LIVING FAITH
Willing to be stirred as a pot of paint
214 pages. ISBN 978-1-84550-295-9
LIVING SACRIFICE
Willing to be whittled as an arrow
140 pages. ISBN 978-1-84550-294-2
Both by Dr. Helen Roseveare
Christian Focus. £6.99 each
To be asked to review books by Helen Roseveare is to ask a pigmy to comment on the qualities of a giant. I cannot do better than to quote George Verwer’s comment on these books: ‘Perhaps you don’t read many books but I would urge you to read this one — and then to share what you’ve learned with others. They are a huge challenge to the indifference and lukewarmness of our day’.
Many EN readers will no doubt remember Dr. Roseveare’s accounts of her mission work in Congo and the challenge they brought to the Christian world of the 1970s. Her name is probably less well known to young Christians, so I urge you, in particular, to ignore the rather bland covers of these two books and get reading. They form part of a series of books by Helen Roseveare which are being republished 27 years after they were first available. Drawing on her long experience as a Christian, the author challenges us to deeper faith and more sacrificial service, a call which is encouraging to read and hard to answer.
Both books are methodically set out so that the direction of thought is clear to follow. Living Faith is based on verses of a hymn of dedication I have never come across before, ‘Stir me, oh stir me Lord, I care not how’; the chapters of Living Sacrifice are entitled ‘With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength’.
If you started 2008 resolving to strive more consciously to grow in your Christian life, these books will inspire you if that early zeal is starting to flag.
Jen Watkins,
Longmeadow Evangelical Church, Stevenage
