Book reviews for Winter 2020

Plugged In: Connecting Your Faith with What You Watch, Read, and Play

Daniel Strange (The Good Book Company, 2019) 191 pp.

Missionaries who want to seize the day will benefit greatly from Daniel Strange’s book on how to do cultural analysis as a Christian. The author is a college director and tutor in culture, religion, and public theology at Oak Hill College, London. In his book he shows how to identify a culture’s answers to the big questions of life. He demonstrates how to “both critique those answers and yet affirm the basic aspirations, and how to redirect people toward Christ as the true fulfillment of their quests and the true answer to their questions” (p. 8). In seven very readable chapters laced with humor and engaging examples, Strange explains what culture is and how we are to engage it as Christians. He looks at the role of culture within the Bible’s big storyline and shows that we are both culture builders and culture destroyers. Jesus is the one who rescues us from ruin and restores and renews culture. In the chapter, “Can I watch…?” Strange reminds us of the importance of holding biblical truths in tension and gives helpful filters through which to measure our cultural consumption and creation. The gospel both confronts and connects, and he shows how Paul does this in Acts 17 at Athens. Strange gives a helpful four-step model for how to engage with culture—enter, explore, expose, and evangelize. The book ends with examples of Christian cultural analysis, including ones on adult coloring books, birdwatching, and the Japanese domestic toilet.

Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★

Budgeting for a Healthy Church: Aligning Finances with Biblical Priorities for Ministry

Jamie Dunlop (Zondervan, 2019) 169 pp.

While focused on the local church, Dunlop’s book will be a great help to all who work with budgets and money. Dunlop, associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC and former businessman, has written a practical book that helps us consider what budgets say about our priorities and values. He wants to broaden our understanding of budgets and finances and show how we can use them to equip people to be better stewards. He works from Scripture to help us understand principles for supporting staff, funding programs, and investing in missions and outreach. There are worksheets and checklists to help one apply the principles learned. Every missionary who works with budgets and finances will find wise guidance here.

Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★

Saint Peter’s Principles: Leadership for Those Who Already Know Their Incompetence

Peter A. Lillback (P&R Publishing, 2019) 596 pp.

Lillback, president and professor of historical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, focuses on the life of Peter and gives 128 insights from his life and letters. The first principle is “Every leader must confess with St. Peter, ‘I am a sinful man’ (Luke 5:8).” Playing off Laurence Peter’s famous book, The Peter Principle, Lillback reminds us that we do not rise to our highest level of incompetence. That is where we start. The question is not “Are we competent?” but “Have we authentically seen our flaws, our failures, and our weaknesses that interpenetrate even our greatest strengths and our most notable successes?” (p. 4). Each chapter ends with “Spiritual Exercises”—questions to help one apply the principle. This is a book not to be read alone, but in community with other friends and leaders. We begin with incompetence and seek to learn wisdom in the midst of that incompetence. This is a book full of wisdom to be digested slowly.

Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★