WESTMONT, IL— Outreach magazine named four InterVarsity Press titles as Outreach Resources of the Year, with four additional books making the short list for the Also Recommended resource in its category.
Outreach received close to 170 submissions with release dates between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017. Those submissions were divided into twelve categories and panelists were selected for each category. Each panelist chose one Resource of the Year, with some providing Also Recommended selections.
Here are the IVP titles that were honored as part of the 15th Annual Outreach Resources of the Year:
Breaking the Huddle: How Your Community Can Grow Its Witness by Don Everts, Doug Schaupp, and Val Gordon was the Resource of the Year in the evangelism category. In their groundbreaking book I Once Was Lost, Everts and Schaupp identified five thresholds that individuals cross when they shift from being skeptics to followers. In Breaking the Huddle they and Gordon show how huddled communities can become witnessing communities and then conversion communities, where evangelistic growth becomes the new normal. The authors have studied the growth of congregations and what enhances and limits them. They have also gathered best practices for transformation.
The top resource in the culture category was Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life by Makoto Fujimura. Artist Makoto Fujimura issues a call to cultural stewardship in which we become generative and feed our culture’s soul with beauty, creativity, and generosity. It is a book for anyone who supports or has a passion for the arts.
It engages “creative catalysts” who understand how much the culture we all share affects human thriving today and shapes the generations to come.
The winners in the inspirational category were Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World by Mike Cosper and Vintage Saints and Sinners: 25 Christians Who Transformed My Faith by Karen Wright Marsh.
In Recapturing the Wonder Cosper helps readers discover disciplines that awaken the possibility of living again in an enchanted world. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “Mike Cosper, one of the keenest gospel Christian analysts of culture alive today, shows us in this book why our world has become so disenchanted and charts us back to the joy of awe.”
In Vintage Saints and Sinners Marsh journeys with the likes of Augustine, Brother Lawrence, and Saint Francis, as well as Amanda Berry Smith, Søren Kierkegaard, Dorothy Day, Howard Thurman, Flannery O’Connor, and many more. She reveals surprising lessons in everyday spirituality from these “saints”—folks who lived and breathed, and failed and followed God.
IVP titles chosen as Also Recommended Resources include:
Racial Reconciliation
Beyond Colorblind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Journey by Sarah Shin
“This is groundbreaking work: first, it highlights how a lack of ethnic identity is a barrier to being effective witnesses, and then it calls all people to ethnic identity, awareness, healing, and reconciliation through the gospel” (James Choung, author of True Story and Real Life).
Church
To Alter Your World: Partnering with God to Rebirth Our Communities by Michael Frost and Christiana Rice
“In an over-messaged world, To Alter Your World cuts through noise with compelling narrative that describes our invitation to participate in kingdom transformation as a midwifing process rather than an engineering one. In a world experiencing searing pain with ever-deepening fault lines of injustice and income inequality, Christiana and Michael call us to question our traditional starting points for mission. With the stakes so high, they urge us to tap into Christ’s imagination rather than summon our human determination” (John Hayes, author ofSubmerge and founder of innerCHANGE).
Leadership
An Unhurried Leader: The Lasting Fruit of Daily Influence by Alan Fadling
“In An Unhurried Leader, Alan Fadling points the way out of hurried leadership that kills the souls of leaders. He reveals leadership steeped in spiritual abundance and joy. This is not a how-to book. This book lays out a path to becoming a better sort of person, who is then naturally a better kind of leader” (Todd Hunter, Anglican bishop, author of Christianity Beyond Belief).
Theology
In Search of Ancient Roots: The Christian Past and the Evangelical Identity Crisis by Kenneth J. Stewart
“This remarkable book seeks to trace the deep roots and determine the DNA of evangelical Protestantism. Using his considerable and profound knowledge of a vast terrain, Dr. Ken Stewart digs deep to show that evangelicalism is firmly rooted in Scripture, the early church, and historical Christianity. His archaeology of doctrine and liturgy argues against the recent loss of confidence and self-identity of evangelical Protestants who may be tempted to seek more ‘stable’ pastures or to wander with historical amnesia into cul-de-sacs. Instead, evangelical Protestants are urged to share the confidence of their Protestant-era forebears who knew their ancient pedigree and stood on sturdy ground” (Robert M. Solomon, bishop emeritus, the Methodist Church in Singapore).
For a complete list of IVP award winners visit ivpress.com/award-winners.
Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life. For more information, visit ivpress.com.
Contact: Krista Clayton 630.734.4013 kclayton@ivpress.com
