Summer Book Review
I have recently read two books that I want to share and encourage others to read. These books are very helpful in light of the events happening now in our nation over racial injustice and inequality.
Stronger Together, Weaker Apart, Powerful Prayers to Unite us in Love by Tony Evans
Tony Evans, founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, understands the unity in the Body of Christ is needed more than ever as we face increasing pressures that seek to bring divisions in our nation and in the Church. The devil loves more than anything to use his tool of divisiveness to defeat God’s children. Tony knows that we are in a spiritual battle and we need to use the full armor of God to resist the temptations to fight and break apart the unity Christ calls us to have.
Tony’s book gives in each chapter, with a different theme, a group of prayers based on the various pieces of armor that the Apostle Paul speaks about in his letter to the Ephesians. These prayers are a powerful means to deal with and overcome the many obstacles to enjoying the unity we are to have as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Woke Church, An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice by Eric Mason
Eric Mason, founder and pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, gives a passionate challenge to the Church to wake up and be involved in racial justice. He borrows the word woke and redeems it to mean how the Church is to be awake and involved in the issues of racial inequality. In this challenge he lays out in four parts how we need to (1) Be Aware of how big the Gospel is and how holy the Family of God needs to be, (2) Be Willing to Acknowledge how the Church has been asleep and did not work for racial justice, (3) Be Accountable in our prophetic voice and vision of making change, (4) Be Active in practical ways to influence society.
Eric has given an excellent overview of the theological, biblical, historical, and social issues that can help Christians to battle racism in our nation. He has provided an extremely helpful book that is filled with deep insight and extraordinarily wise ways to be involved in working for racial reconciliation and e qual justice.