Monthly Archives: August 2010

For I am ashamed of the Gospel? Concerns raised as Living Oasis declares plans to “de-Christianise” shop windows

Posted on August 10, 2010 by | 28 Comments
Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores

The Bookseller, 08/09/2010: Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores

CONCERNS HAVE BEEN RAISED by booksellers responding to Andy Twilley’s comments about plans to “de-Christianise” Living Oasis shop windows, reported yesterday by Victoria Gallagher in the Bookseller, Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores:

Revd Andy Twilley, director of Christian Life & Ministry at the Nationwide Christian Trust, said: “The shop window will be a coffee shop, it will be a de-Christianised shop window and there won’t be Christian paraphernalia. We want it to be totally accessible to people, irrespective of faith.”

Responses left on the Bookseller report include questions about whether or not this approach is “selling out” on the idea of a Christian presence on the high street:

What is the point of moving the shops to the High Street if nobody can tell it’s a Christian bookshop!!! It does raise the question of whether this is profit coming before ministry! I will probably get lambasted for this – but why be embarrassed about our faith?

On facebook, Melanie Carroll of Unicorn Tree Books, Lincoln, who stocks both Christian and general books, comments:

Can we not be Christian and open and receptive to all anyway without need or want to make them be like us or for us to be any less than we are? Places of warm hospitality and reception for all and any but that wear our colours plainly and in so doing show how different from others perceptions of us we really are?

That’s what I try with my shop – being Christian is nothing special, it doesnt make me any different to anyone else, all the same things everyone else likes are liked by Christians, done by Christians and by being normal joe it’s easier to come alongside others where they are and in turn reflect the glory of His presence for them to find and embrace at their choice and in His time I think, however it’s also not something I should feel the need to hide or gloss over either because if I do tht what sort of witness is that in the end, what reflection does that case? a question for each to ponder but I do think at the end of the Day they are probably just trying to do the best they can to keep themselves going and that’s a fair thing for them to do – after all if they can’t run at a pofit then they are unlikely to be there for long and the question then is which action is the worst?

Living Oasis: 'Our Vision'

Living Oasis: 'Our Vision'

The Living Oasis vision is:

To provide a Christian presence on our High Streets, connecting with Christians and non Christians, fulfilling a mission objective, and providing a resource for Churches as they seek to impact their local communities.

  • Can such a vision be realised by “de-Christianising” the storefronts?
  • As Christians,  should we seek to be distinctive or to blend in?
  • If mission is the objective, is it right to effectively lure people in with coffee without letting them know they’re entering a Christian mission zone?
  • If you entered a “de-Islamicised” Muslim bookstore only to discover it was a ‘front’ for the local mosques, how would that make you feel?

Where Next?

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Posted in Christian Bookshops, Musings..., News

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Day of Prayer Update and Reminder

Posted on August 9, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Praying HandsTHANKS to Andrew Lacey of GLO Bookshop, Motherwell, for his timely reminder over the weekend that our next Day of Prayer is looming closer: Friday 3rd September 2010.

I’ve updated the page logo with the date (hi-res version here) and following Joy McIlroy’s example from last time, have set up a facebook event page: please feel free to post details of events and/or points for praise or prayer here, on the Day of Prayer page, or there as appropriate.

If you and/or your shop are not on facebook yet, why not take this opportunity to join or create a page, use it to connect with your customers and help spread the word? There are several Christian book trade groups you can get involved with:

twitter On twitter? Tweet it out!

Shout Out to Christian Authors

Are you a Christian author who has written about prayer? Then why not seize this opportunity to liaise with your local Christian bookshop, to support the shop and promote your book at the same time by offering to lead or co-ordinate a Day of Prayer event — to make it more than a prayer meeting by spending some time exploring and reflecting upon what prayer is all about?

A Personal Request

Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern over the current situation at LST as well as for my assistant, Nick, and myself as we face an uncertain future. Please continue to pray:

  • for us, for grace as we feel our way forward, both for ourselves and the shop;
  • for those at LST who have the unenviable task of implementing staff cuts;
  • for me, for wisdom as I seek the way forward for UKCBD and this blog.

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Posted in Book Trade Ramblings

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Challenges and Changes: Your Help Needed

Posted on August 6, 2010 by | 15 Comments
LST Books & Resources

LST Books & Resources

If you’re brave (or foolhardy) enough to follow my personal blog or my twitterstream then you’ll have already gathered that something’s afoot. To cut a long story short, my tenure as Bookshop Manager at London School of Theology is about to come to an end: on July 28th my assistant, Nick, and I were formally invited to volunteer for redundancy. We’re  now in a limbo situation that many of you will be all too familiar with: the ground has vanished from beneath our feet but somehow — like cartoon characters running off the edge of a cliff — we’re still standing there, waiting for gravity to kick in.

Rather than carry out a postmortem on the LST situation (I’ll have plenty of time for that during my notice period), today I’d like to explore a few thoughts on ways forward here: UKCBD and this blog are a free service, a project that I’ve pursued in my spare time, effectively subsidised by the fact that I’ve had full time paid employment and covering basic costs (such as domain registrations and web hosting) by revenue drawn in from Google advertising, a handful of (currently lapsed) trade sponsorships and commissions on affiliate web sales, primarily via Amazon and Eden.

The reason UKCBD exists is as stated on the About page:

UKCBD, the UK Christian Bookshops Directory, is an independent, voluntarily maintained project which exists to promote the Christian faith by providing a two-way resource to the Christian community: an easy way to find your nearest Christian Bookshop, and an easy way for Christian Bookshops to get online.

And this part of the site, the blog? From the Guest Posts page:

The aim of this blog is to provide a place for Christian booksellers, authors, publishers, suppliers and their customers — in short, anyone with an interest in Christian books and music — to exchange ideas, news and views, discuss the latest reviews and generally get more interactive.

On balance, I think that purpose and those aims are being fairly well fulfilled — but I’ve often said I’d love to have more time to develop things further: now it seems that I am to receive that gift. The challenge is whether I can afford to invest that time in the project, whether or not it can generate an income — and this is where I need your help, please:

  • Will you consider becoming — along similar lines to those we’ve seen with Illuminate, Shrewsbury — a non-profit shareholder in UKCBD?
  • If you’re a retailer, will you consider subscribing to the site: say £10 per year to support the project and guarantee that your entry is reviewed and updated annually?
  • If you’re a publisher or trade supplier, will you consider sponsoring the site? The current trade sponsorships, as mentioned above, have lapsed and I plan to follow those up within the next week or so, but new partners from within the trade would be very welcome.

At the moment these are tentative suggestions for a way forward both for the site as a service to the trade and for me personally — following in the spirit of this year’s trade mantra, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. Other suggestions are more than welcome: if you’d like to discuss any of these ideas, put forward your own or make a proposal, please get in touch or, of course, leave a comment.

My thanks to everyone who has already been in touch expressing concern for Nick, myself and the future of the LST Bookshop: your prayers and support are very much appreciated.

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Posted in Announcements, Book Trade Ramblings, News, People News

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Is there a Case for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide? George Pitcher says not.

Posted on August 5, 2010 by | Leave a comment
George Pitcher: A Time to Live

George Pitcher: A Time to Live

MY THANKS to Simon Cox of Monarch Books for pointing me in the direction of George Pitcher, author of A Time To Live: The Case Against Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (9781854249876, Monarch Books, 1st July 2010, £8.99). Whatever your personal views on the topic, it’s an area that we can ill afford to ignore as this recent BBC News report, for instance, makes clear: Locked-in man seeks right to die

George is an Anglican priest and, until recently, was The Daily Telegraph’s Religion Editor. I invited him to tell us about the book. He writes:

I don’t believe that a case can be made politically, culturally or medically for helping people to kill themselves. I believe that it brutalizes not only those who choose to die by taking a lethal dose, but also brutalizes those who enable them to die – and that would very often be doctors and nurses. I believe that it would create a two-tier structure for the value of human lives – where the terminally ill, the frail, the elderly and the disabled will come to think that society has affirmed that their lives are not worth living, that their lives are worth less than those of the healthy and able-bodied. And I believe that it would undermine our world-leading standards of palliative care, if death becomes a clinical treatment option. All this, is explored in my book.

I was anxious that the publishers didn’t just want a “religious” book. And those of us who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia are a bit sensitive about our religious objections to the practice. This is partly because some of those who support euthanasia want to characterise the debate as between swivel-eyed religious bigots (apparently, like me) and compassionate and rational secularists who have the best interests of the suffering at heart.

It’s meant, frankly, that many of us have rather avoided going into theological arguments against assisted suicide and euthanasia. And this may mean that we neglect what our Christian faith informs us about the business of living and dying. There is surely a balance to be struck here – the Christ does not wish us to suffer, but he nevertheless says “Follow me”.

It’s as if he’s not wishing his suffering, his Passion and death, on those who follow him. But he is inviting us to go the extra mile with him. Because it’s at the cross – and at our own cross – at that moment of revelation when human death meets divine life that the most profound knowledge of life and death is vouchsafed.

The very loss of control, the dependence on the care of others, is where lives are most intensely cherished, with the affirmation that every life, however diminished, bears the image of God and is of value beyond measure.

The word “dignity” is very often used in the context of assisted suicide or euthanasia to mean personal autonomy and control over the moment of death. Again, I think this is to miss a point that is made in our faith.

The very loss of control, the dependence on the care of others, is where lives are most intensely cherished, with the affirmation that every life, however diminished, bears the image of God and is of value beyond measure. It is also a life laid down sacrificially, because it is a life that is given as a living sacrifice, which protects the vulnerable and itself requires protection.

But it’s not just that sense of self-sacrificial love and ministry – it is that confirmation that every life is treasured by those who love, as God treasures them every minute, even to the bitter end. It is that unequivocal statement that, even now, even in the moments before death, this life is of immeasurable value, a treasure beyond price.

It is, finally, also to say that there is a miraculously wonderful reason – and a sure and certain hope arising from that reason – why our gospel story does not end in Gethsemane, with Jesus asking his disciples to help him to die to avoid the hours that come after. And it is, of course, ultimately our duty and our privilege to join with him in saying “Not my will, but thine be done”.

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Posted in Author Interviews, Book News, Guest Posts, Lion Hudson

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The Light Shines on in Shrewsbury: Illuminate Christian Bookshop now under new ownership

Posted on August 4, 2010 by | 2 Comments
Twitter update, 7th Aug 2010: Illuminate Trust Appeal Total £50.165. Praise the God of break through!! Please consider getting involved with mission on the high street.

ON MONDAY Phil Whittall, one time editor of Christian Marketplace (and who, as it happens, recruited yours truly as CM’s Web Reviews columnist, a role that has now come to an end, but that’s another story) announced that he is No longer a bookshop owner:

Today I edited my blog profile and removed the words ‘bookshop owner’. For the past 6 years I’ve been co-owner of Illuminate. There have been many good things except our finances. You can read about the vision here. Fortunately there are over 300 committed Christians in the town who want to keep it open and they’ve raised a staggering £48000 in a little over three weeks, enough to purchase the business.

While a number of practical details still need to work themselves out over the next few weeks and months essentially from the 1st August I made the shift from being a proprietor to landlord. We retain the freehold on the business and are proud to have a Christian bookshop and cafe, a Christian youthwork charity and a Christian money advice charity find a home in our 200 year old building.

Congratulations to all involved!

You can follow the ongoing story on twitter, via the Illuminate Christian media and cafe facebook page or by joining the Friends of Illuminate and Upper Room Café facebook groups — and I gather it’s not too late to become a non-profit shareholder if you’d like to become more directly involved.

Discover More (most recent first)

Previous Reports (most recent first)

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Posted in Christian Bookshops, Independent Booksellers, News

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Macedonian Cry from Ashford in Kent: will you go?

Posted on August 3, 2010 by | 2 Comments

That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”

— Acts 16:9, NLT

I rarely get visions: I get emails. This one’s from Ashford in Kent, reproduced with the sender’s permission:

Hello

Not sure if I’m writing this to the right people or not but if not and you are able to forward it to a more appropriate reader than I would appreciate it if you would.

I live in Ashford in Kent and although up to 2003 there was a very small Christian Bookshop in the town, which was in a small room above a small Christian cafe, where I worked for about 18 months before its closure, there is now nothing available to Christians in the town. Our nearest bookshops are in Maidstone or Canterbury and although I’m sure a great many people are very grateful that they are there it is a very sad state of affairs, especially for those of us who don’t drive.

I know in this day and age the internet is a wonderful thing and Christian literature and music is readily available and I’m sure a great many people, myself included, take advantage of it, but there is nothing like actually browsing in a book shop and just seeing what is available in person.

Ashford is a town that is growing bigger by the minute so I am sure that there are a lot of people who would love to see a Christian bookshop in a prominent place in the town. Are you aware of any plans afoot by any of the large, or smaller, retailers to open a branch here?

I know economically these are not the easiest of times but this situation has been very much put on my heart and a close friend of mine and our Lord is not one to be put of by the economic climate so I remain hopeful.

Thanks for reading this and I look forward to hearing from you.

Gill Adsett

If this call is for you or someone you know — or if you’d simply like to explore possibilities with Gill — please get in touch and I’ll pass your message on to Gill.

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Posted in Christian Bookshops

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Collins Bible Companion

Posted on August 2, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Collins Bible Companion

Collins Bible Companion
The only book you need beside the Bible

Martin Manser (Editor)
ISBN 9780007339808 (0007339801)
HarperCollins, 2009 (720pp)
£25

Category: Bibles and Bible Guides
Reviewed by: Eddie Arthur

If you are looking for an introductory guide to the Bible, you could do far worse than get hold of the Collins Bible Companion. In a little over 700 pages, this colourful and well laid out book gives an excellent introduction to the themes and literature of the Bible. This isn’t the place to turn if you want to get to grips with the complexities of Hebrew poetry or to sort out in your own mind whether you are for Wright or Piper on Romans; but for someone who is new to the Bible this is a great place to start.

There are five main sections:

1. The Bible in its Setting: Which covers why the Bible was written, its history, geography and cultural setting. This includes an interesting little section on inspiration, a flow chart on how to read a passage in context and some good discussion on Bible themes which are not part of our everyday life; such as sacrifice and covenants. There is nothing earth shattering or novel here, but it is good stuff and easy to read.

2. The Bible Book by Book: This section is self explanatory. Each book of the Bible gets a brief introduction looking at questions such as authorship, purpose and audience. I was surprised to note that the introduction to Isaiah leaves open the possibility that there was more than one author of the book. While I have no personal position on this question (I’m not qualified to even think about having a position), I prefer it when introductory books are not too dogmatic about contentious issues.

Up till this point, the content is not that different to any of the excellent study Bibles which are available on the market and if this was all that the Collins Companion had to offer, I would not recommend it. However, the final three sections are rather different.

3. Bible Teaching This section examines some of the essential truths of Christianity, with a series of studies on subjects such as God, Salvation and the Church. Though they can be a little preachy, these studies are actually very good and would make really good material for individual or group Bible study.

4. Living the Christian Life: With the more theological groundwork laid in section three, there is now a series of studies on various aspects of Christian discipleship. I’m not convinced that this section is as strong as the one before it, but the material is useful.

5. Bible Reference: This section kicks off with a brief introduction to the main characters and places in the Bible. This is followed by a section on what the Bible has to say about hot topics such as abortion debt and war. To my mind, it is rather platitudinous. I’m not convinced that you can say anything worthwhile about the complexity of the biblical teaching on war in a hundred words. Far better (to quote Westlife) to “say nothing at all” than give a false impression that biblical teaching is simplistic. The last part of the reference section is a plan for reading through the Bible in a year, which is a rather good thing.

Lots of good, well renowned people say good things about the Collins Companion on the dust jacket; and the book deserves its plaudits. However, I do question whether this single big book is the best way to present the material in it. In reality, most people don’t want to have to cart a large book around with them in addition to their Bible, but if you are going to follow the studies in the Companion or the reading plan, that’s just what you will have to do. It might have made a far better series of paperback books than one big volume.

I have one big gripe about this book and that is on the cover. The Collins Bible Companion makes the claim that it is “the only book you need beside the Bible”. I don’t know what Collins were thinking when they came out with this silliness. This sort of over the top claim does no one any favours and makes the publishers look daft. This book can stand on its own merits and doesn’t need this sort of hubris.

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Eddie Arthur, August 2010

Eddie Arthur is the Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators UK. Previously he has worked as part of the translation team for the Kouya New Testament in Ivory Coast and as the National Director for a Wycliffe partner organisation in Ivory Coast and Mali. He is married to Sue, a translation conultant who works in Madagascar. Eddie and Sue have two grown up children and are owned by a Springer Spaniel.

You can read more of Eddie’s thoughts on Bible translation and life, on his website kouya.net, or follow him on Twitter @kouya

Browse Inside the Collins Bible Companion

HarperCollins | Order from your local Christian bookshop or buy online at www.christianbookshops.org

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