Book Reviews

If you are looking ahead to Advent and Christmas preaching series, you'll find a helpful resource in Adam Hamilton's The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem (Abingdon).

Why are young adults dropping out of church in droves? That's the question David Kinnaman takes on in his new book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church...and Rethinking Faith (Baker Books).

Calvin Miller has years of experience as a pastor, church planter and seminary professor. He draws on that experience to mentor a new generation of church leaders in Letters to a Young Pastor (David C. Cook).

Purposes of Preaching (Chalice Press), edited by Jana Childers, is an interesting new book of 10 essays by a series of mainline homileticians. The varied essays deal with the nature, purpose and value of preaching today.

Grief is an emotion with which most pastors are well acquainted, as we are regularly engaged in comforting families at times of loss. Preachers who wish to approach grief from a biblical perspective will find assistance in Leslie C. Allen's book A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations (Baker Academic).

Small groups are taking on increased significance within the ministry of the local church. Thus church leaders will find helpful insights in The Church and the Crisis of Community: A Practical Theology of Small-Group Ministry (Wm. B. Eerdmans) by Theresa F. Latini.

In Folly, Grace and Power: The Mysterious Act of Preaching (Zondervan), John Koessler approaches the preaching act from a theological rather than rhetorical perspective.

Life-Changing Bible Verses You Should Know (Harvest House) by Erwin and Rebecca Lutzer is just what the title indicates: a survey of more than 100 key biblical verses that speak directly to life issues. This will be a good resource for small group studies or to share with others as a devotional guide.

Staying with that missional emphasis is Going Global: A Congregation's Introduction to Mission Beyond Our Borders (Chalice Press) by Gary Nelson, Gordon King and Terry G. Smith. This will be a helpful tool for pastors and church leaders who want to help their churches gain a global vision of the mission of the church.

Being missional is more than the latest buzzword. It is a reflection of the hunger of many leaders to rediscover the biblical mission of the church. Michael Goheen's new book A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story (Baker Academic) provides a valuable understanding of the missional identity of the church in light of the biblical revelation. He also explores the practical implications of this truth for the contemporary church.