BOOKS & WRITING 1

I don’t think I could survive without books and writing. I am not by nature an academic type despite having four degrees, but there is something about having a printed book in your hands for reading pleasure.

Reading was something I took to from a young age and before they had Local Council libraries, I used to go to the privately owned Double U library every Saturday and loan a book from their collection. This created in me a love for reading.

One thing I treasured was the book prize I received each year for Sunday school attendance. Most of the time they were stories of the great missionary pioneers like Hudson Taylor or Adoniram Judson.

Still today I read books of saints who have achieved great things for God in challenging and difficult circumstances. An example would be Brother Andrew from Open Doors who I have met on several occasions.

Of late, I have spent two years studying the New Testament Church. I started exclusively with the Bible, recording its birth, its growth and its life. I then read over 40 books written from various perspectives on the subject to find out primarily what others had gleamed from scripture on the subject.

For me to read the book, all it needed was the word “church” in the title. In other words I wasn’t looking for books that followed a particular line.

Almost without exception, what I had learnt from the bible about the church, these writers concurred with my findings. Perhaps more accurately, because they wrote first, my findings concurred with theirs.

This was a valuable lesson to me that when you don’t let the traditions of men get in the way, it is amazing, but not surprising, how much God can speak to you from his word.