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Does God really care about the minute details of my life? Does it really matter whether or not I pray? Is God really interested in what goes on in a person’s life? Is he involved in anyway? These are the sort of questions explored by John Murray in his first book, If we only knew: Remarkable True Stories of God’s Intervention (Xulon Press, 2009).

Drawing from his personal life and from twenty years of ministry as Executive Director of Eurovangelism, a Christian ministry to eastern European countries of the former Soviet bloc, John Murray recounts numerous ways in which God does intervene in the lives of people.

Sharing anecdotes from both his personal life and ministry life, along with thought-provoking biblical reflection, John Murray devotes a chapter to each of the following eight questions: Does God care? Does God answer prayer? Does God heal? Does God guide? Does God provide? Does God comfort? Does God intervene?

What I particularly like about this book is its strong emphasis on the biblical doctrines of God’s providence and sovereign grace. John Murray shares truly sensational stories without being sensationalistic. He acknowledges that God does work miraculously, but not always. And when he does not intervene, Murray says God always provides ample grace to sustain us through difficult challenges.

This well-written book continually draws attention to our great and glorious God. These true accounts of God’s involvement in the lives of ordinary believers will bring a smile to your face and tears to your eyes. And regardless of the outcome, you will be compelled to praise God for his marvelous love and grace.

Each chapter concludes with a suggested Bible reading and a series of probing question for personal reflection or group discussion. John Murray has provided an excellent resource for Christians hungry to know that God does indeed care, and that he does intervene – sometimes miraculously.

For further information, or to order copies of the book visit the author’s website.

This article first appeared in ChristianWeek on December 1, 2009 (Vol. 23 No.18) 

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Not only is The Salvation Army Canada’s largest non-governmental direct provider of social services, it is arguably the world’s most trusted and respected charity. Be it a flood, hurricane or earthquake, or an ongoing need to help alleviate human suffering, it is hard to find a place of need in our world where the Salvation Army does not have a significant presence. 

Serving in 118 countries, speaking 175 languages, with more than 15,000 locations, and a force of officers and soldiers numbering close to 1.2 million, The Salvation Army is powerful example of holistic Christian ministry.

If you’ve wondered how this decidedly evangelical ministry has managed to grow so large and influential, you will want to get your copy of Christianity in Action: The International History of The Salvation Army by Henry Gariepy (Eerdmans, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-8028-4841-3). An adjunct faculty member at the Army’s Training College in London, Gariepy teaches Salvation Army history and Bible.

Gariepy, an author of 29 books and contributor to 50 others, has provided a “meticulously researched yet engaging” account of the Army’s humble beginnings and phenomenal growth into an international evangelical relief and development organization.

The Army’s founder, William Booth, himself reared in poverty, came to faith as a teenager through the preaching of an American holiness preacher. By age 17, Booth was preaching the gospel on the streets of England’s cities. However, before long, the Methodist circles in which Booth ministered grew uncomfortable with his revivalistic methods.

Matters came to a head in May, 1861, when the annual church conference voted to deny Booth the opportunity to engage in full-time evangelistic. William and Catherine, his wife, left that meeting vowing to continue their gospel work without the blessing of the Church.

As William and Catherine Booth embarked on their Abraham journey, they formed the East London Christian Revival Society. By 1867, the ministry had been renamed the Christian Mission. Readers will enjoy discovering how the movement was eventually to be known as The Salvation Army - it was the result of an off-the-cuff remark by a ministry worker commenting on the wording of a promotional pamphlet written by William Booth.

If Booth is remembered as the public voice of the work, Catharine is surely acknowledged the organizational master-mind. Her influence on the Army’s beginnings extended to the role of women - every aspect of the ministry was to be equally accessible to both women and men. In some ways, The Salvation Army is the forerunner of evangelical feminism.

In 27 chapters, Gariepy distils 144 years of compassionate gospel ministry. From the Army’s humble, holiness-centered revivalism to one of the world’s largest compassionate outreaches, the Army has become what may well be one of Christianity’s greatest stories of holistic Christian ministry - a humanitarian giant immersed in gospel truth.

As well as recording the great councils, chronicling the opening of new countries, and reflecting upon strategic advances and challenging set-backs, Gariepy provides fascinating glimpses into the front-line service of Army workers. For example, how many of us would know that The Salvation Army operated the world’s first 24/7 donut shop?

In August, 1917, following 36 days of rain, Salvation Army women served freshly prepared donuts to cold, hungry and battle-weary soldiers fighting in France. They improvised by using a wine bottle as a rolling pin and an old helmet as the frying pan. The gesture was so appreciated that other Salvation Army workers began doing the same in other battlefield locations. Very soon this became a 24-hour, daily service provided to soldiers on the front.

Gariepy’s one volume history concludes with a series of appendices outlining the doctrinal convicitons of the Army, the Soldier’s Covenant, the Founder’s song, and several statistical lists. Readers will be amazed at the many programs operated by The Salvation Army.

The book is well-written and a joy to read. It is a timely reminder that evangelical ministry can effectively meet the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of our world’s most vulnerable citizens. I highly recommend it.

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The author of this article received a review copy from the publisher.

Bent Hope: A Street Journal
Tim Huff
Castle Quay Books, 2008
ISBN: 1894860365
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Though names and locations have occasionally been changed to protect identities, the stories Tim Huff recounts in Bent Hope are

“snapshots of real times and places, bodies and faces … fragmented glimpses of fragmented lives, where hope is anything but shiny and bright. Unpolished. Crushed. Twisted. Bent hope.”

It was late evening when I first picked up this book. It was early morning when I finally put it down.

With more than twenty years of work among homeless people (mostly youth), Tim Huff is more than qualified to write this book. Though some occurred outside the city limits, and even across the Atlantic, most of the stories recounted here took place within Toronto - “a good city that unwittingly draws Canada’s largest pilgrimage of runaways, hideaways, castaways and throwaways, from small towns and large cities across the nation and even the United States.”

Too many of us find it highly inconvenient, an annoyance really, to be asked for “some change” when walking along a city street. And we have an amazing ability to look straight ahead when a disheveled man or woman stands at the traffic light with that tattered and faded sign seeking help from a compassionate motorist. We keep reminding ourselves that they are merely scam artists preying upon us. And while some are undoubtedly trying to work the system, Huff reminds us that the vast majority are truly needy people.

The twenty-three stories recorded here will have you both weeping and laughing, filled with despair, yet finding glimpses of hope. Don’t look for a theological treatise on ministry among the poor; don’t search for tight doctrinal discourse. Indeed, conservative evangelicals (myself included) will wince more than once at the theological ambiguity occasionally peeking through.

What readers will find is a front row introduction to a hidden world, a parallel community that very few of us know much about. It is a world that, despite the abuse, contempt and neglect it regularly experiences, nevertheless contains many who still find reasons to hang on, to hope that things might yet be better.

I will never look at the homeless with the same eyes again.