Monday, January 13, 2020

Best Ministry-Related Books of 2019


This is the second of three blog articles about the best books I read in 2019.  This list is about the ministry-related books I read, which span from church history to theology to analysis on current cultural trends.

Love Thy Body:  Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality by Nancy R. Pearcey.  Hands down the best ministry-related book I read last year.  Pearcey does what she claims in her title – she unmasks the evils of personhood theory and relates in stark, logical detail how a denial of our created body affects many areas of life, including abortion, sexuality, marriage and even parenting.  This should be required reading for any Christian serious about understanding our times.

Holy Sexuality and the Gospel:  Sex, Desire and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story by Christopher Yuan.  I heard Dr. Yuan speak at Montana Bible College’s Pastors conference a few years back and was eagerly awaiting his book.  Yuan is a celibate, same-sex attracted believer who teaches at Moody Bible Institute.  His book speaks to same-sex attraction, marriage and singleness, as well as the need for all believers to find their primary identity in Christ above all else.

Union with Christ:  The Way to Know and Enjoy God by Rankin Wilbourne.  I read Union with Christ with my associate pastor and we both enjoyed it greatly.  Wilbourne blows the dust off the doctrine of union with Christ, a reality that all believers enjoy but few understand or truly embrace.  The book is very practical and applicable in many ways.
 
Gospel Eldership:  Equipping a New Generation of Servant Leaders by Robert H. Thune.  This short book will likely become a wonderful tool in developing and training elders.  It has some great homework at the end of each chapter.  It is so good it might replace my usual go-to book – They Smell Like Sheep.

The Question of Canon:  Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate by Michael Kruger.  I find origin of the Bible a fascinating topic.  Kruger’s book addresses the whole debate about the origin of the New Testament with a fair, but thoroughly conservative position, all the while excellently rebutting the assumed liberal positions about how the New Testament was written and came into its final form.

Even Better than Eden:  Nine Ways the Bible’s Story changes Everything about Your Story by Nancy Guthrie.  This is biblical theology done well.  Guthrie traces nine redemptive themes that span the entire Bible.  Each theme is traced all the way through to its ultimate fulfillment in heaven, encouraging us to remind ourselves that heaven will be even better than the life Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden.

God’s Design for Man and Woman by Andreas and Margaret Kostenberger.  This is an excellent survey of a difficult topic – gender roles in the Bible.  This husband and wife team survey the whole Bible, examine what it says about roles and when necessary, critique the egalitarian and feminist interpretations that challenge or question what the Bible says.  The footnotes and appendixes are also worth mining for more valuable information and resources.

Sacred Marriage: What is God designed Marriage to Make us Holy more than to Make us Happy? by Gary Thomas.  This is an older book, and some of the examples are dated, but the truths are timeless.  Thomas tackles many of the usual topics of a marriage book, but delves deeper than most.  He also addresses topics that most books of marriage do not cover in a thought provoking way.

2nd Tier Reads – still very good and recommended.
Letters to the Church by Francis Chan
Unlimited Grace:  The Heart Chemistry that Frees from Sin and Fuels the Christian Life by Bryan Chapell
2000 Years of Christ’s Power, Renaissance and Reformation, vol. 3 by Nick Needham
A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble by Paul Tripp
Handbook of Church Discipline:  A Right and Privilege of Every Church Member by Jay Adams
Psalms by the Day:  A New Devotional Translation by Alec Motyer
Give them Grace:  Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson
Church Discipline:  How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus by Jonathan Leeman
Journey Through Philippians by Tara Barndt
Man Overboard:  The Story of Jonah by Sinclair B. Ferguson
The Prodigal Prophet:  Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy by Timothy Keller
Ecclesiastes by Douglas Sean O’Donnell
Ecclesiastes by Craig G. Bartholomew
Ecclesiastes:  Why Everything Matters by Philip Ryken
A Life Well Lived:  A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes by Tommy Nelson
Living Life Backward:  How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson
God’s Glory Alone:  The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life by David Vandrunen
Christianity at the Crossroads:  How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church by Michael J. Kruger
Uncomfortable:  The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community by Brett McCracken
The Church in Babylon:  Heeding the Call to be a Light in the Darkness by Erwin Lutzer
How Does Sanctification Work? by David Powlison
Isaiah by the Day:  A New Devotional Translations by Alec Motyer
All That’s Good:  Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson

3rd Tier Reads – disappointing in some ways
Developing Female Leaders:  Navigate the Minefields and Release the Potential of Women in Your Church by Kadi Cole
The Book of Ecclesiastes by Tremper Longman III
Recovering Eden:  The Gospel according to Ecclesiastes by Zach Eswine
Why Everything Matters:  The Gospel in Ecclesiastes by Philip Ryken

Uggh!!  I am amazed I finished it
Tyndale:  The Man Who gave God an English Voice by David Teems




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