Claire Moorcroft, our librarian, highlights four new arrivals in the library.

What is new on the shelves at IBC?

Some of our students will go on to become pastors so this book gives some friendly advice that they may find helpful in the years ahead.

Help for the New Pastor by Charles Malcolm Wingard (2018)

Your first year of ministry brings brand-new challenges – often with inadequate preparation and little time to adjust. How do you moderate meetings, manage a church budget, counsel struggling congregants, all while preparing sermons every week? The new pastor’s time is also inundated with something else – advice! Too much of it! Where do you begin? What you need during your make-or-break first year is practical, realistic preparation for ministry. Drawing from more than three decades of his own experience, Pastor Wingard gives essential help for navigating the principal duties of the minister.

 

James McKeown joins us on a Thursday to teach Hebrew at IBC this semester. He has written an excellent commentary on Ruth.

Ruth by James McKeown (2015)

In this commentary James McKeown approaches the book of Ruth as part of the whole canon of Scripture, exploring not only the content of the book of itself but also its relationship to other biblical books. He shows in particular how Ruth overflows with allusions to Genesis. The themes of “blessing”, “seed” and “land” are common to both books, and studying Genesis and Ruth together provides profound insights into the providential working of God to fulfil the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In addition to his exegetical commentary on the text of Ruth, McKeown provides useful background material on how the book has been interpreted throughout history, including Jewish interpretation, and he focuses on Ruth’s theology and its application. His discussion also touches on such related topics as universalism, feminist studies, and the missiological significance of the book of Ruth. McKeown’s insightful commentary will enable students, pastors, and laypeople to better understand the ancient book of Ruth so that they can better apply its message and wisdom today.

 

Each year the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland runs a Pastors’ Conference in March and this year our speaker is Owen Strachan.

Reenchanting Humanity by Owen Strachan (2019)

Reenchanting Humanity is a work of systematic theology that focuses on the doctrine of humanity. Engaging the major anthropological questions of the age, like transgenderism, homosexuality, technology, and more, author Owen Strachan establishes a Christian anthropology rooted in Biblical truth, in stark contrast to the popular opinions of the modern age.

 

Although working with other churches can sometimes be difficult Neil Powell and John James encourage us to both pursue partnership in the gospel and offer practical pointers to achieve this.

Together for the City by Neil Powell and John James (2019)

We need a bigger vision for the city. It’s not enough to plant individual churches in isolation from each other. The spiritual need and opportunity of our cities is too big for any one church, network or denomination to meet alone. Pastors Neil Powell and John James contend that to truly transform a city, the gospel compels us to create localized, collaborative church planting movements. They share lessons learned and principles discovered from their experiences leading a successful citywide movement. The more willing we are to collaborate, the more effectively we will reach our communities – whatever their size – for Jesus.