Lei Yu

Let Me Be a Woman By Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot, missionary and author who was widowed and later remarried, wrote Let Me Be a Woman to her daughter when she was about to be married. It focuses on God’s design and plan for men and women, as well as for marriage. That being a man or a woman is a calling, and that to run away from that calling is disobedience. The book addresses singleness but it mostly focuses on marriage. The desire to be married is right and good, but don’t let it take away from living joyfully in God. Singleness and marriage are both gifts. “Let not our longing slay the appetite of living.” On marriage some topics are: what to look for in a man, who is it that you are marrying, and how to make a marriage work.

The Mark of a Man By Elisabeth Elliot

The Mark of a Man by Elisabeth Elliot is a book she wrote to her college-aged nephew. She starts off by dealing with the cultural climate of feminism, and then setting a biblical foundation for the purpose of sexuality. The book writes from a Complementarian perspective. If you come to this book wanting a list of qualities of men this comes in about a third of the way into the book. Elisabeth deals with all kinds of problems relating to being a man and sexuality such as: singleness, what it means to be a man, marriage, being a husband, being a father, what to look for in a wife, what to do when you don’t understand her.

Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life By Jeff Vanderstelt

We all struggle with unbelief about what God has done for us in the Gospel. Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt is a book that seeks to help with this problem of unbelief in believers. This is a Christ and gospel centred book, that speaks against what the pharisees struggled with. Being religious but missing Christ. In this book you will learn ways to apply the Gospel truth to everyday life, how to counsel others by giving them Jesus, how to deal with sin, how to build a gospel centred community, how to share the gospel effectively with others. The book is filled with conversations and concrete examples of what the author is trying to teach, so you are not left with just theory. Though I personally felt some of the conversation to be corny and way too sterilized as if it was from a Christian movie. None the less, this is a very practical book that would require you to practice what is taught in this book to reap its benefits. Some insights that really stood out to me was the idea that the root of sins usually comes from unbelief about God’s character and His works. So by finding out what lies you’ve mistakenly believed in, and believing in the opposite Gospel truth can give you lasting change that is not just a performative behavioural change. I would recommend this book to any Christian seeking to live out the Gospel.

Know What You Believe By Paul E. Little

Paul E. Little did a great job covering many of the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. The book is well organized, and each chapter is substantial but also short enough to be read in about 20 minutes. It is written for new believers but would also be a great resource for anyone who is curious about what the Bible teaches concerning: the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, His death, man and sin, the Holy Spirit, salvation, angels, Satan and demons, the church, and the end times.

It handled common questions that new believers will have to face: How do we know that the Bible is reliable? How do faith and works relate to our salvation? How should we respond to the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate? What about man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty? How can Jesus have a dual nature, being both fully God and fully man? And what about questions concerning the end times? Most of these questions, I know, are on the minds of many new believers, and I believe they are very important for them to understand.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants a crash course in Christian beliefs.

The 3D Gospel: Ministry in Guilt, Shame, and Fear Cultures By Jayson Georges

While I had previous knowledge about the guilt-innocent and shame-honour cultures Jayson Georges’ book The 3D Gospel expanded my understanding by introducing me to fear-power cultures. The book explained how these dimensions of the gospel are just different sides of the same coin. That the one-size-fits-all approach of the west, is not effective. It gives insight on how to honour different cultures by giving us words and the language to express the gospel to these different cultures. It challenges me to think of the gospel in terms of these other dimensions, which in turn expanded my understanding of the gospel. This book is short and easy to read, so it is a good introduction to the idea of Guilt-Innocent, Shame-honour, and Fear-Power cultures. Those who wish to share the gospel in cross cultural contexts should give it a read.

Tactics By Gregory Koukl

Tactics by Gregory Koukl aims to give approachable methods for apologetic. The book makes apologetic and conversations about faith less intimidating. As opposed to other books on apologetic where arguments are the focus. This book focuses on how to ask good questions to give the other something to think about. It taught me that a simple clarifying question such as “How did you come to that conclusion?” can be so powerful. It taught me that successful apologetic isn’t about winning an argument, but to simply “put a stone in their shoes” and make the other really consider what they believe and what Christians believe. I wish I had read this when I was a first year in University because it would have made those early attempts on evangelism less daunting and much more fruitful. I believe anyone can benefit from this book. Especially for those who feel intimidated to engage in debates with non-believers.

7 Myths About Singleness By Sam Allberry

There is a high view of marriage, and a low view of singleness in the church. This book aims to bring balance to view singleness as a gift from God and that both are noble and good. It helps singles to get a better understanding of their singleness, the benefits and dangers of singleness. And that married life isn’t as rosy and “happy ever after” as many have thought. Furthermore, the married can also benefit from this book as single people and married couple benefit from how they can support each other as members in the body of Christ.

On Writing Well By William Zinsser

On Writing Well by William Zinsser teaches you how to write clearly, concisely, and simply. It also contains instructions on how to write for different genres. Zinsser used many examples to help make abstract concepts concrete. He also did a great job at helping people to get over their fear of writing. The book was a joy to read and everyone should read it because the world would be a better place if everyone could write clearly, concisely, and simply.

How to Read a Book By Mortimer Adler

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler is a classic. I would consider it the complementary book to On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Adler breaks down reading in ways that are easy to understand, and practical. For example, the Chapters on Inspectional Reading really gave me the freedom to decide whether a book is worth my time. Before I would have thought that all books need to be read thoroughly. But Adler taught me that not all books are created equal and not all books are the same for different people. I wish I had read this book earlier than I did and I believe that this book would bring value to anyone.

Evangelism And The Sovereignty of God By J. I. Packer

This book aims to answer the question “How do we reconcile God’s sovereignty, man’s responsibility and the Christian’s evangelistic duty?”. God’s sovereignty and the Christian’s responsibility in evangelism are an antinomy. They have an appearance of contradiction but both are true. Furthermore as C. H. Spurgeon has said they are actually friends. Christians have to hold both in equal weight to have faithful evangelism. To trust that God is sovereign in saving souls, and that to know that it is also their responsibility to evangelize. Originally published in 1961, this book is old but gold. I find this to be one of the best books on evangelism. Since it pushes beyond the initial question and really strives to make it a point on the importance of evangelism.

How to Be An Effective Bible Teacher By George M. Bowman

I expected How To Be An Effective Bible Teacher by George M. Bowman to only contain instruction on how to teach the bible. But the book went above and beyond. It gave a job description for the role of a bible teacher. An effective bible teacher is someone you become and not something you do. That it is an office within the church that needs to be highly regarded. I particularly like the emphasis that an effective bible teacher need to have practical bible knowledge. Biblical knowledge that one can apply to people’s day to day lives. To be able to help and counsel people with. There is also detailed instruction on how to prepare and lead a bible study. The book was publish in 1982, and I do feel like some of the cultural stuff should be updated because the culture did shift and we’re dealing with different issues. But the office of a bible teacher didn’t change much, and I found it still gives solid advice today.

Understanding the Bible By John Stott

Understanding the Bible by John Stott gives an excellent overview of the bible. It explains the purpose of Scripture, how we should read scripture, provide contexts for the different sections of the bible. Even covers the geography of Palestine, culture, and history surrounding the Scripture. Though I don’t know how to apply that knowledge. The book was written to the average Christian so is easy to read. It provides practical instructions for exegesis using laymen terms. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to start reading the bible. If one wishes to dive deeper on how to read the bible then I would recommend taking a look at How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee. This one reads more like a textbook. But covers how to read each genre of the scripture.

A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer By John Piper

Fast so that your desire for God becomes greater than food. John Piper did a great job presenting what is fasting, how not to fast, reasons for fasting, how to fast, and how fasting is different before Christ and after Christ. The ideas are presented topically and are supported with Scripture. It is a convicting book, “Do we earnestly seek God or do we just earnestly seek after things from God?”, this made me seriously consider fasting as a regular spiritual discipline. I believe that because Jesus expected his followers to fast (Matthew 6:16-18 “…when you fast…”), all Christians should know how to fast, and why they are fasting. So I would recommend this to any Christian who wants to learn about fasting. Or anyone who is curious about why Christians fast.