Books for new-ish Christian

[christianmum123]

I was brought up very loosely COE but have only been a regular church goer for the past couple of years. I really like the church I go to but often feel completely out of my depth in terms of my knowledge of the bible and Christian teachings. I have been to bible study intermittently but don't really feel like I can ask questions as everyone else is just on a completely other level to me. Can anyone recommend any books (other than the bible obviously! 😀) for new-ish Christians? Or any online resources? I'm not really sure exactly what it is I'm after, but hoping someone on here may have some ideas...

I found
What is the Bible all about by Henrietta Mears helpful and readable for the lay person.

Thank you - I'll look that one up.

Welcome 😊I find GotQuestions.com helpful in the search for answers and also Life. Church, which has lots of useful resources as well as great sermons online.

If God Then What by Andrew Wilson is an excellent book that deals with lots of questions a new Christian might have, and explains what the Bible had to say about them.

Pete Greig - how to pray is very easy to read and very helpful in fact I’d recommend any of his books.

You could go on an alpha course? Lots of churches run them as online groups. Each session covers the basics of Christianity and also has lots of space for questions. Alpha.org

I love Pete Greigs books too - how to pray is great.
John Ortberg "the life you've always wanted" and "if you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat" are also good.
John Stott "Basic Christianity" is a book I reread a lot.

Just re-reading "The Fight" by John White. I first read it many years ago, and it really impacted me. It's an excellent book for new Christians.
I also recommend bible.org - there's lots of great material on there.

How are you with mobiles? I have several bible apps on my iPhone - there's lots on the App Store. Some are daily verses (a really good way to get a broad knowledge as they do jump about a bit!) and some are more structured reading. Great for on the go and ease 😊

If you're interested in how thinkers of the past have interpreted "how to be a Christian" and the debates between different traditions, then I'd recommend McGrath's "Christian Theology: an Introduction" along with the accompanying "The Christian Theology Reader." However, it's a very academic approach, which isn't everyone's cup of tea!

Tom Wright's new testament books are really helpful for bible study, he goes through the passage and discusses what is being said and what it means. There is a book for each book of the NT.
YouVersion is a good app, it has daily reading plans and many translations of the Bible which I find helpful - if I'm struggling to understand something, sometimes flicking to a different translation or paraphrase can help.

The Good Book company website has lots of really engaging books. Tim Chester is a good author. Vaughan Roberts 'Gids big picture ' is good. Out of the salt shaker was a classic.

Rowan Williams has a really good series of books - Being Human, Being Christian and Being Disciples, which are great. I also loved his book "Tokens of Trust".

I haven't yet read "How to Eat Bread - 21 Nourishing ways to read the Bible" by Miranda Threlfall-Holmes but I've heard good things about it.

I also really love the app "Pray as You Go" which is 15 minutes a day with a Bible passage, reflection and prayer.

Bible Study Tools is a great website which I've found very useful over the years.

The Bible in One Year app is fabulous and I've finally 'read' the bible all the way through thanks to it! Nicky Gumbel is lovely to listen to. x

Books by Nicky Gumbel are always easy to read and very helpful. His ‘Questions of Life’ is a good start

There's also the NIV Audio Bible in One Year read by David Suchet, which I found helpful - you can find it on Audible. Also the Christian Bookshop has loads of resources available and an online shop if you don't have a local.

I loved "Mere Christianity" by C.S Lewis and "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel -I can't even recommend them enough, they're both incredible books!

I would second that!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions - I'll look up all of them. I did actually read Mere Christianity a couple of years ago @DaisyJoy1 and really enjoyed that, so sounds like your other recommendation might be a good start.

@LightandMomentary I've tried BIOY a couple of times but always seem to get behind after a month or 2 and never seem to catch up. I do really want to make my way through all the bible but have decided to just read the books in whichever order I fancy (I've got app where I tick off the chapters which means I can keep track of my progress). That's probably not the best way of doing things but unfortunately I can't seem to make a daily bible study work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though - if you can stick with it it's a really great way of reading through the bible

@GoneAwolAgain that's a great idea about doing an alpha course - will look up to see if there are any online ones I could do

Agree with @DaisyJoy1's The Case for Christ recommendation. 'The Reason for God' by Tim Keller is another classic. 'Seven reasons to reconsider Christianity' is a good reminder of how solid and robust Christian thinking is.

As someone already recommended - the Good Book company have many brilliant books, simply written, engaging and faithful to the Bible.

If you listen to podcasts, Tim Keller's on Spotify are excellent.

Could you ask one of the people in your church to read the Bible with you? Could be helpful to read with a mature Christian, plus it's really lovely to discuss together!

I found BIOY easier to read on a kindle rather than the app. I read it every morning before getting out of bed which stopped me getting behind.

I recommend the Bible Project videos and podcasts.
The videos give an overview of books of the bible and various themes.
The podcasts go into more of the detail.
Really accessible, and about showing how the bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.