Healing Your Church Hurt by Stephen Mansfield Book Review

Church dropouts are an alarming trend that has been taking place within the Western church over the last decade.  The reality is so many people disconnect from church for a variety of reasons.  Being hurt or offended due to church leadership or dysfunctional church culture is at the top of the list.  Stephen has taken his personal experiences of conflict within the church and provided a blueprint for being healed of your church hurt.  Let me be clear, this is not only a book for people who have been hurt.  This book equips clergymen with the tools they need to coach and lead people through the hurt they may have experienced.  This book is also a great tool for up and coming leaders who desire to be in full time ministry or hold a leadership position within a local church.

Throughout this book the author shares powerful principles and encouraging words such as “Adversity, endured righteously, has the power to lift a man to new heights.” This simple statement is profound when we think through its meaning.  The sum of this book in a nutshell states that you can be free from the hurt and pain that comes through the hands of fellow Christians.  The reality is we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people and attend imperfect churches.  That means, there is potential for hurt and offense within the church.  As the old saying goes, “hurt people, hurt people”.  But there’s hope, Stephen Mansfield lays out how we can be healed and break the cycle of hurt that persists with the church today.  I encourage you to pick up your copy today.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own

Much More than a Prayer Guide

I really didn’t know what to expect when I selected this book to read.  I was initially intrigued by the title of the book.  You see, one of my New Year (2012) goals is to establish a consistent prayer life and figured this book would help me with accomplishing this goal.  However, what I received was much more than a prayer guide.  This book has inspired my prayer life, meditation (thought) life, ministry time at my local church, etc.  The author takes common biblical passage and adds his commentary to them, giving them “life”, meaning, and relevance.  This is not a one-time read; this is a great book to have on your bookshelf as a resource or reference material.  I have used this book alongside my one year bible, which has helped me in my prayer life.  I recommend you pick up a copy of this book.  The author has done a great job preparing and organizing these daily prayers.  I’m sure it will bless you as well as it has blessed me. 

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the Book Sneeze  book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own