Many books are written each year focusing on some of the topics that occupy our society and our emotional energy as Christians. Some book are written for pastors and teachers, some for parents and guardians and so on. However, few books are written to equip and encourage students / young adults in growing in their faith and enabling them to engage with ‘hot topics’ of their day. Christian Focus Publications steps in with their ‘Track:a A Student’s Guide to…‘ series which covers a whole host of different topics. Here I’d like to introduce six short books that will help your students think through topics like missions, social media, apologetics, worldview, womanhood, dating, marriage and sex. Each review will be very short, but enough to give you an idea of the idea and feel for the whole book.
A student’s guide to mission by Emilio Garofalo Neto
The world of missions is interesting, new books come out all the time with ‘new strategies’ or supposedly fresh ideas to reach more people with the good news of Jesus. Some of those books are good and helpful whilst others are more gimmicky and unhelpful. In this little Book Emilio Neto takes you straight to the Bible and helps you see that every christian is called to be part of missions for Jesus and what that looks like based on the Bible. No gimmicks, no softening of the gospel, no eloquent words, just sharing Jesus and the importance and privilege of that task. Well worth diving into this little book, it may just spark that evangelistic fire in you again.
A student’s guide to social media by Jason Thacker
You can’t really walk on the street for second without seeing something to do with social media, whether that’s a notification on your phone or people standing waiting in line at the shop mindlessly scrolling to pass the time, social media is all around us. The questions hat we need to wrestle with is how are we being shaped and changed by social media? In this book Jason Thacker helps you see how social media very easily shapes our view of God, ourselves and our world. You will be challenged by this book and think through some good applications about how to use social media well.
A student’s guide to apologetics by Stephen Nichols
Apologetics books can be a bit hit or a miss, they can be over academic or too simplistic, they can be engaging but not take you to the Bible, they can be giving you all the right answers, but asking all the wrong questions. In this book Stephen Nichols does a great job of being practical, engaging, to the point and thoroughly full of Jesus. This book is designed to help you feel able and confident to defend your faith and I think it’s a great introduction and starting point for the topic. It is short, so it won’t answer all of your questions or touch on every topic, but there’s a helping ‘other books on this topic’ at the back if you wish to dive deeper into the world of apologetics.
A student’s guide to worldview by Sharon James
Everyone has a worldview, everyone has a lens through which they view the world and asses what goes on in their life. In this short book Sharon James helps the reader see that the Christian worldview gives hope, answers questions concerning the identity, worth and dignity of every human being and helps to make sense of some of the inbuilt desires we have as human beings. in 10 short chapters James covers topics like dignity, joy, purpose, suffering, injustice, security, truth and more. This would be a good introduction to the topic of worldviews for a student.
A student’s guide to womanhood by Abigail Dodds
Over the last few years the idea of what a woman is has shifted in the world, with some people not being able to define what a woman is and the distinction between the sexes. In this great wee book, Abigail Dodds talks about God’s plan and vision for womanhood and how that picture is so much more glorious than that of the world. The only way to cut through the confusion that the world has concerning womanhood is to look to God, the Creator of all things, and to understand His purpose and plan. Dodds takes the reader to the Bible to give them confidence in how to be confident in God’s design and how that can help them navigate their day to day.
A student’s guide to dating, marriage and sex by David Ayers
As you’d expect from the title, this book talks about the Bible’s teaches on sex and marriage and the beautiful gift that sex is to a couple who have become one before the Lord. Ayers, over eight chapters touches on topics like chastity, God’s plan for marriage, obstacles to the Biblical view of sex, dating, cohabitation and much more. One of the things that I like about this book is that emphasises the goodness of God’s design for sex and marriage. Ayers also does some good, and gentle, critiquing of the current cultural climate which is helpful and, I believe, be good for students to consider as they think about the world’s approach to dating, sex and marriage.
*** I received a copy of these books from the publisher in exchange for honest reviews. This does not change the way I rate the book. My views are my own. ***
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