Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us about Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength

by Kat Armas

“In this book, a Latina author tells stories of embodied faith that rekindled my love of Scripture. My picks for this list reflected a year that was a lot about listening and receiving from the margins for me. These voices profoundly ministered to my spirit by gently guiding me to see beauty in and through the ashes. may you find their voices to be healing balm, as well.”

Kids These Days

by Malcolm Harris

Staff: Alex Meeking, Interim Team Lead, Pioneer Camp Pacific

The Destiny

by J.D. Wilkin

This one is extra special because, not only did an IV staff love reading this book… an IV staff wrote this book! (As an aside, this may be the only novel on the list, but we are big fans of fiction.)

Reading While Black

by Esau McCaulley

“There are two key thematic elements running through Esau McCaulley’s book – a vivid journey of contending for hope through the practice of scripture reading within the African American church context, and a strong witness to the strength of these traditions and interpretations. One of the questions I’ve been asking a lot in ministry this past year is how to help students be aware of the ways in which Christian communities take on the ideological language, values, and forms of the right, center, and left of our secular society. McCaulley’s book, which is incredibly readable, gives a clear picture of how we can navigate this. McCaulley’s book also demonstrates why examining the history and traditions of a people is so important within multiethnic and multicultural communities.”

Hope in Times of Fear

by Timothy Keller

Staff: Dan Ingram, Executive Director, CSR Spruce Wood

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted
a Faith and Fractured a Nation

by Kristin Kobes Du Me

“I discovered this book on Twitter of all places. It is an American book that talks about American culture, but it was interesting to read and learn about some of the history of Evangelicalism and politics. For me, it helped give context in explaining how tied up Evangelicals are to a political party in America.”

My Vertical Neighbourhood

by Lynda MacGibbon

Another extra special, staff-written book, “Lynda’s foray into learning what it truly means to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ is everything you’d hope it to be. It’s exceptionally readable (I honestly laughed out loud, several times), theologically solid and informative (but not ‘Bible-thumpy’), practical, honest, relatable, and witty. Anyone wanting to cultivate genuine vision for God-honouring community with Christians and non-Christians alike – whether your neighbourhood is vertical or horizontal – should pick this up.

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