suggested reading

As pastors and leaders, it's part of our job to be lifelong learners so we can disciple others to continue to grow during their journey. Part of the benefit of being in a community of churches like Vineyard is the ability to know people who are well read in one area or another. This "suggested reading" area of the web site is our way of sharing what books are informing us, as well as entertinaing us. Feel free to explore and poke around. You never know what you might find.

featured books

Read a good book lately? Tell us about it. Click here to send an e-mail to the webmaster. We'll regularly update the featured books below.

 

spiritual power

 

Christianity With Power by Charles H. Kraft

Recommended by Rich Nathan

 

Dr. Kraft is convinced that the power of the gospel will not be confined to our categories. Step by step, he offers a biblical understanding of signs and wonders and shows how Chirstians can become God's instruments to heal the sick to work miracles.

 

 

 

To see more recommended spiritual power titles, click here.

contemplative / prayer

 

Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton

 

Barton, a spiritual director and retreat leader, covers the basics elegantly - the role of desire and longing in relationship with God, praying with scripture, and the need for solitude, self-examination, discernment and Sabbath.

 

 

 

 

 

To see more recommended contemplative titles, click here.

theology / bible translation

 

Evil and the Justice of God by N.T. Wright

Recommended by Donnell Wyche

 

Why does evil persist in a world created by a good God? And why does the church seem so feeble in counteracting evil? Wright, a New Testament scholar who is Anglican bishop of Durham, addresses these questions in a readable and compelling plea to renew the church's compassionate mission in these challenging times.

 

 

To see more recommended theology titles, click here.

emerging church

 

They Like Jesus But Not the Church by Dan Kimball

 

An overview of the six most common objections emerging generations have with church and Christianity along with the biblical answers to these objections and examples of how churches are facing this challenge.

 

 

 

 

To see more recommended emerging church titles, click here.

science & faith

 

The Language of God by Francis S. Collins

Recommended by Ken Wilson and Ray Befus

 

Dr. Francis S. Collins, the man at the helm of the Human Genome Project, doesn't think that science and faith are foes. In The Language of God, Collins describes how his Christian faith has worked in tandem with his search for scientific truth.

 

 

 

 

To see more recommended science & faith titles, click here.

missions

 

Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe In Christ by Brother Andrew

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Secret Believers not only gives readers a glimpse of the lives of some courageous Muslim background believers, it also proposes four practical initiatives for Christians in the West to help these persecuted brothers and sisters. It calls us to join this new kind of jihad, leaving vengeance behind in favor of forgiveness, radical love, and unyielding prayer.

 

To see more recommended missions titles, click here.

social justice

 

Ending Global Poverty by Stephen C. Smith

Recommended by Rich Nathan

 

Two out of every three people in the world live on less than two dollars a day. This is a grim statistic but hundreds of millions of people are breaking free from poverty with the help of grass-roots programs and organizations funded by regular people here and abroad. Stephen Smith gives readers the tools they need to help people overcome poverty and to determine what organizations are most effective in fighting it.

 

To see more recommended social justice titles, click here.

history

 

A History of the Modern Middle East by William L. Cleveland

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

This comprehensive work provides an analysis of the last two centuries of Middle Eastern history, from the rise of the Safavids and Ottomans to the Gulf War. It explains the deep historical currents flowing beneath today's headlines--essential reading for anyone seeking a better understanding of today's turbulent world.

 

 

To see more recommended history titles, click here.

other christian

 

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destorying the Church by Gregory A Boyd

Recommended by John Rasz

 

Arguing from Scripture and history, Dr. Boyd makes a case that when the church gets too close to political or national ideology, it's disastrous for both the church and society. Boyd contends that the American evangelical church has allowed itself to be co-opted by political parties and exposes how this is harming the church's unique calling to build the kingdom of God.

 

To see more recommended other christian titles, click here.

other nonfiction

 

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

Recommended by Phili Brooks

 

It's one of the most compelling, page-turning memoirs to come along in years. With the author's adopted black brothers, David and Jerome, she tried to survive in a rural Indiana community where messages of salvation and racism seemed to carry equal weight. The children are then sent to a reform school in the Dominican Republic where Julia and David wrestle with faith in an abusive environment.

 

To see more recommended nonfiction titles, click here.

fiction

 

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

 

The firstborn child of the Ganguli family, freshly arrived from Calcutta, receives the name Gogol. While the Gangulis are trying hard to assimilate into American culture, Gogol rejects all of the old ways and traditions of the family and becomes thoroughly Americanized. Torn between his parents' ways and those of modern U.S. culture, Gogol finds himself on a path of divided traditions and heartbreaking love affairs that eventually lead him back to the old ways of his parents.

 

To see more recommended fiction titles, click here.