For Information and Handbooks useful to all denominations unless specifically stated. Help with preaching, intercessions, all-age worship, music etc.
Retreats 2010
- Theme: Activity Retreats
Compiled for The Retreat Association
Title – Retreats 2010 – Theme: Activity retreats already on site, just needs review
*Compiled for The Retreat Association
Format – Stapled A4 paperback
Price – £6.00
Publisher – The Retreat Association
Date of Publication – 14.12.09
ISBN – 978-0-954-86016-5
Each of the articles at the start of this issue is written by someone who has experienced or who leads retreats with an activity involved. This may be a fresh idea to many people, hence the theme of this years magazine. Retreats incorporating art or a craft, retreats where you can join in practical work such as gardening or decorating, there are many possibilities. These do not replace quiet retreats; they offer alternatives to those to appeal to a wider need.
Next comes some relevant book reviews and then the listing of over 200 retreat centres, offering a wide variety of accommodation, workshops, talks and quiet spaces. These are set out in the familiar style we are used to, with advertisements on separate pages to the listings which makes finding your way through clear and easy.
I have reviewed this magazine late this year, for which I apologise: it is available from The Retreat Association, www.retreats.org.uk
Review by Mary Bartholomew(08/03/10)
Paperback Price: £6.00
Publisher: The Retreat Association Published: 14 December 2009
ISBN: 978-0-954-86016-5
This is a very practical book by a man who is sharing his extensive experience about planting new churches, especially in the urban context. David is part of the Newfrontiers network which had a vision to plant 200 churches, if not a 1000 judging by the quote at the start of the book. How to start from scratch, open your home, gather a praying network, host a social event when 'we promise not to talk about Jesus' (p165), launch a church and sustain it: these are all aspects covered in the text with ample illustration from fellow practitioners. The market for this book may be specific to those pioneers setting about the same task: for many it will be a helpful guide and an indispensable read. For others who wonder how new churches are planted, this will be an illuminating insight.
This is a book I would have liked to have written. This says everything I would have wanted to further say and illustrate in my own Grove >I>Developing a Strategy for Mission. Covering the same ground with 'Mission Action Plans' and helping congregations work out their own plan; this 'vision-centered approach' is exactly what every church needs. The helpful detail, the illustrations, the careful explanation and consideration of many issues learnt by others, are all carefully considered and put together in a single work which leaders and church councils do well to buy. This is not a book for the shelf, but a guide to growth. Anglican biased it may be, but all churches can follow this approach and I commend it highly. It is balanced, objective, practical and full of insight. There is hope for the church and this book will help a congregation realise it in a step by step manageable way.
- Processes of Change and Renewal in Christian Worship
by George Guiver
This book is a committed plea for daily liturgical worship. The urgent concern of George Guiver, Superior of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, is that we recognise Christ in the world, within creation; and therefore that we understand worship as ‘God’s activity in us’, our own process of evolving discovery. Rejecting quests for somehow authoritative original forms of worship, Guiver invokes both theatre and the historical diversity of worshipping practice to plead that worship is continuing action; that formal worship interacts with contemporary life; and that, above all, the faithful learn to perceive the divine by participation in shared celebration.
- An Imaginative Presentation for Churches to Use With Primary Schools
by Moira Curry and Gill Morgan
A few years ago Summerfield Supermarkets made the statement that most people do not realize that the significance of the Easter Egg is that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus. In 2009 a presenter for the BBC One programme, The One Show stated that Easter was when Christians celebrate the accession of Christ. Like Christmas the Easter story has become so distorted that many children ignore the spiritual significance and associate it with chocolate. Thankfully, as they have done with Christmas, BRF have produced a superb book to help get the message into primary schools. This book not only has a series of presentations on the Easter Story that children can get involved with but advice on how to approach schools, get a team together and other practical issues. Supported by the website www.easterjourney.org.uk this book is a must for churches that want to remind children that Easter is more than chocolate eggs.
This book will help you if you’re asked to lead the Prayers of Intercession in your local church’s worship. Chaplin starts ‘at the very beginning’ for those who have no experience at this, but in later chapters also offers guidelines ‘for those who have begun to stretch their wings’. The principles are the same for all of us, whether Church of England or not. Chaplin writes that even spontaneity will be helped by structure, and preparation doesn’t conflict with inspiration. He has just one ‘rule’ – “You are leading people in prayer, not praying in front of people.”
This is a very practical ‘how-to’ book, containing many patterns and illustrations, devoting chapters to responses (“keep it short and simple”) and participation, and the use of music. It’s short, too (only 66 pages, including appendices, one of which is a lively exercise in spotting what’s wrong with some specimen intercessions)! A useful book.