"Renewal: The Church Expands Outward" by Luke Davis. A Review.

 I jokingly say that most modern American Christians think church history began with their grandmother. It's sad, but too often true. Luke H. Davis, a teacher of ethics and church history at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, is doing his part to rectify this in his "Risen Hope" series written for teenagers. The newest of newest installments is a 176-page paperback that addresses different streams of the Church's changes and movements after the Reformation, in "Renewal: The Church That Expands Outward".  This is a handy, easy-to-digest volume that walks readers through the years between 1600 and 1900, with fourteen attention-catching sketches.

The value of the work shows up in the short retellings of the lives of various people. For example, did you know there was an Eastern Orthodox patriarch who had strong Calvinist leanings? Did you know that Harry Hosier was the first Black man to preach to a congregation in America and the first Black pastor of an all-white church in the 18th Century? Did you know that Emilie Mallet was a dedicated Protestant in Paris who used her upper-class privileges to shelter children who lived in the Paris slums during the two cholera outbreaks of the 19th century? Oh, and there's more, much more! And peppered throughout the work are short "Fact Files" that fill in larger details about the Christian church during this period.

The stories are all historical people and events, but colored by imaginary dialogues that are true to the main characters and their situations. It's a delightful way to help teenagers - and adults - to get a taste for the value of knowing the historical journey the church has been on for some time. No, church history didn't begin with your grandmother, and this little work will help you to see that. I highly recommend the book.

My thanks to Christian Focus Publications and the author for thinking of me. They sent me the book, asking if I might review it, but they made no demands and gave me no diktats. Therefore, my review is freely made and freely passed along.