As a few of you already know, I use Audible almost exclusively for book reading. Based on that technical bit of information, one might say I didn’t read one book at all this year, but in fact, have listened to eight books being read to me. And yes, all six of these books I am recommending for you to dive into in 2025. They are listed below in no particular order. (Apologies to our American readers; the links below are to Amazon Canada):
1. Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God by Jamie Winship
This book is about managing fear. Winship does a fair bit of back and forth between modern-day, real-life encounters of conflict with biblical stories of the same. His goal is to have his readers face their personal fears by marching straight into the source of that fear. Using the backdrop of the biblical history of King David, the author points out that drawing near to God (abiding in Him) provides a person with a courage previously unseen.
For me, this book could have done a bit more about discerning the difference between bravely marching into a fearful situation for one’s ability to overcome that fear and just doing something stupid. But beyond this one small criticism, I totally appreciate a book that aggressively promotes the strategy of doing fearful things as a way of building up confidence and resiliency for the future.
2. The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves by Curt Thompson
I had no idea that there were two types of shame; one bad, the other good. According to author Curt Thompson, the good type of shame is very sudden and attention-grabbing, designed to snap somebody out of a destructive pattern of behaviour or a pervasive mindset. It lasts for a short period of time and changes the trajectory that a person was on. The bad type of shame is one that partners a lie-telling machine. You tell lies about someone behind their back, or you fight with them every chance you get. You try to quit drinking or watching porn but after a week you fall off the wagon. Once you realize what you’ve done, you become filled with a deep shame.
And that’s when the lies begin. You start to tell yourself that you’re not a good person or that things are never going to change. It is the clinical and psychological reasons behind why we tell ourselves these lies that Thompson presents to his readers. While the book does get quite technical and sometimes reads like a psychology white paper, the insights spiritually about how destructive long-term shame can be are powerful. As a pastor, I found this book hugely valuable in understanding what most of us go through when we become filled with shame over something in our lives. Thompson offers many practical ways to offload that shame, allowing someone to live empowered and healthy.
3. The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks
Over half of this book deals with understanding how people think differently about the world around them. The brain is divided into two halves, the left brain and the right. Most of us are familiar with the common stereotypes associated with right/left brain research. The left brain person is analytical, logical, calculating, ordered, and emotionally detached. The right brain person is improvisational, imaginative, creative, emotionally charged, and unconventional. And the part we often mess up is that we divide people into two camps as though a person is only one or the other. But Wilder and Hendricks turn that whole stereotype upside down by pointing out how God designed people with two brain lobes and within each of us is the capacity to operate as both a right brainer and a left brainer.
From there, the authors go on to argue that a church should not settle for the mindset that people are one or the other but that each person possesses the capacity to be whole or well-balanced. Church life becomes healthy, and congregations grow when the people who worship there are encouraged to exercise both their analytical and their creative minds as one human expression. Love it!
4. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
This is the year’s top pick for me. I can’t recall a time that a modern non-fiction book impacted me in such a full way. Haidt asks the question that most of us are quite aware of: why do so many younger adults and teenagers seem suddenly to be experiencing profound mental illness (depression, anxiety, eating disorders, online addictions, etc.)? Having done a great deal of research, Haidt points to two phenomena that are having lasting impact on the younger generation.
The first is what he calls safetyism. A phenomena that began in family households around the world in the 70s, Haidt claims that we turned the dial up on our fear of what might happen to our children if we continue to let them run free and unsupervised outside of the house. Playground equipment was replaced over a period of decades to reflect an unjustified fear of injury. Time spent at other kids’ houses dropped as parents began to doubt what might happen to their children in the presence of adults they’ve never met. Most significantly, unsupervised, risky play became less prevalent in the modern culture. Irrational fears about serious injury or violent abductions grew. As a result, we began to raise children who no longer had the skills to deal with the risks of being an adult because we protected them from that when they were young. So their adult fear is now at an all-time high.
Second, the one area in which safety was not turned up but was left unchecked for decades was in the online or digital world. Young girls became introduced to Instagram and Snapchat where they could have their images evaluated by millions of strangers around the world. Boys became introduced to the addictive world of online gaming, where they could check out of the real world by not only having fun playing games, but could do so in chat rooms conversing with strangers as they did. What this did was twofold: 1) effectively removed children as young as 11 out of the real world for prolonged periods of time and 2) replaced risky real-world playtime with a false reality playtime.
Then when they hit adulthood, this group found they had no ability to cope with the risks and demands of working a full-time job, living on their own, connecting with others well, etc. Haidt calls this the great rewiring of childhood which led to six major nations all around the world reporting mental health crises at a higher frequency than had ever been seen before. He then offers strategies at all levels of society (public, education, family) to reverse the trend.
I became so burdened for our young people after reading this book. I am praying daily for a right response, both as a concerned Christian and as the pastor of a church. Most important book in two years for me.
5. John for Everyone by N.T. Wright
I obtained this two-volume work to help me prepare sermons on the seven I AM statements in the gospel of John. What I was surprised to find was a softer, plainer writing than one usually expects from N.T. Wright. I am recommending it as an excellent accompaniment to anyone’s journey through the gospel of John. Wright provides almost devotional-style musings on short passages. The author’s style is one that aggressively points to the deity of Jesus and why that truth matters to all of us in both spiritual and practical ways. It should be required reading for every committed Christian.
6. Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
This is another non-Christian read I found, and when I saw the title, I was conflicted about whether to get it. Businessy self-help books often drive me nuts, and I sure didn’t want another “seven ways to a better you” kind of book. I am pleased to report that this was nothing of the sort. The question asked by the author is, “Why does it seem like certain people are able to accomplish so much and inspire others to do so?” His answer is that these people have developed the ability to communicate in a way that few ever do. He talks a lot about how one listens empathetically to others and how that fosters trust and connection in seemingly impossible, conflict-ridden situations. One illustration talks of a man who sat on a jury that had to reach judgment on a man accused of breaking the details of his parole by possessing a firearm. If guilty, the man (already a senior citizen) would spend the rest of his natural life in prison. The evidence was cut and dried; the man had broken his parole requirements. And the jury was heavily in favour of throwing the book at the man. But over a series of hours, one man managed to convince the entire jury to render a verdict of innocent. His methods in the jury room formed a major part of Duhigg’s book. I found this very helpful and relevant to my life as a pastor. The value of being an active and compassionate listener cannot be overstated.