himself and others for a general audience.

Andrew Angel examines all the relevant sayings and actions of Jesus and others in the Gospels, and explores their first-century cultural context in order to better understand the historical Jesus as a fully rounded human being.

Intimate Jesus also explores the relationship between sexuality and spirituality, based in scripture, Andy Angel takes this complex subject and communicates it clearly in a way that can be understood by those without a theology degree but with an interest in theology.

Ancient authors and readers did not work with manuscripts the way we work with printed texts. It is thus all too easy to fall into anachronistic assumptions about how the Gospels were written. Writing the Gospels challenges such assumptions in the light of recent work on ancient media studies and suggests more appropriate models for the composition of the New Testament Gospels.

The main argument is that memory would have been central to the process of composition. The Evangelists almost certainly relied on their memory of the Hebrew Scriptures (and Israelite tradition in general) for their use of them. They will also have been both informed and constrained by the social memory of the primitive Church. It is argued here that they will most likely have relied on their memory of their written sources, or at least, that it is a better working assumption that they did so than that they necessarily worked with their written sources open in front of them. So, for example, Matthew may well have been used to performing Mark from memory and would have had no need to consult a copy if he used Mark as the basis of his own work.

While other aspects of ancient composition are addressed, the main concerns of this study are first to establish the centrality of memory in ancient composition and secondly to explore the implications of assuming that the Evangelists worked mainly from memory, as many of their contemporaries did.

"It's easier to build strong children than repair broken men and women. This book provides an incredible opportunity for parents and guardians to start important conversations early on." – Guvna B, rapper, author and broadcaster

"Books like this are essential, the more children are comfortable talking about race the less barriers there will be between us." - Naomi and Natalie from Everydayracism

Do you want to raise anti-racist children? Do you long to learn but are too scared of saying or doing the wrong thing?

Then Talking to Children about Race is for you.

But before we start talking to our children, we must start chatting honestly with one another.

Broadcaster Loretta Andrews and the educator Ruth Hill had been friends for years before the shocking death of George Floyd made it impossible not to dig deeper into the topic of race and how to explain racism to their children.

Drawing on the very real conversations that ensued, this book invites you into the dialogue to better equip you to bring up anti-racist children.

With warmth and approachability, the authors provide a history of race and explore white privilege, unconscious bias and systematic racism. They offer practical tips, ideas and activities to help you to educate, empower and raise anti-racist children today.

"Loretta and Ruth have given us a treasure: a non-judgemental, open-hearted manual on ways to tackle the subject of race with our little ones." - Sarah Clarke (Disastersofathirtysomething)

"What I love the most is that you are part of change – a lasting change tribe. Ruth and Loretta have not only used their platform but their honest voices in sharing their experiences and research to be the conversation opener for children and families on anti-racism." - Dina Maktabi, Founded of Kensington Mums www.kensingtonmums.co.uk

"This is an incredibly helpful and well-written guide that I will go back to time and time again throughout raising my son!" – Emma Borquaye, author and founder of Girl Got Faith

"I really wanted to skim through this book, picking out little nuggets of wisdom, but paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter, I was engrossed!!" - Nana-Adwoa Mbeutcha, Co-Founder of Black Mums Upfront

"It is a real pleasure to find what many readers are always on the lookout for: a new and original writer of a rattling good story told with intelligence and depth." The Tablet

Parson's daughter Mara Johns arrives as a postgraduate student at a great northern cathedral city. Antagonistic to the church and fiercely independent, she repels all friendly overtures and seeks spiritual answers in her theological research. But when her past involvement in an extreme sect resurfaces, she finds her quest won't stay academic. Nor can she hold out against her persistent would-be friends.

Gradually she unbends and laughs with Maddy and May; locks horns with the insufferable 'polecat' - and finds herself torn between the attentions of two suitors. But they are both ordinands, and she's vowed she'll never marry a vicar. When her carefully controlled world falls apart, it is these new friends she must turn to if she wants to survive.

Finding Mr Goldman tells of the epic battle of good and evil played out in the life and sudden death of a wicked man.
Had he known the hour of his death, the wealthy Harry Goldman might have arranged his day differently. Instead he finds himself plunged into a nightmare in which his life of violence and ruthless greed is laid bare before him.
Accompanied by a disreputable looking but likeable tramp, who bears a striking resemblance to Jesus, Goldman sets out on a quest to save his soul. But confronted by the shattering reality of hell, he realises all is lost. It is only then that he discovers the redeeming love of God . . .

The Essential History of Christianity covers both the key historical events and the big picture.

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes helps us to understand what has gone on in the past, and sheds light on our present experiences of churches, religion, spirituality and religious conflict. She also gives important clues about what might happen in the future.

This entertaining and accessible guide makes sense of a fascinating subject, providing a clear overview of the broad sweep of Christian history, and is indispensible for those beginning to study Christianity or the Church.

Millions have read his words or heard him speak.

Now here’s a chance to find out more about the man behind the books and speeches.

Be a fly on the wall as two friends – one the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the other ‘one of America's leading voices on religion and culture’ (BBC Radio) – talk about their shared passions and interests.

This is Rowan Williams at his most relaxed and personal. Listen in as he reflects on the vital pursuits that have characterized his life and ministry: among them, friendship, imagination, popular culture, faith and politics, prayer, and the blessings of sacred community.

Rowan Williams has made a unique contribution to the spiritual life of the English-speaking world. This eminently accessible introduction to the man and his thought reveals why.

The second - thoroughly updated and revised - edition of a bestselling textbook that surveys the grand narrative of the Bible, demonstrating how the biblical story forms the foundation of a Christian worldview.

The Drama of Scripture provides an engaging overview of the storyline and theology of the Bible. The authors work their way through the Bible as a drama with six acts - creation, sin, Israel, Jesus, mission and new creation.

Their study provides an introduction to the Bible and a commentary on important passages, while helping the reader relate their story to the Bible story at each point.

 - For anyone wanting a way through the minefield of dating without compromising faith
 - Want to keep your integrity by finding a way of dating that is simple and sincere?
 - With practical advice, this book will give you a route to the adventure of romance

'It's Complicated'

Matters of the heart always seem to be. But dating in the church? It can be even worse.

Relationships can be difficult to define, intentions hard to discern. But with singles making up a third of the total church congregation in the UK, there is a real need to demystify the dating process and return to dating in its simplest form.

Rediscover how to date.

In this brand new handbook, couples psychologist and dating course leader Aukelien van Abbema offers guidance on how to understand yourself and your own dating patterns, how to rely on your network of friends, and how to bring God into the whole process. Filled with wisdom, stories and practical advice, this book is a freeing reassessment of the dating scene.

Begin a whole new romantic adventure filled with hope, joy and a lot of laughter.

Go on, dare to date.

Using personal anecdote, a witty and lively style, and drawing on his considerable theological knowledge, John Goldingay takes us deep into the unfolding story of the Old Testament.

'It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known them . . . we have all forgotten what the four Gospels are about.'

With that surprising assertion, Tom Wright launches this ground-breaking work in which he helps us to see the gospel story in radically a new light, and to acknowledge that, for many generations, the Church has been avoiding its full impact and holding back from proclaiming its full meaning.

'Classic Wright: clear, accessible, robust, engaging and challenging.'
Paula Gooder in Third Way

'Scholarly, accessible, insightful and provocative.'
Christianity

'Wright argues compellingly that the twin themes of kingdom and cross are inseparably linked. . . This is a much-needed reorientation. The book makes its case for 'rethinking' cogently and deserves widespread attention.'
Theology

This timely book gives a voice to those living with HIV who are too often ignored or misunderstood by the Church and other religious institutions – including those in positions of care who may have thought they were helping but have ended up doing more harm than good.

The book exposes and challenges attitudes of institutional blindness and abuse and suggests some positive means of remedy, all of which have been formed and tested with the help of clients at the London HIV Chaplaincy.

With its powerful combination of moving personal testimony and honest pastoral reflection, this book will encourage a more informed, sensitive and effective interaction with many who, for whatever reason, feel marginalised by our society and alienated by those who most want to help.

As Rowan Williams says in his foreword, 'This book is a proclaiming of the gospel as well as a call to judgement. It is necessary material for the self-examination and self-awareness of any Christian minister or community, if the Church’s claim to be what it is supposed to be is not to go on being so hollow for so many who need to hear that their agency and dignity are understood and honoured.'

When you hear the word 'worship', what first springs to mind?

For many of us we think of singing songs and hymns with fellow believers in a church service or small group. But worship is more than that. Worship is a way of living.

In Worshipping, readers are invited to journey through a series of six studies in David's Psalms, learning from his worship in all of life, from worshipping together to worshipping under pressure, worshipping in failure and in contentment.

With contributions from Mark Greene, Antony Billington, Tracy Cotterell, Joe Warton and Pippa James, this practical workbook will help you see whole-life worship in a new way.

Interactive and experiential journal introducing prayer practices to teenagers. Space for teenagers to record their own thoughts on the practice and to read what other people have said Ideal confirmation gift Fresh, contemporary design.

This book is based on a blog run by Revd Miranda Threlfall-Holmes and her teenage son, Noah, www.TeenagePrayerExperiment.blogspot.co.uk. Miranda and Noah developed the blog and book as they could find nothing on the market to introduce teenagers to different ways of praying.

Each chapter of the book introduces a prayer practice, e.g using labyrinths, Lego Bible modelling, prayer beads, prayer walking.

It also includes comments by teenagers who have tried it out and plenty of space for the young person to record their own thoughts.

Each experiment is divided into 4 parts:

1. An introduction to the prayer idea being suggested and the context of the tradition
2. The experiment - how to do it and what you need
3. Space for notes on how it went/ what you thought
4. Notes from other teens who have tried out the experiment and their thoughts about it

Packed full of experiments in prayer this is a resource to get stuck into and try for yourself.

Gives the reader the benefit of many years' experience of putting MAP into practice.

'This is a must-read for anyone using MAP.'
JOHN DUNNETT, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS AT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND EVANGELICAL COUNCIL

How to Do Mission Action Planning (SPCK, 2009) was the first book to appear on the MAP process, at a time when it was beginning to have a significant impact. In this fully revised and expanded edition, the authors offer further critical evaluation and theological reflection, by drawing on the experiences of people who have been using the MAP process in different contexts from their own:

Fr Damian Feeney, parish priest and Catholic Missioner of Lichfield diocese
Canon David Banbury, leader of Parish Mission Support, Blackburn diocese
The Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans
Dr Stephen Hance, Canon Missioner of Southwark diocese
Linda Rayner, the United Reformed Church co-ordinator for Fresh Expressions

‘Erudite, bold and wide-ranging – a book that makes you think about knowledge, wisdom and what the future has in store.’ PETER FRANKOPAN

'A book of remarkable sweep and scope - not just learned, but deeply humane.' TOM HOLLAND

The long human odyssey of self-discovery has reached a crucial stage: everything we do affects everyone and everything else - and we know it. The next hundred years will bring more change than we can easily imagine: more opportunities for more people to achieve the fulfilment of a good life, and more risks that could result in catastrophic harm to the entire planet.

Viewed geopolitically, the main question is whether the world-views of the world’s most important and influential powers – China and America (the one fundamentally Confucian, the other essentially individualist) – can be made to work together constructively.

At the same time, on a deeper level, the even greater question is how the irreversible fact of urbanisation may nurture healthy and mature human individuality, such that the accumulated wisdom of the world’s great cultures becomes mutually transforming and enriching.

This bold and wide-ranging book explores those questions, with all the risks and opportunities they hold for generations still to come.

Contextual Bible Study (CBS) by John Riches is an exciting approach to group Bible study for beginners, experienced readers and people of all ages and from every walk of life.

Contextual Bible Study allows people to shape their understanding of the burning issues of the day. It is a method of Bible Study that both established Christians and those new to the Bible find empowering, insightful and even life-changing.

John Riches offers a wealth of practical guidance on how to make CBS work for you, and how to start a CBS group in your local area. It also provides accessible Bible reading material and stimulating questions to use during Lent and Advent, along with inspiring stories of Contextual Bible Study in action.

By reading and applying the guidance in this book group Bible study will never be the same again.

'In another world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.'
From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1903)

Canonized by Pope Francis in October 2019, Saint John Henry Newman (1801-90) was one of the most controversial and influential thinkers of his day. He is now recognized as one of the finest prose stylists of modern times, as well as a popular poet and hymn-writer. His spiritual autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, is a modern classic, and his many theological writings continue to be widely read and highly regarded by Christians of all traditions.

As Eamon Duffy brilliantly demonstrates in this fresh assessment of Newman's life and achievement, other theologians of his time are now largely of historical interest whereas Newman is still very much our contemporary.

'This splendid book... expertly illuminates every aspect of Newman's life [and] work.'
Wall Street Journal

Mark Oakley reveals George Herbert as a fine companion with whom to examine the journey of the soul.

His poems are 'heart-work and heaven-work', embracing love and closeness, anger and despair, reconciliation and hope.

There is too an appealing and audacious playfulness about Herbert: he seems to take God on, knowing God will win, confident God will not abandon him.

This sense of relationship with God as primarily friendship is one of many intriguing and healing aspects we are invited to consider.

George Herbert is one of the great 17th century poet-priests. His poems embrace every shade of the spiritual life, from love and closeness, to anger and despair, to reconciliation and hope. And his work is always rich with audacious playfulness: he seems to take God on, knowing God will win, as if he's having an argument with a faithful friend he knows is not going to leave. In much of theology and spirituality, God is a critical spectator to human lives, but for Herbert, his sense of relationship with God is primarily of a friendship that can never be broken. These are some of the themes Mark Oakley explores in this outstanding book

'My Sour-Sweet Days contains forty well-chosen poems by George Herbert (widely considered the greatest devotional poet in the English language), each of which is followed by a short but profound reflection by Mark Oakley. The combination is excellent: richly expressive poems and accessible personal meditations. This book powerfully demonstrates how poetry can bring comfort, refreshment and renewed energy to our spiritual lives.'

Professor Helen Wilcox, editor of the critically acclaimed edition of The English Poems of George Herbert (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

'It's extremely unusual to meet anyone who isn't a specialist who has such a subtle feeling for language as Mark Oakley does.'

Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate

Whether you are completely new to John's Gospel or have read it many times before, Meeting God in John will help you see the Fourth Gospel with fresh eyes and gain a deeper understanding of its essential meaning and purpose.

David Ford, one of the world's most widely respected theologians and author of Theology: A Very Short Introduction and The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, offers an accessible and absorbing introduction to the main message of John's Gospel, packed with compelling observations into the personality and impact of Jesus, both in the first century and today.

Meeting God in John explores what the Gospel reveals about God through the person of Jesus Christ. Essential reading for anyone seeking a richer grasp of the gospel message, it will leave you with a renewed appreciation of and enthusiasm for John's writing, and the desire to return to it over and over again. Ford's straightforward and illuminating approach also makes it eminently helpful for new Christians just starting out on their faith journey.

Each chapter includes questions for reflection or discussion, making Meeting God in John ideal for Bible study, whether individually or in small groups. With its focus on the Passion narrative, it also serves beautifully as a Lent devotional.

Simple yet profound, this is an invitation to all who long to deepen their understanding of John's Gospel - and, through it, to meet the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

HARRY CLARK first caught the public's eye as the quick-thinking, cool-headed winner of The Traitors - outsmarting the competition while staying true to himself. Since then, his journey has taken him from tense reality TV moments to the reflective landscapes of Pilgrimage, revealing his resilience, humour, and the values that shape his life.

In Staying Faithful, Harry shares stories of his upbringing and family, Army challenges, sudden fame, and the Roman Catholic faith that keeps him grounded. Speaking to the growing number of young people embracing Christian belief - and to anyone seeking purpose or meaning - Harry offers encouragement, authenticity, and hope.

'As the train sped on to Scotland, it seemed that everything I'd ever learnt - in my childhood, through my family, in church, in school, in the Army, and even at my lowest moment, lying on that bed in hospital – had been preparing me for this moment. It felt like destiny. Maybe it wasn’t nerves that were making me shake. Maybe it was excitement.'
FROM THE CHAPTER 'THE TRAITORS: PART I'

Winner of The Traitors, Harry Clark is an unexpected TV hero - grounded, values-driven, and unafraid to speak about what matters. With honesty and warmth, he shares the moments that shaped him, the lessons learned, and the faith that keeps him steady. For those seeking more than hollow fame, Harry offers authenticity, courage, and the freedom to walk a truer path.

About The Author: HARRY joined the Army Foundation College at 16 before training as a helicopter engineer with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. At 21, he became the quick-thinking winner of BBC1's The Traitors (Season 2), watched by 6.9 million viewers, catapulting him from Berkshire lad to national TV personality. Since then, he's appeared on The One Show, Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, and Pilgrimage: The Road Through The Alps, co-presented VE-DAY at 80 at the Royal Albert Hall, and partnered with brands including LEGO, McDonald's, and Walker's. His podcast, The Harry and Paul Show, debuted at #1 in the comedy charts.

In Surprised by Hope Tom Wright argued that the authentic Christian hope is not 'going to heaven' to enjoy a blissful disembodied immortality, but 'life after life after death' in the bodily resurrection which, scripture promises, will be set within the whole new creation.

In God's Homecoming Wright takes this a big step further, exploring passages in Paul's letters and in the Hebrew prophets where 'hope' refers to the reconciliation and renewal of all creation, and where hope is focused on the belief that Israel’s God, the creator, has promised to fill the whole creation with his glorious and healing presence.

Putting things this way round reminds us that the gospel is essentially about grace. As long as we are asking 'how can I get to heaven' or 'how can I become fit to be in God's presence' there is always the danger that, however much we stress that God must take the initiative, we end up seeing it as precisely 'How can I... ' But if the main movement of the story is God's desire and intention to come to dwell with us and in us and through us then grace suffuses all that follows.