Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises and a Revolution of Hope
Brian McLaren 
Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007 

This book is available at the MRN Resource Centre on 08 8236 4243, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cost:  $24.95

The following review comes from Brian McLaren's website which includes interviews and other resources: http://www.brianmclaren.net 

Acclaimed author and Emergent church leader Brian McLaren states, "More and more Christian leaders are beginning to realize that for the millions of young adults who have recently dropped out of church, Christianity is a failed religion. Why? Because it has specialized in dealing with 'spiritual needs' to the exclusion of physical and social needs. It has focused on 'me' and 'my eternal destiny,' but it has failed to address the dominant societal and global realities of their lifetime: systemic injustice, poverty, and dysfunction."

McLaren asks, "Shouldn't a message purporting to be the best news in the world be doing better than this?" What he sets forth in this provocative, unsettling work is a "form of Christian faith that is holistic, integral, balanced, that offers good news for both the living and the dying, that speaks of God's grace at work both in this life and the life to come, both to individuals and to societies and the planet as a whole."

This book in many ways is a sequel to The Secret Message of Jesus, although people can begin with either book. It asks two essential questions: What are the world's top crises, and what do the life and message of Jesus say to those global crises? I spent a few years researching the global crisis literature and tried to synthesize the best thinking on the subject. I developed a metaphor to help people understand global crises - a machine with four moving parts, corresponding to the four critical crises that create so much human suffering. Meanwhile, I was studying the gospels in a concentrated way, seeking to understand how Jesus' original hearers would have heard and understood his message of the kingdom of God. The two pursuits enriched each other in ways that I will probably never fully be able to communicate. This book is by far my most ambitious project yet, and I can't imagine ever writing anything that is more important and urgent.
                  

Seven Ways to Change the World: Reviving Faith and Politics
Jim Wallis
Lion Hudson, 2008

This Review was written by Bruce Mullan, editor of Journey, a publication of the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church, and can be found on the website: http://www.journeyonline.com.au/showArticle.php?categoryId=5&articleId=1462

When you get former President Jimmy Carter to write the foreword of your new book you've got connections - and connections with all manner of politicians, church leaders and political activists is just the name-dropping aspect of Jim Wallis's significant new book.

I admit to a dislike of the "ten tips", "six secrets" and "eight opportunities" type of book, but in Seven Ways to Change the World Wallis effectively argues that politics has failed to solve the biggest issues of our time and identifies seven basic commitments for political involvement which are: inclusion and opportunity, stewardship and renewal, equality and diversity, life and dignity, family and community, non-violent realism, and integrity and accountability.

With a focus on what he calls "the common good", Wallis helps the reader rediscover the Christian calling to social and political action and offers inspiration and challenge to chart a new course and build the kind of movement that changes the world. He calls the reader to "no longer accept the unacceptable" and to always make the choice for hope.

If you are patient enough to wade through the endless examples of faithful and famous people Wallis names as friends, you will find Seven Ways to Change the World an outstanding read.

In his foreword to the Australian edition Tim Costello describes Wallis' remarkable ability to bridge the gap between faith and politics.

Wallis has "walked the talk" (he's been arrested many times) and talks about a deep hunger he has encountered among people, especially the young, for serious public engagement with the issues that stir their deepest values and convictions.
Wallis believes we are at a tipping point of history and confidently claims "the era of the Religious Right it now past and it's up to all of us to create a new day."

Seven Ways to Change the World will help that to happen.
    
              

Doing Justice

Can we talk about Jesus and not tell of his commitment to those who are outcast or forgotten or pushed to the fringes? Doing Justice is a selection of stories about ordinary people in the Uniting Church who believe that our response to God's love for us in Christ requires doing justice. These stories of hope from everyday believers encourage us all to take seriously the Bible's teachings and ministry of Jesus.

Available from MediaCom - cost: $14.95
Phone: (08) 8371 1399, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
website: http://www.mediacom.org.au   

    

Rusty Loses His Loop
Josie & Matthew Wright-Simon
Illustrated by Robin Green
River Murray Urban Users Local Action Planning Committee, 2006

Available from the MRN Resource Centre

Price is $18.95.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the MurrayCare Foundation.

Book Review by Judyth Roberts.

This is a wonderful picture story-book for young children about the impact humans are having on the River Murray and the Coorong as told through the migratory bird Rusty, the red-necked stint.

Each year Rusty flies from Siberia to the Coorong. He relies on food sources which have become scarce through salination.

The Coorong has become too salty; plants are getting sick and the birds are getting hungry. Each year the situation is getting worse. More fresh water is needed for the Coorong to become healthy.

The book invites readers to become part of the solution. By saving water we may also save the Murray River system and Rusty. Rusty's plight will help children draw a link between how they use water and the effect this has on the environment.

The book has been published by the River Murray Urban Users Committee, a local community group which works to raise awareness in schools and the wider community of the River Murray.

Locally written and designed, the book also draws on the culture of the Ngarrindjeri people of the Coorong area.

A study resource has been produced by the River Murray Urban Users Committee for use by teachers, parents and care-givers, and this can be downloaded here:  Educational booklet (1.05 MB)

In addition, you can download a two page resource from KUCA News here:  Environmental Ideas KUCA News (771.72 kB)