Reviews

Here are a few quotes from people like you who have already used
Christian Life &... resources.

"It is a great idea to have the rental scheme available to allow whole churches to study at the same time, we have found it very beneficial."

"We particularly like the format. I know that when I first looked at the Leaders Guide I was a bit dubious about whether I could present a session in the way suggested but in practice everything works out very well with some excellent discussions between sections. An added bonus was that the Guides resulted in four different presenters being prepared to lead sessions in our small group."

"Many of us found it easier to watch a DVD than focus on written material, especially those new to the 'churched' environment. I felt the DVD allowed the inclusion of every group member as the majority of our groups are into technology. "

"This is very good. Many Christians don't have the understanding or confidence to share their faith with non-believers which is where this six-part series may just prove invaluable. Fronted by Steve Gaukroger, and based on his book It Makes Sense, this resource for home groups includes contributions from Derek Tidball, Peter Riddell, Anna Robbins, Alister McGrath, Mark Greene and others.

Each section looks at a specific point such as "Why God Exists" and "Why Bad Things Happen" — the sort of issues people use as objections to Christianity. Difficult issues are discussed and the programme provides an outline for a home group meeting to follow.

This is a high quality production and Gaukroger is an interesting and animated presenter. The contributions from the 'experts' are excellent as well and the accompanying CD ROM provides the resources needed for participants. One of the best teaching/training resources for ordinary church members I've seen".

Clem Jackson

Editor of Christian Marketplace magazine

“The Bible has around 783,000 words, 66 books and this resource is three hours long. So it is the most ambitious in the Christian Life &... series, which provides resources for small groups study. But it does the job really well...
...Its genius is the fresh angles it gives to understanding what the Bible is, how to study it and allow it to change you. Writer and main presenter, Conrad Gempf’s enthusiasm and warmth will grab you and lead you gently through the excellent material. There are super insights from “the Experts” with a wonderful conversation on OT violence, and some of the creative Bible readings and bible talks are Brilliant - notably Jonah 1-3.
Although primary for church groups, this could be used to train your small group leaders and pre up your personal grasp of this extraordinary library of books. Great introduction for novices yet enough of a challenge for the mature believer to say “aha! I hadn’t realised that!”
Andy Peck deputy editor, “Christianity” magazine and co-author “unblocking the Bible Ominbus”.
(as reviewed in Christianity September 2006)

"I found it very informative and would recommend it as a valuable tool for small group or personal study."
Clem Jackson - Christian Marketplace Magazine

"I am responsible for co-ordinating 12 small groups within our congregation and always looking for resources that will be relevant and inspirational. One of our home-groups has just used the Resource for Small Groups titled, Christian Life & the Bible. It was so different and refreshing! We found it to be an engaging and relaxed presentation which stimulated lively discussion. The fact that it had academic people, who also sounded as if they lived on planet earth, was very helpful since you could not only identify with them but also have confidence in what they said. It was a new and stimulating look at scripture that was very well thought through. Well done thank you."

"Some of our house groups have not yet completed all of the sessions but everyone has been challenged by what they have seen and heard so far."

"Only yesterday my friend was talking about his frustrations at work and I was thinking it was a shame he hadn't done the course with us. I think it really encouraged the people in our group that God cares about and works through their 9-5 existence and not just what they do on a Sunday."

"May I say how much I appreciate the quality of this home group material."

"I am from an inner city church in Manchester and I just wanted to say how stimulating and helpful I have found using the Christian Life & Work course. We are currently using it in our homegroup and not only is it extremely user friendly and requires little preparation time (a real asset when you are busy!!), it has been theologically, personally and professionally stimulating (not much does that these days!!)"

"Thanks for your professional production - I am looking forward to doing the Today's World course in due time!"

"I thought I'll tell you how much my home group has been blessed by this series. People have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. We are wrapping up next week and everyone in the group wants to say "thank you" to you guys for making it."

"All of our groups found this to be a very relevant and helpful study series."

To read a PDF review from Christianity Magazine about Christian Life & Children Click Here.

"There are some great small group resources around nowadays and this is one of them."
David Jones - Christian Marketplace Magazine

"We'd wholeheartedly recommend this to all who want to see God's heart for mission at the heart of their church."

"We soon began to realise that this series was not going to leave us in our comfy chairs."

"As a church with a long-term commitment to Christian mission both here and abroad, there are times in our history when we return to God to see, firstly, if there is any sense in which we have lost out passion for mission, and, secondly, if we need help to be missionaries in the world as it is now. Recently the leadership of the church at prayer clearly heard the call to a deeper discipleship and, consequently, a deeper involvement in God’s world. God’s world around our church is rapidly changing into a meeting place of many nations and cultures. As a church we have a reputation for commitment to cross-cultural ministry abroad, now comes the call to be equally committed to and involved in cross-cultural mission on our doorstep. Alongside comes the encouragement to more fully engage with the work of our mission-partners who are operating across the world.
In the Autumn of 2005 our preaching started to search the mind of God in the scriptures about this. What I needed was an innovative study series for our 20+ Home-Discipleship Groups that earthed the preaching in our places of home and work. I had already been drawn to the imaginative Christian Life & series from London School of Theology - and was immediately drawn to Christian Life & Global Mission. Here was a 21st century resource involving drama, Biblical input from key scholars (including Elaine Storkey, Michael Green and Derek Tidball), interviews, comment from mission specialists such as George Verwer, Joe Kapolyo and Clive Calver, and ideas for discussion, Bible-study, prayer and action. As Mike Talbot, vicar here at Emmanuel, put it : “This is not an opportunity for theoretical discussion – people are challenged and transformed as a result of the course. Don’t just take my word for it!”

“The actors were very good and it provoked interesting responses… One of the most amazing scenes in the video was the Last Supper, which I’ve read many times, but what came over was the enormous love that was so evident from the father towards the Son, and Jesus’ enormous love for the Father. Jesus’ amazing love for his disciples, and theirs for Jesus, and that love in turn spreading to the whole world – and reaching me!”

“The whole series was excellent. The video sequences were extremely well presented and gave such positive messages about global mission. The material was easy to understand and relate to. Thank you to LST for the very professional presentation, and excellent acting in the small scenes. Very well done.”

The Bible-studies were well chosen and combined with the DVD clips meant that we could look at practical issues as well as study Jesus’ teachings. The CD Rom was also helpful in providing additional data, which was very informative. This resource has been very well put together and we would recommend it to other groups.”

“We were challenged by this series in so many ways. No one was left untouched by these studies. We realised that we thought mission work was for missionaries out there! The series changed our perspective on what mission was and is…We found that we had many barriers that were holding us back, and we could relate to what we saw and heard on the DVD i.e. we were so busy or so we thought, we had barriers such as ‘I cannot minister to a prostitute’, ‘I cannot befriend a Muslim or a Hindu’, ‘I am not called to the mission field’… the list was long but the Holy Spirit worked on each one of us and continues to work in us.”

“We all found the DVD and booklet very exciting and challenging. I think it is fair to say that it has changed our hearts and minds in a powerful way in regard to mission to all people, home and abroad.”

“It encouraged and challenged us because it was not only young people, but older people too, getting involved.”

“I have been challenged to be more of a witness to people I work with, not necessarily be outright preaching to them, but more about caring and trying to show by my life that I am different. Also, by being more willing to talk about my attending church and house group”.

“I have definitely been challenged at home group. I find I'm using opportunities open to me to witness more readily now. I have more confidence & boldness to do this”.