February 25, 2011

News Roundup: Celebrating 10 Years Online | Commentaries Sale at Wesley Owen | More Shops Seeking New Owners | More Than Another Day of Prayer | New Blog for Caritas Music

Posted by Phil Groom under Cardiff, Christian Book Trade, Christian Bookshops, Christian Music, Independent Booksellers, News, Wesley Owen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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UK Christian Bookshops Directory: Discover your local Christian bookshop!

Celebrating 10 Years Online!

GOT NEWS? If you have news you’d like to share about your shop or staff, please leave a comment or contact me direct to be included in the next News Roundup…

Don’t want to comment here? Join the conversation on facebook instead…

Celebrating 10 Years Online

THIS YEAR sees both the UK Christian Bookshops Directory and The Good Bookstall celebrating our tenth anniversaries: UKCBD was launched 10 years ago this month, in February 2001, whilst TGB was launched 10 years ago next month, March 2001 — and what an amazing 10 years it’s been!

We’ve seen STL expand its territory, Prayer-of-Jabez style, only to see the whole edifice here in the UK come tumbling down when they did a builder-who-didn’t-count-the-cost routine; we’ve seen the destruction of the SPCK Bookshops chain in the hands of the gruesome twosome, Messrs Phil and Mark Brewer; we’ve seen dozens of independent bookshop closures; and we’ve seen Christian Marketplace go from being a monthly independent magazine to a bi-monthly, surviving only as a subsidiary of another giant, the Premier Christian media empire.

We’ve also seen the phenomenal rise of online Christian bookseller Eden.co.uk, the emergence of the ebook and yet — in the face of all these challenges — many shops rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of those destructions, an important reminder if ever we needed one that God isn’t interested in our ambitions and empires, no matter how much we persuade ourselves that it’s God’s kingdom we’re building — because our God, the God we meet in Jesus, isn’t ultimately found in huge presences or high profiles but is revealed rather in small and hidden things, babies born in poverty, bookshops in backstreets and market halls, and bookstalls at the back of forgotten churches. We strive for ‘Mission on the High Street’ but God calls us to mission wherever we are, with whatever we have.

5 Quid for Life: A Mental Health Safety Net

5 Quid for Life

At UKCBD, I’m celebrating 10 years with a simple commitment: over the next year a minimum of 10% of all UKCBD income will be donated to the new up-and-coming charity 5 Quid for Life: A Mental Health Safety Net. It’s a project that I’ve been privileged to be part of from the outset, emerging out of a friend’s desperation as she poured out her heart over the disruption the current government’s changes to the UK benefits system would have on her. If you haven’t already done so, read about it here: Welcome to 5 Quid for Life; and if you’d like to make a donation, you can do so here: 5quidforlife.org.uk/#donate

For further reflections on the changes the last ten years have wrought, see Mary Bartholomew’s latest Good Bookstall editorial; and as we celebrate 10 years online, congratulations must also go to Luke Bunger and his team at one of those small independents, The Hub, Walsall, as they celebrate their first anniversary after surviving the collapse of Wesley Owen … talking of which…

Commentaries Sale at Wesley Owen

THANK YOU to Wesley Owen Birmingham for letting me know about their commentaries sale: 25% off all commentaries; but anyone wanting a slice of the cake needs to move fast — offer ends tomorrow, Saturday 26th February. Available from all branches and online too!

Meanwhile congratulations are due to the inimitable David Chant, former WO Birmingham branch manager, who has moved on into ‘semi-retirement’ from where he should be able to spend a little more time promoting Planet BB. Have you ordered your stock yet? David’s itching to hear from you…

More Shops Seeking New Owners

CHRISTIAN BOOKSHOPS seeking new owners seems to be a trending topic at the moment. This time around we have two, The Ark, Lymington, and Cardiff Christian Bookshop.

The Ark, Lymington

Shop For Sale: The Ark, Lymington

THE ARK is a Christian Bookshop and Café which opened its doors in 2004 and has gone on to serve the local community and churches ever since, but owner Ginny Ayling now wishes to retire and hand on the business to someone else: sale price £325,000, Freehold. Could that someone be you or someone you know?

The shop is well loved and supported by the local people. Describing the shop, the Revd Peter Salisbury, Vicar of Lymington, said:

The Ark is an important part of the Christian outreach in Lymington and is an excellent central meeting place. All the volunteers are from the local churches and the bookshop gives advice and an ordering service, which we use for our personal and church orders. The Café, which is always buzzing at lunchtime, has a very high reputation and offers friendly and personal service plus gorgeous food – I’m usually in there about once a week!

Download the Particulars of Sale or an A4 Sale Poster (both pdfs) if you’d like to know more or would like to help promote the sale.

CARDIFF CHRISTIAN BOOKSHOP is currently owned and operated by the Evangelical Movement of Wales, who have reluctantly concluded that they can no longer support the shop. From the shop’s February Prayer Letter:

The Evangelical Movement of Wales has decided most reluctantly that it must bring its support of the Cardiff Christian Bookshop to an end. This is most regrettable since it has been such a witness in the heart of the city for almost 50 years. It is, however, very keen that the work and witness should continue and would actively invite Churches and other interested Christian groups to assume responsibility for it and to come forward with proposals for its future operation. The Movement is continuing to own and support the shop in the short term and the business will continue to function as usual.

The business costs around £55,000 per year to run in terms of staffing, rent and other expenses: download the February Prayer Letter (pdf) if you’d like to know more.

More Than Another Day of Prayer

8 Days of Prayer: Launching a Season of Prayer for Christian Retail in the UK

8 Days of Prayer: Launching a Season of Prayer for Christian Retail in the UK (pdf, 90kb)

JOY MCILROY of Ashburnham Books has been busy liaising with Clem Jackson at Christian Marketplace to draw up plans for another Day of Prayer for the trade — but this year it’s more than a day of prayer: the vision is for a season of prayer to run through Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, 9th March. Announcement here: Day of Prayer for Christian Trade.

The announcement suggests sharing plans via the Christian Authors, Booksellers and Publishers facebook group. Should you choose to do so, please note that that is a closed group, set up specifically to facilitate discussion within the trade away from the public eye — in other words, not the best forum to use if you wish to engage with others beyond the trade…

As with previous occasions I’ll be updating this site’s Day of Prayer page with news and updates as and when they emerge: please do feel free to post details of any plans there and to point members of the general public in that direction.

New Blog for Caritas Music

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, another birthday this month as Caritas Music turned 13 back on February 2nd and have now launched a brand new bright-and-shiny blog for Caritas Music / Eschenbach Editions, where you’ll soon find all the latest news appearing from these two independent music publishers.

Looking Back…

 

October 25, 2010

What Would Jesus Steal?

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings | Tags: , , , , |
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THAT’S THE QUESTION being asked by Ben Myers after reports “from a reliable source” — but dismissed by one of his commenters as urban myth — of thefts of WWJD bracelets from “one of Australia’s big Christian bookstore chains”.

It’s a good question: what would Jesus steal? A few lost souls from under the nose of a sleeping monster? A lamb, and come out with a lion? I suspect he wouldn’t have too many qualms about robbing a bank these days when the banks have been stealing so much from the rest of us. For sure he’d steal life in the face of death and wouldn’t be ashamed of the scars… and watch out: he might just steal your heart; I know he’s stolen mine.

The sad fact is that no matter how many of our customers are exemplary citizens, there are wolves among the sheep. You have to love this story from mndt on reddit:

Me: “That will be 17.50, please.”
Customer: “Are you a Christian, dear?”
Me: “Why do you ask?”
Customer: “Are you?”
Me: “Well, no. Why do you want to know?”
Customer: “Oh. I would like to be helped by someone else, please.”
Manager: “Good morning ma’am, I hear you’ve been having a problem with the clerk?”
Customer: “Oh, she didn’t make any trouble, it’s just that I don’t want my money to be handled by someone not of the faith. You should be careful, she’ll probably nick from the till when you’re not looking.”
Manager: “You’re right, ma’am, I shall definitely have to reprimand her.”
Me: surprised “What for?”
Manager: “For failing to notice that the lady was not planning on paying for the three Mars bars and the map of Europe she must have put in her bag while you were fetching me.”
(The customer freezes for a second, then looks at her bag.)
Customer: “Good heavens! I must’ve been so distracted I didn’t even notice the devil putting them there!”

Undoubtedly urban myth again, but it does raise the question of security awareness. At LST we only ever had one theft that I could be sure of: a customer brought the IVP Essential Reference Collection CD to the till. I noticed that the tape seal had been cut and sure enough, the CD was missing. We never did find the culprit, who might even now be serving as a church leader somewhere. From then on, that box became a display pack and the actual packs were kept in a secure location.

Other things went missing, of course, but we could never be certain whether or not it was a database error, item misplaced in the shop, goods-in processing error or theft; and even when the annual stock take came around, there was never time to analyse the data to work out where things had gone or mysteriously appeared from. The net difference was usually a few hundred pounds, not in our favour — relative peanuts on a year’s trading, certainly not enough to warrant investing in a hi-tech security system.

But as I thought about the question, What would Jesus steal? I wondered: who would Jesus prosecute? Would Jesus prosecute? Or would he invite the thief to come follow him — to work in the shop with him — to be a key holder, perhaps even appoint the thief as company treasurer? It’s a surefire path to disaster, of course, but Jesus did it, and accepted the consequences.

I wonder how many of us, when push comes to shove, are really up for following Jesus, the man who said, if someone takes your coat, give them your shirt as well? That’s Luke’s version; Matthew’s is different: if someone sues you for your coat, surrender your shirt too. Why does Matthew’s Jesus seem to assume that his followers will be sued?

What’s your shop’s policy on theft, whether it’s theft by staff or by shoplifters? What about security systems and staff training or awareness? Is theft inevitable? Should we as Christian retailers adopt a different way to the world? Or is this an area where we’re all in business together, Christian or otherwise?

What about delaying payments to your suppliers because your bank balance is jittery — is that theft? Or taking refuge behind bankruptcy laws to evade your creditors? Do we have a duty to uphold a legal system that protects corporate thieves but prosecutes private citizens or should we be seeking to overturn it as Jesus once turned over the tables in the temple?

What would Jesus steal? Who would he prosecute? What about you?

 

September 7, 2010

Day of Prayer #3: Reflections from Jersey: “We must never underestimate the power of prayer”

Posted by Phil Groom under Christian Bookshops, Independent Booksellers | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Praying HandsHow was it for you? For me, last week’s Day of Prayer was wonderfully encouraging and I’d like to offer my personal thanks to everyone who took part. Whereas this time last year most of the online activity seemed to be via twitter, this year facebook took the lead: almost every time I logged on to facebook, someone within our trade had posted an update to say that they were praying or somebody else was. I invited Julie Buesnel to offer us some reflections from her perspective at one of our more far-flung outposts, Christian Solutions, Jersey:

Julie Buesnell, Christian Solutions, Jersey

Julie Buesnell, Christian Solutions, Jersey

Julie writes: We must never underestimate the power of prayer.

On Friday we had many people emailing in their support, not only for Christian Solutions; but also for the whole of the Industry. Customers came in and out throughout the day. Some prayed downstairs (one lady was here for her lunch hour) others walked around the shop quietly praying by themselves. Many of us across the Island of Jersey were united in Prayer for the whole of the industry. This shows the level of support that we have.

At one point the shop was so full of praying and buying Customers that I couldn’t get from one side of the shop to the other. We were greatly encouraged at the support that we received. We are indeed the Light in the Market Place and the day of prayer is so important. People are beginning to catch our vision, and realise that they don’t have to buy on Amazon to get a quick delivery. Deliveries to Jersey from our Suppliers are fantastic at the moment.

People are also realising that if they do buy from us instead of online and maybe, yes, pay a little more, what they are actually doing is supporting the mission side. We must be thankful to God for those people who are supporting us, and keep praying for those who don’t.

I was also contacted by the local Radio Station to give an interview at the most popular time of day 5.45pm, yes pm, not the usual 6.45 or 7.45am on a Sunday morning. It was a very short interview and I did feel cut off in my prime; but those who listened said I got the message across: praise God for that.

These days of prayer are so very important. Many people come into our shop searching for something, not always knowing what, but we can point them in the right direction and help them to find Jesus. Through the shop only last week, I met three people plus a mum who are searching for something, this has resulted in me taking them along to the local Christianity Explored course starting on 27th September at Pizza Express. It is for these people that we continue to put in all the hours, and it is all for the love of Jesus.

I look forward to the next day of prayer.

From the other end of the country…

 

August 25, 2010

Good News for Struggling Shops and their Customers as RHP release more £1 Classics

Posted by Phil Groom under Book News, Christian Publishers, Guest Posts | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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THANK YOU to Geoff Wallace of Maranatha Christian Bookshop, Uxbridge, for this  follow on to Joy McIlroy’s recent note (in the Trade Notes section) about RHP’s £1 Classics Series. I have to confess that I haven’t tried them at LST yet, but I’ll certainly make sure that my successor knows about them for when I’m gone. A series that sells as well as Geoff and Joy have each found has to be a winner, methinks — and might well make the difference between make or break!

One Pound Classics from Rickfords Hill Publishing

One Pound Classics from Rickfords Hill Publishing

Geoff writes: Rickfords Hill Publishing have just released 6 more titles in their One Pound Classics series. The books include Pilgrim’s Progress, and books by Andrew Murray, Roy Hessian, Torrey and others.

The good news is that they are now all available from CLC Wholesale.

If shops are struggling with sales then stocking these books would really help. The new titles were only published in August but at Maranatha we have already sold nearly 100 copies across the 6 titles and more with the previous titles. They outsell our other books all the time.

Most of the customers who buy them buy copies for themselves and more copies to give away. We have sold 100s of copies of the previous 6 titles including 360 copies of Hungry for More of Jesus and 325 copies of Hallowed Be Thy Names (both by David Wilkerson and both superb books)

We devote a whole shelf to these books and they are the most popular shelf in the shop. At £1 they are amazing value especially as some of the books are over 260 pages long.

 

August 18, 2010

TEXTS OF TERROR: The World’s Most Frightening Bible?

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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American Patriot's Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America

American Patriot's Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America

I first came across this Bible courtesy of our cousins across the pond at STL USA (who themselves now face the indignity of being put up for sale by Biblica, with reassurances from Doug Lockhart that sound eerily reminiscent of Keith Danby’s reassurances about STL UK last year — but that’s another story…).

I hoped and prayed that it was some sort of sad joke — after all, who (apart from Israel) could truly lay claim to the Bible as part and parcel of their national heritage? But no, this aberration, complete with USA flag blended into the cover, is all too real; and now — according to a recent report in Christian Retailing — The American Patriot’s Bible has reached the terrifying position of being one of North America’s bestsellers, reaching No. 5 on amazon.com’s bestseller lists. Despite the title, there really is more than one American patriot.

In an age of global terror threats, when we should surely be seeking ways to bridge the gap between different cultures rather than to push them further apart, the last thing the world needs is a Bible branded with America’s — or any other country’s — identity. If the Bible is the Word of God, it is surely God’s Word for all people, for all nations. Is that not what scripture itself, what Jesus himself, teaches us? No doubt Thomas Nelson’s marketing people had only the best of intentions in mind in their shaping of this nightmare: to encourage the American people; but are their minds really so detached from reality that they can’t see the message that something like this conveys to the rest of the world?

If the “de-Christianisation” of Living Oasis means making a clean break from this sort of insanity, then I am so with Andy Twilley now; but if product such as this is the true face of Christianity in the 21st century then I am, indeed, ashamed of the Gospel. Becky Garrison is right: this must surely be one of those things that makes Jesus look at his Dad and go, “I died for this?”

I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies: they could have featured US Army tanks invading Iraq or Afghanistan on the cover…

Update 25/08/2010: Not US Army tanks, just a specially packaged pocket version for the troops, cunningly designed to match the uniforms. From the Nelson Newsroom:

A condensed pocket edition, bound in the new official MultiCam® fabric used on the U.S. Military’s uniforms and packs, minus the government’s infrared technology, is also available to inspire today’s modern-day patriots in the trenches.

— The American Patriot’s Bible Editor Joins Glenn Beck Events

 

May 22, 2008

Jesus, the Gospels and Cinematic Imagination

Posted by Phil Groom under Book Reviews | Tags: , , , |
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UKCBD > Christian Book Reviews > Arts & Media > Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination
Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic ImaginationJesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination 
A Handbook to Jesus on DVD

Jeffrey L Staley and Richard Walsh 
ISBN 9780664230319 (0664230318) 
Westminster John Knox Press, 2007 (208pp) 
£10.99

Category: Arts & Media 
Reviewed by: Phil Groom

Whether you’re a film buff, a Jesus Scholar or simply curious about the ways in which film-makers — and Hollywood in particular — have interpreted and reinterpreted the Jesus story, you have to love this book! Don’t be misled by the cover or the subtitle, however: this is a book, not a DVD, and there is no accompanying DVD or CD-ROM. This absence is the book’s one weakness: it is virtually crying out for a cover disc featuring at least some key movie clips.

Staley and Walsh teach New Testament studies and, as they explain in their preface, this book has grown out of their experience of using Jesus films in both their teaching and their research. The book’s main purpose is to provide a resource for other New Testament tutors, to save them having to go to the lengths Staley and Walsh have had to in preparing their own classes. For each of the eighteen films they examine — full listing below — there’s a plot summary; lists of memorable characters and visuals; notes of key scriptures; comments on the cultural location and genre; information about the director; details of DVD extras and technical features; and an itemised DVD contents list of chapters with timeline and scripture references where relevant.

The film chapters are sandwiched between two complementary chapters, ‘Watching Jesus Films’ and ‘Teaching Jesus Films’ which offer suggestions on how to make the most of the experience, asking dozens of critical questions to help explore the themes the films uncover and the challenges they can raise.

A final appendix — which the authors describe as “the generative heart of our work” — provides ‘A Gospels Harmony of Jesus Films on DVD’ which follows the basic chronology of the Gospels, indicates which films include each Gospel scene and gives the exact point in hours/minutes/seconds at which the scene occurs on each DVD.

To summarise: an excellent resource for anyone keen to explore the life of Jesus as presented in film and the ways in which our culture has chosen to reinterpret the Gospel stories for our times — ways that all too often, as the authors observe, ‘tell us much more about ourselves and American culture than anything about “the real” Jesus’ (Preface, p.viii). No doubt exactly the same can be said with respect to British culture…

Contents List 
Preface 
1. Watching Jesus Films 
2. The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ, 1905 
3. From the Manger to the Cross, 1912 
4. Intolerance, 1916 
5. The King of Kings, 1927 
6. King of Kings, 1961 
7. The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, 1965 
8. The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965 
9. Jesus Christ Superstar, 1973 
10 Godspell, 1973 
11 Jesus of Nazareth, 1977 
12 The Jesus Film, 1979 
13 Monty Python’s Life of Brian, 1979 
14 The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988 
15 Jesus of Montreal, 1989 
16 Jesus, 1999 
17 The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus, 1999 
18 The Gospel of John, 2003 
19 The Passion of the Christ, 2004 
20 Teaching Jesus Films 
Appendix: A Gospels Harmony of Jesus Films on DVD 
Notes

Phil Groom, May 2008

Phil Groom is this site’s Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He’s a regular contributor to Christian Marketplace magazine and is the manager of London School of Theology Books & Resources. Any opinions expressed here are personal and should not be taken as representing the views of London School of Theology or of any other group or organisation.

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