Working on your Resolutions - Part 2

In Part 1 of our New Year’s recommendations, we listed books to help you grow in Bible reading, prayer, evangelism, and rest in the coming year. In this post, we’ll cover more resolutions you might make—helping others grow, showing hospitality, improving your ministry skills, and discipling your family. 

For more book recommendations, browse our full New Year’s Resolutions collection.  

Help Others Grow

Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests by Melissa Kruger

We need one another. Yet we don’t always know how to develop relationships that help us grow in the Christian life. Spiritual mentoring offers a way for younger believers and more mature Christians to grow together through intentional discipleship and accountability. If you’re looking for a place to start, Melissa Kruger presents a guide for discipleship conversations that span a variety of topics for spiritual growth.

One to One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide for Every Christian by David Helm

Imagine if there was a way that people could grow in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ—a way that returned gospel growth to the everyday fabric of personal relationship, rather than relying on church-run programs. What is this activity that is so simple and so universal that it meets the discipleship needs of very different people at very different stages of discipleship, even non-Christians? We call it reading the Bible one-to-one. David Helm helps us understand why this matters and how we can all do it.

Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus by Mark Dever

What does it look like to help others become more like Christ? In this concise guide, pastor Mark Dever outlines the who, what, where, when, why and how of discipling—helping others follow Jesus. Following the pattern found in Scripture, this book explains how these relationships should function in the context of the local church, helping us cultivate a culture of discipling as an ordinary part of our everyday lives.

Show Hospitality

Extraordinary Hospitality (for Ordinary People): Seven Ways to Welcome Like Jesus by Carolyn Lacey

Generous hospitality is a significant way in which God works in our lives to bring life to others, yet many of us feel ill-equipped and overwhelmed at the prospect, especially if we don’t have big houses and we are not wonderful cooks! Carolyn Lacey encourages us to focus on the goal of hospitality, which is to reflect God’s welcoming heart, and shows us how we can all do that, regardless of our bank balance or living situation.

The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World by Rosaria Butterfield

With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives—helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.

Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow by Jamie Erickson

Author Jamie Erickson unites the popular Danish practice with the deep, theological truths of the gospel. She unpacks the seven tenets of hygge: hospitality, relationships, well-being, atmosphere, comfort, contentment, and rest. In addition, Erickson shows how the external veneer of a lifestyle can create a life-giving home only when placed under the hope of the gospel. Holy Hygge provides practical ideas for using hygge to gather people and introduce them to faith in Christ. 

Improve Your Ministry Skills

Leading Better Bible Studies: Essential Skills for Effective Small Groups by Karen and Rod Morris

If you want to learn how to help Christians grow through belonging to a Bible study, this is the book for you. Karen and Rod Morris combine adult education insights, sound biblical principles and lots of practical advice. They cover areas like preparing a Bible study, stages of group life, and teaching people to pray. For more help, check out Richard Sweatman’s resources Being a Small Group Leader and Writing a Small Group Study.

Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids by Jack Klumpenhower 

If we are not primarily teaching our kids about God's love for us in Christ, we may miss our opportunity to capture their hearts. But what does it look like to teach a gospel-centred lesson? Show Them Jesus is an instruction manual for teachers of kids and teens written by a lay Bible teacher with 30 years' experience. With a simple framework and lots of real-life examples, Klumpenhower's book helps teachers to identify and communicate the heart of the gospel to each child in each lesson.

Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today by David Helm

What makes for good preaching? In this accessible volume—written for preachers and preachers in training—pastor David Helm outlines what must be believed and accomplished to become a faithful expositor of God's Word. In addition to offering practical, step-by-step guidance for preachers, this short book will equip all of us to recognise good preaching when we hear it.

Disciple Your Family

Family Worship Bible Guide by Michael Barrett, Joel Beeke, Jerry Bilkes, & Paul Smalley

Leading and nurturing your family as you seek to glorify God and encourage spiritual growth in your home, is both God's command and your privilege. One of the best ways to do this is through intentional, daily family devotions where the truths of God's life-changing Word are openly discussed chapter by chapter. Hand in hand with your Bible, this Family Worship Bible Guide presents rich devotional thoughts on all 1,189 chapters in the Bible, including searching questions to promote conversation with your family.

Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments, and Milestones by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin

The most important, and the most difficult disciple a parent will make is within their own home. Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin help families develop a sustainable rhythm of gospel-centered discipleship through a guided framework focusing on moments of discipleship in 3 key areas: time, moments, and milestones. Each section provides parents with Scriptures to consider, questions to answer, structures to implement, and ideas to try out.

Dinner Table Devotions: 40 Days of Spiritual Nourishment for Your Family by Nancy Guthrie

Join popular author and Bible teacher Nancy Guthrie around the dinner table for good conversation and spiritual nourishment with your family. Over the course of the next forty days, your family will develop a deeper understanding of who God is, what he is like, and what he expects from all of us. Coming together around the dinner table, your family will embark on a journey of understanding why we need a Savior and what it means to place our faith solely in Jesus.