Several years ago, my ministry shifted radically from service in Benin, West Africa to equipping missionaries all over the world. Life was changing fast, full of new challenges, and often a jumble of exhilaration, sleepless nights, and a lot of prayer!
One thing that God has used to equip and anchor me through this season was a good book. Actually, there were several!
These are the books I’ve recommended most this year. There are tons of great titles out there, but these were really meaningful to me.
Book 1: The COACH Model for Christian Leaders
Coach and speaker Keith Webb teaches Christian leaders how to create powerful conversations to assist others to solve their own problems, reach goals, and develop their own leadership skills in the process. Whether leaders are working with employees, teenagers, or a colleague living in another city, they’ll find powerful tools and techniques to increase leadership effectiveness.
One of my favorite quotes from this book was “Christian coaches acknowledge the working of the Holy Spirit and trust Him to be guiding and leading the coachee through many different means.” This idea has helped me to entrust the people I help to God, and remember who is really responsible for their success!
If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.
Book 2: Prayer: Forty Days of Practice
This unique book guides you to pray in deeper and more authentic ways. The short prayers and thought-provoking imagery, interspersed with contemplative reflections and suggested practices, will stir, inform, and encourage you.
One of my favorite prayers from this book was “May love be stronger in me than the fear of the pain that comes with caring.” I found it beautiful and challenging!
If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.
Book 3: From the Inside Out: Reimagining Mission, Recreating the World
The evolution that has taken place in the world of mission over the last twenty-five years has left many Christians asking brutally honest questions about what we do and why we do it. Are we doing more damage than good? What does it look like to truly love and serve the marginalized in an authentic and effective way? What, actually, is the gospel and is it truly good news?
One of my favorite quotes from this book was, “If a place is treated simply as a cross-cultural experience then we run the risk of commodifying that place for our pleasure, and our ministry there will likely colonize more than liberate. When God plants us in a place, that place becomes our teacher.”
If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.
What are some of your favorites? I’d love to hear them — especially if you’re in a season of transition. Leave a comment below!
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Those books sound wonderful, especially the one on how to pray more meaningful. I may check that out.
A book i am reading now called The Power of Communion by Beni & Bill Johnson has been really good so far. It is all about how receiving the body and blood of Christ can transform and/or heal you.
As a Catholic who puts a high value on Holy Communion, it is refreshing to read about Protestants also doing the same. And although our theologies are a bit different on the actual host and wine, this book comes really close to uniting the body of Christ (all of us) in Holy Communion.