Guest Post: Return to your first love

We didn't print any endorsements in The Gift, not because we don't think it's a great book, but because we wanted to let it speak for itself. You'll notice on the book page that Rico Tice like it. Here's what Rachel Marszalek, a Vicar in Ealing and an Associate Tutor at St Mellitus College, had to say:

This book is in two parts. It begins inviting you to sit in a meeting with those in the first throes of ministry. You smell the coffee and feel the sense of place. The writing is evocative and the experience immersive. These sit-down sessions with fleshed out characters bracket the narrative so we journey in company through the chapters of leadership lessons and are reminded of collaboration and community against the backdrop of what has been an isolating time in pandemic. We then venture, in company, into the second half of the book and will meet this crowd again at the end.

Chris Green explores the major tenets of a healthy leadership environment and ends each chapter with a helpful summary. This in itself constrains what is written in a helpful way. Writing is purposeful and we are led confidently and in an uncomplicated way as we apply a chapter’s ideas to our own contexts. Sharing the reality of leadership can be vulnerable but the author stirs us with his reminders that we are, for example, to retell the ‘greatness of salvation… keep showing how infinitely wonderful it is, and how eternally entrancing it will be.’

Our eyes are lifted to our ‘first love’ as the book asks that, in all vulnerability, we sense, again, our calling. We all take stock as the years go by and Chris helps us, in the second half of the book ask ourselves some of those key questions that need asking, including:

• ‘Are we commending other churches and leaders?’ 
• ‘Are we members before we are leaders?’ 

His chapter on the twelve elements of biblical ministry and the church health-check are worth the cost of the book alone. A good read and one to take any seasoned leader back to the launch pad that catapulted them into ministry. This is a book for those who might be weary and need a reboot and for those who are setting others on fire to hear a call to leadership. It will equip those who lead and those who mentor and coach others to lead. Thank you, Chris.

The Gift: How your leadership can serve your church by Chris Green is one of our August 2021 releases, and you can order your copy now!