Home Church Book Studies: Four Books On Christian Living

For many home churches (or small groups), a book study can be a life-giving part of your rhythms together. It’s an opportunity to dig deeply into a topic and discuss it chapter by chapter. Most of these books can be completed over the course of 8 to 10 sessions, so it’s often a short commitment that can fit in seasons where you’re not studying a book of the Bible or a sermon series. It can be hard to find a book that is a good fit for your group, theologically rich, accessible for a wide variety of learning styles, and sparks good conversation - here are four tried-and-true picks to check out.

Journey To The Common Good - Walter Brueggemann

A decade ago, Walter Brueggemann called the church to journey together for the good of our community through neighborliness, covenanting, and reconstruction. He distilled this challenge to its most basic issues: Where is the church going? What is its role in contemporary society? What lessons does it have to offer a world enmeshed in turbulent times?

God In My Everything - Ken Shigematsu

Ken Shigematsu shows that spiritual formation is more than just solitude and contemplative reflections. Spiritual formation happens in the everyday, in each and every moment of life.  For those caught up in the busyness of work, family, and church, it often feels like time with God is just another thing on a crowded “to-do’ list. Ken explains how the time-tested spiritual practice of the “rule of life” can help bring busy people into a closer relationship with God. He shows how a personal rule of life can fit almost any vocation or life situation. In God in My Everything, you will discover how to create and practice a life-giving, sustainable rhythm in the midst of your demanding life. If you long for a deeper spirituality but often feel that the busyness of life makes a close relationship with God challenging―and, at times, seemingly impossible―this book is for you.

Liturgy of the Ordinary - Tish Harrison Warren

In the overlooked moments and routines of our day, we can become aware of God's presence in surprising ways. How do we embrace the sacred in the ordinary and the ordinary in the sacred? Framed around one typical day, this book explores life through the lens of liturgy—small practices and habits that form us. In each chapter, Tish Harrison Warren considers a common daily experience—making the bed, brushing her teeth, losing her keys. Drawing from the diversity of her life as a campus minister, Anglican priest, friend, wife, and mother, Warren opens up a practical theology of the everyday. Each activity is related to a spiritual practice as well as an aspect of our Sunday worship. There’s a group study guide and discussion questions in the back of the book.

Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.