If you’re in the market for some kids’ books, be sure to take a look at this sale at Westminster Books.

End of the Global South? Updating the State of World Missions
“What we are witnessing today through the work of globe-trotting researchers and travel-worn academics is the glorious drama of God’s unfolding worldwide redemption. The Spirit is blowing where he pleases, the kingdoms of the world are continuing to enter the kingdom of the Lord from the east and the west, the north and the south, and the nations are singing the praises of God.” This is a long but valuable read.
GAFCON IV: Lessons from a Communion in Birth Pains
And in perhaps a similar vein, here’s another encouraging report from the Anglican world.
“Caste and Church Growth Assessment” by Aubrey M. Sequeira
Come to TRC23 to hear Aubrey on “Emptying the Cross of Its Power: Honor/Shame and the Gospel of Christ.” While honor/shame concepts can be helpful for cross-cultural workers to know, it remains the handmaiden to the doctrines that Scripture sets forth for all cultures and times. (Sponsored Link)
Stop calling faithfulness a sacrifice
“We need to stop calling obedience and faithfulness to the commands of Christ ‘sacrifice’. There, I said it. It is not sacrifice to do what Jesus asks us to do. Full stop.” It’s probably worth hearing him out.
7 Biblical Truths Countering the False Gospel of “Emotional Health & Wealth”
Bob Kellemen: “Today’s post is not about the false health & wealth gospel. Everyone posts against that. Today’s post is about a much more subtle, much more insidious, much more hidden false gospel—a gospel that all too easily creeps into the Evangelical world: the false gospel of emotional health & wealth.’”
Should We Use the Words “Old Testament”?
Should we use the words “Old Testament” or is there a better option?
Present at Their Passing
Rebekah Matt writes about the times she has been present as someone passed from life to death. She writes also about some of her regrets in those moments.
Flashback: Being the Answer to Prayer
We must pray for deliverance and then take hold of the means of deliverance that God provides to us—pray and then labor to see the prayer answered.

The man who attempts Christianity without the church shoots himself in the foot, shoots his children in the leg, and shoots his grandchildren in the heart. —Kevin DeYoung

Though May has come and gone, it proved to be a good month for Christian book releases. I sorted through the stacks that landed on my desk and arrived at this list of new and notables. In each case I’ve provided the editorial description to give you a sense of what it’s all about. I hope there’s something here that catches your eye!

ESV Teen Study Bible. The new ESV Teen Study Bible is targeted at teens from 14 to 18 years of age and is available in a variety of cover styles and treatments. “Our world today pushes an endless number of distractions and temptations, which is why having faithful and accessible biblical resources for teens is more important than ever. Edited by pastor Jon Nielson, the ESV Teen Study Bible features numerous study and resource materials–including 12,000 accessible study notes adapted from the ESV Concise Study Bible, 365 devotions adapted from God’s Great Story by Jon Nielson, and 200 sidebars defining key doctrines and helping teens apply Scripture to their own lives. It also has full-page introductions for each biblical book, more than 150 maps and illustrations, an extensive glossary and concordance, and over a dozen topical articles. These features help facilitate deep engagement with the Scriptures, impacting the minds, hearts, and lives of teen followers of Christ.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Knowing God’s Truth: An Introduction to Systematic Theology by Jon Nielson. And speaking of Jon Nielson, here’s another new resource with his name on it. Note that there is both an optional workbook and DVD to go with it. “When you consider theology, you may think of confusing, lofty terminology that only concerns scholars and pastors. But in reality, theology is for anyone who wants to better understand God and learn more about the Bible. Theology—the study of God and his word—should be personal, accessible, and worshipful. Pastor Jon Nielson has written Knowing God’s Truth, a part of the Theology Basics suite, to make systematic theology clear, meaningful, and practical for those looking for a highly accessible guide to studying God. In this introduction, Nielson defines systematic theology as “theological study done in a highly organized, topical way” and covers the 12 basic categories—Scripture, man, sin, church, and more. He also helps readers learn to apply theology in their everyday lives by integrating invitations to pray and meditate on what they’ve learned.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Unmissable Church: Why You Need Church and Church Needs You by Richard Sweatman & Antony Barraclough. “Modern life is a constant struggle between competing priorities, and for Christians especially so on Sundays. How can we juggle all the demands on our time and still make church a priority? Why is there sometimes such a disconnect between the Bible’s captivating vision for church and our experience of it? In Unmissable Church, Antony Barraclough and Richard Sweatman combine meticulous research, practical advice and pastoral warmth. They explore the reasons why it’s sometimes difficult to make it to church and what we can do about it. The issues of broken relationships, conflicting priorities, health concerns and more are treated with empathy and encouragement. Whether you are a leader looking to understand what’s keeping people away from church, a regular attender who wants to encourage others to gather more often, or someone who finds weekly attendance a challenge, this book will bring you greater clarity and perspective.” (Buy it at Amazon or Matthias Media)
Susannah Spurgeon: Lessons for a Life of Joyful Eagerness in Christ by Mary Mohler. “Have you heard of Spurgeon? Preacher, evangelist and stalwart patriarch of the Modern Western Church today. If the cliché ‘behind every great man is a strong woman’, is true, then Susannah Spurgeon remains one of the matriarchs of the same tradition. Spurgeon was the bone companion of her husband. As a pastoral assistant, as Charles’ wife and support through trials, this woman’s biography has been a long time coming. Mary Mohler has gathered information on Susie from sources spanning letters, devotionals and biographies. The result is a thoughtful, sympathetic and endearing epitaph to a sister in Christ, whose voice can no longer be ignored. Mohler allows room for academics, mothers, daughters and wives to dwell on Spurgeon’s joyful eagerness in Christ.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Do Not Be True to Yourself: Countercultural Advice for the Rest of Your Life by Kevin DeYoung. “Most speeches addressed to high school and college students follow a similar theme: march to the beat of your own drum. This may sound encouraging on the surface, but Scripture exhorts believers to submit their lives to the will of God, not their own desires. Christian students need gospel-centered truth to guide them on their journey toward independence. In this collection of inspiring sermons and graduation speeches, Kevin DeYoung delivers a motivational, biblical call to young people: serve God faithfully—and if necessary, counter-culturally—in the next season of your life. Do Not Be True to Yourself includes practical advice for cultivating a Christ-centered worldview in every area of adult life, including relationships, work, church participation, and spiritual growth, making it a transformational resource for mentoring students.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Called to Be Holy: The Discipline of the Church by Jeremy Walker. “Discipline is not a dirty word. Any group which is united and effective embraces discipline to promote the health and strength of the group as a whole and its survival over time. The same is true of the church of Jesus Christ, serving and striving together so that Christ is formed in every member. This booklet is a concise summary of the principles and the practices Christ has given for the holiness of his church. Jeremy Walker skillfully explains the assumptions that lie behind church discipline, grounded in the identity of the church and activity of the church of God. The text looks at the God-ordained purposes of corrective discipline, and the reasons why a church might have to pursue this course. Called to Be Holy offers practical advice as to how such discipline ought to be carried out in the church of Jesus Christ, it speaks to the nature of church discipline, in its more positive and negative aspects, and it identifies love as the primary motive behind any discipline in the church. Ultimately, the church of the living God needs to respond righteously when there is sin in her midst. God has not left us alone in this! Wisely and graciously, the Head of the church has told us how and why the church must discipline unrepentant sin.” (Buy it at Amazon)
Christ and the Culture Wars: Speaking for Jesus in a World of Identity Politics by Benjamin Chang. “In our modern world the gospel of Jesus is seen by many less as good news for all humanity, and more as the bigoted edicts of a bygone era. Benjamin Chang explores the stories of the revolution, tracing the trajectories of four of the biggest social justice movements—feminism, racial justice, gay pride and the trans movement—before looking at the ways Christians usually engage with these arenas of cultural conflict (mirror, argue, ignore) and identifying a better way forward. Rather than hunkering down in our own identity tribes, arguing against other groups, or ignoring what is going on in the culture around us, Chang encourages Christians to find ways to speak for Jesus. He urges us to look at the way we tell stories, and consider whether we can re-capture hearts in our culture by telling a more powerful counter-narrative. He gives us language to use to speak about the cross in our world of identity politics. We will see that the gospel resonates with a culture when it speaks the language of the culture.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Short of Glory: A Biblical and Theological Exploration of the Fall by Mitchell L. Chase. “When looking around at the world, it is easy to see that all is not as it should be. This brokenness within the world and humanity finds its roots in mankind’s rebellion against God. The fall, as recorded in Genesis 3, sets the stage for creation’s need for redemption—ultimately found in Jesus Christ. In this book, pastor and professor Mitchell Chase argues that in order to understand the fall and recognize its profound impact on later Scripture and the world today, Christians must first understand Genesis 3. Chase identifies themes found in Genesis 3—temptation, shame, messianic hope, and more—and shows how they reverberate throughout the rest of the storyline of Scripture. Understanding Adam and Eve’s fall is crucial to understanding the world as it currently is and the need for redemption through Jesus.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Raising Confident Kids in a Confusing World: A Parent’s Guide to Grounding Identity in Christ by Ed Drew. “As our children grow up, they hear many conflicting messages about who they are. They are told that they can define themselves by their achievements or popularity, or by how they feel, and that sexuality, morality and gender are just questions of personal choice. Too often, Christian parents feel nervous and intimidated about engaging with their children on the subjects of bodies, gender, sexuality and their sense of self. This warm and realistic book helps parents to show their children that the Bible has better answers than our culture on these topics, which are neither surprising nor confusing to our creator God. Full of biblical truth, practical wisdom and discussion questions, this book will inspire and equip parents to help their children find their identity in being made and loved by Jesus. An identity based on God’s love will help Children to have both a positive and a realistic view of themselves, and it will give them confidence to live by faith in a secular world.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age by Joseph Minich. “Millions of people in the West identify as atheists. Christians often respond to this reality with proofs of God’s existence, as though rational arguments for atheism were the root cause of unbelief. In Bulwarks of Unbelief, Joseph Minich argues that a felt absence of God, as experienced by the modern individual, offers a better explanation for the rise in atheism. Recent technological and cultural shifts in the modern West have produced a perceived challenge to God’s existence. As modern technoculture reshapes our awareness of reality and belief in the invisible, it in turn amplifies God’s apparent silence. In this new context, atheism is a natural result. And absent of meaning from without, we have turned within. Christians cannot escape this aspect of modern life. Minich argues that we must consciously and actively return to reality. If we reattune ourselves to God’s story, reintegrate the whole person, and reinhabit the world, faith can thrive in this age of unbelief.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)
Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel by Sinclair Ferguson. “While Jesus offers forgiveness for believers who sin, Scripture makes it clear that Christians are to pursue obedience and holiness. So what does it mean to walk in a manner that’s “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27), and how should that look in the life of a Christ follower? In this short, accessible guide, theologian Sinclair Ferguson explains the importance of living worthy of the gospel, why the principle is often forgotten, and how it’s cultivated. Clarifying the difference between biblical obedience and legalism, Ferguson exhorts believers to pursue Christlikeness, offering practical examples from Scripture. The second book of the Growing Gospel Integrity series, Worthy helps Christians, students, pastors, and those preparing for ministry to live as citizens of heaven rather than citizens of the world.” (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books)

This week the blog is sponsored by Church Social and is written by Jonathan Reinink.
I am currently serving as an elder in my church. In my church, elders and deacons serve three-year terms. Between meetings, pastoral visits, and being in tune with what’s happening both locally and in our denomination, there’s lots of work to do. Life is busy.
Sometimes it can even be a little overwhelming. And yet, God instructs elders in 1 Peter 5:2 to “willingly” and “eagerly” shepherd the flock. I find this a helpful reminder to be diligent and faithful in my work.
Professionally, I run a software platform for reformed churches called Church Social, and a key goal of the software is to help elders, deacons, and pastors in their roles. Church Social simplifies the administrative side of the office so that church leaders can better focus on the spiritual side of their work.
Let me walk you through some of the features in Church Social that specifically help church leaders.
Member Directory
Probably one of the most useful tools in Church Social for church leaders is the member directory. This lists all the families within your church, with photos, contact information, special dates like birthdays and anniversaries, and more.

I’m constantly going to this part of the app to grab a member’s phone number, or to get directions to their home when going on a visit, or even just to put a name to a face when a new member joins our congregation.
If you’d like to learn more about the member directory, see my previous article here on Challies.com which covers this feature in detail.
Shepherding Groups
My church organises the families in our congregation into shepherding groups, which we call wards (sometimes also called districts). Each elder and deacon is then assigned a shepherding group that they are responsible for. This is a practical way to ensure that each member in our flock is properly cared for.

Church Social has first-class support for shepherding groups, allowing you to easily see which group each family is assigned to, and which elders and deacons are responsible for that group. You can even send messages specifically to certain groups, and generate reports for these groups.
Member Insights
When you’re assigned the elder, deacon, or pastor role within Church Social, you’re given access to sensitive data within the software that isn’t visible to everyone.
For example, there is a report that lists dates pertaining to deceased family members. It highlights sensitive dates for members who have lost loved-ones, such as a previous spouse’s birthday, or the anniversary of their passing. There are also reports for identifying joyful occasions, like milestone birthdays and anniversaries.
Church Social also generates statistics and reports based on your data, including membership trends, demographics like your average member age, and a plotted map showing where your members live relative to your church, useful for strategic planning.
Visit Tracking
A brand new feature that I’m really excited about is our upcoming visit tracking feature for elders, deacons, and pastors. If all goes well we hope to launch the visit tracking feature this week.
This feature lets church leaders track past and future member visits within the software, helping ensure that all members are visited regularly. It also helps elders, deacons and pastors better coordinate their visits, avoiding situations where a family doesn’t receive a visit for a year and then receives multiple in the same week.

Previously there was no easy way, at least in my church, for us as church leaders to know when a particular family was last visited. But now, with Church Social’s new visit tracking feature, you can easily see all the visits made to a particular family. There’s even a report that lists the families who have gone the longest without a visit — highlighting potentially higher priority visits that should be made.
There is also the option to include notes when creating visits, making it easy to reference these in the future if needed. In my church we always write short visit reports whenever we go on visits, so this is a natural place to store them.
Church Social will also send an email reminder the day before your scheduled visit — just in case you forgot (not that you would!).
File Storage
Between meeting minutes and agendas, incoming and outgoing mail, church policies and guidelines, churches end up with a lot of files. The files section in Church Social makes storing and sharing these documents safe and easy.
You can create folders that all members can access (great for things like policies), and also create private folders that are only accessible to the elders, deacons and pastors. This is great as it creates a centralised location for these church files, meaning you don’t need to email files around anymore.
Schedules
Every Sunday one of our elders takes a turn being the “serving elder”. This basically just means he’s responsible for caring for our pastor that day, shaking his hand at the start and end of the services, and he also leads our council in prayer at the start and end of that day. Naturally, we have a schedule in place to keep track of who’s up next, which we manage in Church Social.
Schedules in Church Social are really nice as they aren’t just static lists. When you’re assigned to a particular task on a particular day, that task appears in your personalised church calendar, and you also get an email notification reminding you about that task.
We create schedules in Church Social for a lot of things — weekly greeters, ushers, nursery lists, etc. — and the reminder emails are really helpful.
Term Management
As previously mentioned, elders and deacons in my church serve three-year terms. To help keep track of these terms, Church Social has a term management feature that lets you specify who has served as elders, deacons, and pastors in your church, including their term length.

Probably the most useful part of this feature is the “Office-bearer terms” report. This report will list all your active and past terms, grouped by the year that the term ends. This is really helpful information when nominating new elders and deacons, as you can quickly see who is currently serving and who has served more recently.
Give it a try
If you’re a church leader struggling to stay organised, or wishing you had more insight into the members in your care, I highly recommend taking a closer look at Church Social.
Church Social has been a huge help for the elders, deacons and pastor in my particular church, and we receive similar feedback from customers all the time. For example:
“Church Social allows our elders and deacons to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time shepherding the flock.”
— Dr. William den Hollander, Professor of New Testament at the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary
“Thanks for all you do. I cannot tell you how much of a game changer Church Social has been for us. It’s been an AMAZING help.”
— Rev. Michael Dixon, Senior Pastor of the Christ Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina
“Church Social is a great resource for pastors. It makes tasks that were time consuming, extremely easy. Church Social helps pastors focus on caring for their congregation by providing easy access to current membership details.”
— Rev. John van Popta, Pastor emeritus of the Fellowship Church in Burlington, Ontario
To learn more about Church Social, or to sign up for a free trial, visit our website at churchsocial.com.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!