REVIEWS

BUILDING THE BODY

Learning activities for growing churches Written by: Steve Aisthorpe, Lesley Hamilton-Messer, David McCarthy, Phill Mellstrom, Robbie Morrison and Rob Rawson

Published by: Saint Andrew Press

Price: £16.99 (also available as an e-book)

This A4-sized handbook is a must-have for the shelves of anyone charged with helping congregations to find their place on the pilgrim path and to fulfil promise and flourish.

Drawing on the huge breadth of knowledge and experience within the Church of Scotland’s Mission and Discipleship Council staff team, this is a book intended to support 21st century congregations as they grow and journey together and identify purpose and place in the ever changing tapestry of Scotland today.

The work has been deliberately designed to allow leaders or facilitators – many of them volunteers with no or little experience of facilitation – to engage with congregations and to grow and fulfil their faith and promise as they conduct listening and learning exercises designed to help make key decisions or find renewed purpose or a new path for the future. The common sense practical tips sit side by side with a wealth of spiritual resource to support and underpin the work taking place.

The work opens with some simple words of encouragement with the message ‘You are not alone’ followed by a plea to read the first few pages carefully before moving ahead and a further plea to resist the temptation to jump straight in to the many exercises outlined in the six categories. These pages also explain about facilitation – how to undertake any conference-style or planning exercises with a group – and perhaps most importantly, how to ensure the most effective questions are posed to the target audience and ensure time and resource are not wasted. These basic, but helpful tips, will help anyone charged with planning an event on a particular subject or seeking to engage with church and non-church audiences alike.

The six sections seek to take a church from a starting point of reflection of place within a community, to identifying direction through activities which motivate and engage a congregation, examining local cultures and understanding communities, learning from experience to a point where congregations can discern their future direction and place and fulfil promise. The spiritual dimension is not neglected and there are helpful exercises and tips included within a number of exercises to ensure prayer and scripture play their part in reaching conclusions and decisions.

At a time of change and challenge for the Church of Scotland this is an essential resource as local churches renew and review their purpose and place, as well as encouraging and fostering new gifts and improved understanding.

The typeface is also one that will lend itself to all within churches for the print is larger and easier to read and clear.

It will also find a market within other churches, Presbyterian and non-Presbyterian alike within the western world as a key facilitation tool as churches grapple with societal changes and renewal of purpose amid the ever changing map of 21st century life.

Lynne McNeil