Having it all together is a myth. Thank God, His grace is real – and it’s time to take the pressure off… Every day we are bombarded with messages that tell us we have to be productive, powerful, perfect. And the Church is no exception. The Good News of Jesus says that we are saved by grace but for Monique Thomas the gravity of this message didn’t sink in until over six years after she first became a Christian. Throughout her time at Bible college, she soon learnt that much of what she had learnt from church culture simply added an extra layer of pressure to that already placed on her by society: do more, strive more, be more. This book is for every person who desperately needs to understand the real Gospel: God has grace for us in our mess, not just in the moments we get out of it.

Beautifully presented hardback edition - an ideal gift

Theologians and leaders from many Churches and from the major world religions, including the last four popes, have acknowledged as unique in Christian history the spiritual gifts poured forth through Chiara Lubich. Her spirituality of unity has the ultimate goal of contributing to the unity for which Jesus prayed to his Father: May they all be one (Jn 17:21). This volume gathers her essential writings and for the first time presents them in a systematic fashion. It is a summa of the charism of unity, which will lead readers to ponder, understand and experience a spirituality particularly suited to the era in which we live. The history of the Church has seen many radicalisms of love ... that of Francis of Assisi, of Ignatius of Loyola. There is also Chiaras radicalism ... which seeks to make this love victorious in every circumstance. Pope John Paul II

When you dig a bit below the surface, you are likely to discover that many of us who attend church regularly feel we have lost touch with a living experience of God. Indeed, we may find we no longer believe in God at all.

The reasons why faith breaks down are multi-layered and complex, and this sympathetic volume has been written for those who aren't satisfied with pious answers to real questions and disappointments.

John Pritchard draws deeply on his own experience of dark times in order to shed light on what we may be going through ourselves. He then offers starting points from which we might rediscover and re-imagine a more realistic faith in the God who, despite appearances, is ever present with us, whether apprehended or not.