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This year we want to share the books we love to share with our friends at Christmas so you can feel equipped as we head into the festive season.
In 2022, we ran a national survey among our supporter database to guide the product development of our new edition of Christianity Explored. One of the questions we asked was, ‘since 2019 (before the pandemic), have you given a Christian book to a non-Christian?’.
Responses revealed that 3 out of 4 supporters have given a Christian book to a non-Christian at least once during the time period; and of that number, 70% even gave more than one book.
It appears that giving away evangelistic books is a great way to reach out to friends. With Christmas being an easier time to share the truth of Jesus with those we love, we want to help facilitate this conversation for Christians all over the nation.
Take a look at some of our festive book recommendations below!
The Biggest Story, by Kevin DeYoung
"I work with refugees and asylum seekers in London. Many of them would affirm a belief in God as Creator and human beings as his good creation. The Biggest Story has been a wonderful book that I have shared over the years to display a God who is Creator, Redeemer and Restorer. With beautiful illustrations, The Biggest Story first invites them to witness the testimonies of God’s people in history like Noah, Joseph, Abraham, Moses and David. In looking back, they’re able to observe a people waiting to be liberated from the curse of sin, death, pain and suffering. They’re then invited to stay curious as the Snake Crusher, the One promised to Adam and Eve in the garden comes forward in history - Abraham’s child, Judah’s lion, David’s son, the Virgin-Born child, the Suffering Servant and the Light to the Nations. The Biggest Story opens space in the narrative to give attention to Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and the wonder of the resurrection.
To our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been displaced due to persecution, war or conflict - take heart this Christmas. 'The Snake Crusher is coming back again to wipe away every tear. He’s coming to make a new beginning and to finish what he started. Keep trusting that the story isn’t over yet.'"
By Eileen Nitao, Ministry Contact Coordinator
Is Christmas Unbelievable? by Rebecca McLaughlin
"I just gave a couple of friends this book, Is Christmas Unbelievable? by Rebecca McLaughlin. Her writing engages questions that we as Christians should have answers for. She goes through four questions about Christmas: Was Jesus even a real person? Can we take the Gospels seriously? How can you believe in a virgin birth? and why does it matter? She writes, "I'll suggest that if the story of Jesus isn't true, if he's just a story in some people's heads, we don't just lose the magic of Christmas. We lose everything." This is my offer, my choice, of gift to friends this Christmas, and I wonder, are you giving books this Christmas?"
By Jubi da Silva, Training Director
The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, by Louise Perry
"So this is the book I'm sending out this Christmas and it's not a Christian book. It's called The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry. I'll be sending loads out to my rugby friends and really it tells us what's wrong with the culture. So my rugby friends, they're not particularly concerned with Christian faith but they do love their daughters and their daughters can't find good men to marry. And this book diagnoses the problem and actually the discussion I'm then hoping to have with them is, what do you think has gone wrong? So that's the discussion starter. Louise Perry is a passionate feminist. She writes remarkably well, and she really diagnoses what's wrong. The final chapter is entitled, Listen to Your Mother. And as we go through, the title I think speaks for themselves, sex must be taken seriously. Some desires are bad, men and women are different. But just an amazing book to start a discussion about the goodness of the Christian faith written by a non-Christian."
By Rico Tice
The Promise and the Light, by Katy Morgan
"This is the book that I gave some of my youth as a Christmas present this year. It's called The Promise and the Light by Katie Morgan. I just read it and I loved it. It helped me to think a lot more deeply about how different people in the Bible felt around this time, like Mary and Joseph. Katie is such a good writer and it just made me think about so many different aspects of the nativity story that we read and sometimes can just breeze over because we know it so well. It helps us to stop and think and realise these are real people.
Here's one extract from Zechariah's perspective, 'Yes, I thought to myself as I sat there in the sunshine listening. He is a god of justice, a God who writes wrongs and cares for the needy, a God who rules. And he has come himself at last. Yes, I thought. And I was just as astonished as I had been in the temple. The Lord had come and he had come wrapped not in fire, but in flesh.'"
By Daisy Addington, Communications Coordinator
Christmas Playlist, by Alistair Begg
"For the past couple of years at Hawick Baptist Church (Scottish Borders) we've used Alistair Begg’s book, Christmas Playlist, as our Christmas ‘give away’ book. The book came to mind recently on the back of a conversation I had with a young acquaintance who said he believed in God and took the view that the Bible was not an historic account, but simply a vehicle to communicate the moral value of life. In Christmas Playlist, Alistair deftly merges festive Christmas traditions, which are seamlessly imbibed by many in our towns and cities, with the nativity through Luke’s gospel rendering of 4 songs. Whilst festive tradition can be akin to white noise, the nativity as described in Luke’s Gospel pulls us up if we hear it properly. In these songs we are shown What God Is Like (Mary); Why We Need God (Zechariah); How God Came (The Angel) and How God Did It (Simeon). And, of course, we encounter doctor/historian Luke’s methodology of careful investigation and eye-witness testimony in Luke 1:1-4 (I served 30 years as a police officer so I get this). What can I do but offer this book to my young friend as an early Christmas present?"
By Robin Turton, Regional and UK Prison Ministry Coordinator.