Search results for: 'less of'

Cathy Madavan and Why Less Means More

Cathy Madavan, author of Irrepressible, has a new book out this month - Why Less Means More. Learn how you can leave fear and franticness behind and discover that less can really lead to more. Save £2 OFF this month with our coupon code. ...

Stories of the Saints: Inspiring Saints Every Child Should Know

Discover inspiring saint stories for children as Margaret McAllister shares the remarkable lives of Christian heroes featured in Stories of the ...

John Lennox Speaking on the Book of Daniel at Teach the Word 2025

Renowned Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox explores the compelling relevance of the Book of Daniel at Teach the Word 2025 in Oxford, in a family-friendly conference designed to inspire and ...

6 Ways to Help Families Who Are Less Fortunate

‘We’ve been so busy feeding everybody else that we’ve forgotten about ourselves!’ said Aunt Miranda. ‘I didn’t think of that,’ said Ellie.  Sylvia Green’s delightful and heart-warming picture book, We’re Hungry Too, helps adults and children alike to think about caring for creation, ...
  • 26 Sept 2018

The Wisdom of Dr Dawn Harper on Fitness Day

Dr Dawn Harper is on our blog for Fitness Day, sharing her wisdom about the benefits of regular exercise. We all have to find the fitness that works well with us and makes us feel motivated. When we find what we enjoy, we look forward to our ...

The Challenges of Urbanization

From one end of Eurasia to the other, societies are now either already highly urbanized or in the process of becoming so. In The Human Odyssey Stephen Green explores the challenges that are posed by this change. In the following blog post Stephen introduces us to his chapter on 'The forces unleashed by ...

Your Own Call Less Ordinary

What next after university? In this extract from Rich Wilson's A Call Less Ordinary he shares his experience of coming to the end of his time at university and how it was around this time that he became aware of God's ...

The Real Life of a Ministry Mum

Here's part two of our Q&A with Jules Middleton, a ministry mum whose upcoming book Breaking the Mould seeks to challenge the ‘shoulds’ and stereotypes that surround both roles. In this second part of our Q&A Jules tells us who inspires her and what advice she would give to parents with a call to ...

Breaking the Patriarchal Mould | The Story of Joanna

In her book Women in a Patriarchal World Elaine Storkey focuses on the stories of women who faced a range of challenges and life-changing decisions. In this extract from the book we learn about Joanna, a woman who broke tradition by spending little time at home on the duties prescribed for wives at the ...

Mental Health and Wellbeing during a Time of Uncertainty

In this time of uncertainty, it is even more important to pay attention to our mental health and wellbeing, checking our blind spots and being honest with ourselves and others. It is this honesty that make Rob Merchant’s Broken By Fear, Anchored In Hope such an important book for this season. Here, Rachael Bell and Simon Ponsonby ...

The Promise and Peril of AI: An interview with Stephen N. Williams

Delve into the fascinating and complex world of Artificial Intelligence with Stephen N. Williams, co-editor of The Robot Will See You Now. Learn about the potential benefits and ethical considerations associated with AI, and explore the ongoing debate on whether AI research is moving too fast. Don't miss our 20% OFF Discount Code! ...
  • 4 Oct 2018

The Benefits of SPCK Membership

Our Fundraising Assistant Catriona Brickel is on the blog today, chatting about our members' only event at The Tower of London that took place on 3 ...

Share Your Love of Reading this World Book Day!

Share your love of reading this World Book Day! With over half of children saying they don't enjoying reading, it's more important than ever to support children in learning how to love reading. We've compiled some of our bestselling children's books we know children and young readers will ...

Join Katie Piper for the Magical Launch of Your Greatest Gift – 19th August at Waterstones

Join Katie Piper OBE for the joyful launch of her new children’s book Your Greatest Gift on 19th August at Waterstones Trafalgar Square, an inspiring family event sponsored by NSPCC and ...
  • 16 Jul 2018

Why do books resonate with us?

‘Books aren’t luxuries. They’re lifelines.’ – Matt Haig When we read a book, we want to relate it to ourselves. We’d like it to resonate with us. When we’re shy, it’s nice to see a shy character in a story. If we like to make people laugh, we might enjoy characters who are more boisterous and ...

SPCK Authors at New Wine United 23 26-30 July

Join SPCK Authors Cathy Madavan, John McGinley, Malcolm MacDonald, Bishop Emma Ineson, and Paul Harcourt at New Wine United 23. ...

Guest Post: Lily-Jo's Blue Monday Tips for Talking to Children About Mental Health

Lily-Jo, a children’s mental health expert and author of Talking to Children About Mental Health, shares with us her top tips for helping you AND your child through the January ...

Coronation Sale: Enjoy 20% OFF the entire website!

Celebrate the Coronation of His Majesty The King Charles III this Saturday, the 6th of May, with 20% OFF our entire website until May ...

The Best Self-Help Books to Brighten Your January

Looking for best self-care books to support your mental health? Here, we round up our top ten books about mental health, anxiety, depression, stress, and personal growth. ...

SPCK Authors At St Andrews Literature Festival

St Andrews Bookshop will be hosting their first ever annual Christian literature festival! We're thrilled that several of our authors will be speaking at the ...

Guest Post: SPCK Author Natalie Collins

SPCK Author Natalie Collins writes about the importance of ending men's violence against women on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against ...

SPCK Group Celebrates 50 Years at Frankfurt Book Fair

SPCK Group celebrates 50 years at the Frankfurt Book Fair, honouring our enduring legacy of faith, innovation, and commitment to connecting readers ...

Why People Still Come to Church: Voices from Southern Africa

The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba shares reflections from Southern Africa on why people still come to church—highlighting worship, community, resilience and faith in the midst of ...
  • 19 Feb 2018

5 minutes with Kate Bowler

We stole 5 minutes of Kate Bowler's time to find out more about the story behind her new book Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've ...

Long Story Short: Why We're Living

Happiness. Safety. Significance. Three things society tells us we’re living for, but what do they all ...

The Search for Spirituality

Richard Rohr’s highly anticipated book, Just This, will be available in ...
  • 8 Oct 2018

Christian publishing – in Italy, Lebanon, Burkina Faso

SPCK Editor Tony Collins is on our blog discussing international publishing.  It’s all too easy to assume that the twin focal points of Christian publishing, America and Britain, define what is happening worldwide in Christian books. Look a little closer, and you would be amazed at the diversity, energy, and enthusiasm of publishers and ...
  • 19 Jun 2018

Independent Bookshops: more than just tea and cake

We spoke with Ali, Team Leader at Quench Christian Bookshop Wokingham, and Head of Retail for both the Wokingham and Maidenhead shops, about her experience with running a ...
  • 22 Jun 2018

Which story do you live for?

On Thursday 21 June, we published Long Story Short by Andy Frost. His book considers three narratives that we use to shape the trajectory of our lives. Do we live for our own happiness, our own personal safety, or recognition and success, the mark we leave on the world? We ran a poll on Twitter and asked our followers which ...
  • 13 Jul 2018

5 Questions For Elaine Storkey

Elaine Storkey, author of Scars Across Humanity, will present at this year’s Keswick Convention. We chatted to her about writing, books, ...
  • 30 Jul 2018

International Friendship Day - A Chat with Alexa Tewkesbury

Alexa is an author, editor and proofreader who has been writing extensively for children since 2002. Three picture books for SPCK Publishing, Noah and his Ark, Daniel in the Lions’ Den and Jonah and the Whale, were released in 2017. As well as children’s books, Alexa has also written the screenplays for the animation, It’s A Boy!, ...

Christianity and poetry – how they often go together

We are all familiar with poetry of some kind. Most likely even studied an anthology or two at school. Maybe you know a poem by heart. But how much do we really know about poetry in the Bible? Believe it or not, at least one third of the Christian Bible (and three quarters of the Hebrew Bible) is poetry. The majority of the Old Testament was ...
  • 10 Aug 2018

Living a Heroic Life

Summer is often the time we wish for throughout the year and, if especially if you have kids, can’t wait to get away for some rest and relaxation. How do you spend your summers? Do you use it to jet off to the beach? Maybe you spend time at home with family and a barbeque. Maybe you take your children on an adventure. Before the summer comes ...
  • 6 Sept 2018

National Read A Book Day

6 September is National Read A Book Day. Richard Harries, author of Haunted by Christ, blogs for us about the importance of reading and the effect that literature can have on our perspective, how we see ourselves and the ...
  • 15 Oct 2018

Work that we're called to do

Barbara Fox chats with us about the genesis of her new book Midwife of Borneo, in which she tells the story of the life and work of Wendy Grey ...
  • 26 Sept 2018

Catching up with Andrew Gant

Andrew Gant will be at Southwark Cathedral on 2 October in conversation with Professor Jane Glover. Here, he chats with us about his work as a composer. Is writing music similar to writing a ...
  • 4 Oct 2018

Catching up with Alexa Tewkesbury

Alexa Tewkesbury chats with us for #WorldAnimalDay about children’s books, her love of animals, and the things we can do to protect ...
  • 9 Oct 2018

Pink and Blue - Baby Loss Awareness Week 2018

Loss is painful, lonely, and can cause deeper grief than we ever imagine. Jane Clamp has worked tirelessly to open the conversation surrounding baby loss. It’s hard to talk about. That’s why it needs to be spoken ...
  • 31 Oct 2018

Tim Stead on mindfulness

Tim Stead is on our blog today, chatting about mindfulness practices. He’ll be in Oxford on 14 November in conversation with Michael Mosley. Book your ticket ...
  • 9 Nov 2018

Andrew Adam on the inspiration behind his new book

Andrew Adam, author of Thomas Cochrane and the Dragon Throne, chats with us about his inspiration for writing his new book, which publishes 15 ...
  • 20 Nov 2018

Alexa Tewkesbury's 3 wishes for all children

Alexa Tewkesbury has written several children’s books for us. It seems only fitting that she’d be on our blog for World Children’s Day, sharing her wishes for today’s ...
  • 5 Dec 2018

Volunteering activities for the whole family - #IVD2018

How can families volunteer together to help others who are less fortunate than themselves? Sylvia Green names some great suggestions on International Volunteers ...
  • 5 Dec 2018

Managing MS Naturally

Tessa Buckley grew up near Epsom race course in Surrey. As a child, she spent a lot of time writing and illustrating stories. After leaving school, she studied interior design at Chelsea College of Art and worked in architecture and design in London until 1989, when she was forced to give up her career after developing multiple sclerosis. That was ...
  • 13 Dec 2018

Connection and Compassion at Christmastime

The holidays can be particularly hard for people who are in recovery from addiction. Christopher Dines considers ways that we can help ourselves and others during the holiday season, especially when we look to prevent ...
  • 17 Dec 2018

6 Questions for Kenneth Stevens

We caught up with Kenneth Stevens, author of Winter Tales, about writing and his plans for ...
  • 18 Dec 2018

6 Questions for Stephen Cherry

Stephen Cherry chatted with us about his book Barefoot Ways and his plans for ...
  • 2 Jan 2019

Building resilience: boundaries not barriers

How can we become more resilient? Justine Allain Chapman considers the importance of establishing and maintaining healthy ...
  • 4 Jan 2019

Jonathan Sandys: The Man Who Could Call Churchill ‘Great-Grandpapa’

Jonathan Sandys, co-author of God and Churchill, passed away of chronic lung disease on 29 December 2018.  His co-author Wallace Henley had some very kind words to ...
  • 17 Jan 2019

Do love. Don't judge.

We ran a poll on Twitter asking what our readers wanted to see more of on our blog. The overwhelming majority asked for content based around our memoirs and biographies. Sean Stillman, author of God’s Biker, was the perfect person to ask to ...
  • 23 Jan 2019

Gemma Simmonds on things she'd tell her younger self

Gemma Simmonds is a religious sister of the Congregation of Jesus. She began her ministry teaching at secondary level in the UK and went on from there to missionary work among women and street children in Brazil. She trained in Christian spirituality at the Ignatian spirituality centre in Wernersville, USA and this led to work as a retreat giver ...
  • 12 Feb 2019

What is freedom?

What is freedom? Diffusion workshop at HMP North Sea Camp Did you know that SPCK provides free easy-to-read books to prison reading groups? Our Diffusion books are specially written to help prisoners who need to improve their reading confidence so that they are better able to find employment on release. We also work to change, attitudes, thinking ...
  • 13 Feb 2019

Struggling to find space? Follow Jesus into the desert.

The desert is a vast and beautiful. The colours of the sky and the sand and the piercing blue against the reds and the yellow, are intense. A few years ago, on an 8 days retreat in the Egyptian desert, three days of which were solitary and fasting, I was struck by the space and sheer beauty of the desert. It was a struggle to get away, with four ...

How can Christians make a difference?

Today, we're reflecting on an extract from Rowan Williams' Being Disciples: Essentials of the Christian life.  How can Christians make a difference and how can we work together for the 'common good' in society? ...

Prayer Experiment Activity

What do you think of when you think of prayer? For a lot of people, it brings up images of being told to sit still and close their eyes while someone else ‘says a prayer’; or of reciting words from a page. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, author of The Prayer Experiment series, teaches a fun prayer experiment to try with your ...

Who Cares About HIV?

For World Health Day, Who Cares About HIV? author, Paul Kybird, explains the new book, the challenges of those living with HIV, and their engagement with pastoral ...

News from the Independent Publishing Guild Awards

I am delighted to announce that we have been nominated for the Digital Publishing Award, and Specialist Consumer Publisher of the Year (having received this two years in a row)! Learn more about how our school assemblies website is helping teachers grab the attention and engage young people. Today, millions of young people are facing pressures ...

Spanning the Decades

Sarah Meyrick introduces our new blog series where she takes you through the decades of her new novel, The Restless Wave, as well as inspiring stories from her own family ...

Q&A with Simon Barrington

In celebration of World Voice Day, we caught up with Simon Barrington, co-author of Leading - The Millennial Way which is out this Thursday. Pre-order your copy ...

Leading - The Millennial Way

Enjoy an excerpt and photos of the book launch from Simon Barrington's and Rachel Luetchford's new book Leading - The Millennial Way! Get your copy ...

Natural Holy Places: Britain's Top 10

Nick Mayhew-Smith, author of The Naked Hermit, rounds up a five-year journey into the wild sacred spaces of Britain with a top 10 list of the most enchanting holy ...

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Debra Green, author of Mountain Moving Prayer, is the National Director and founder of ROC which aims to work alongside the church in ways that demonstrate the Christian faith-in-action. She chats about how encouring faith to live out in ...

Working with Richard Rohr

In his decades as a globally recognized teacher and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr has helped millions understand and engage with matters of faith and spirituality. Alison Barr, Commissioning Editor and Publisher at SPCK tells us what it's like working with such an internationally renowned ...

Evangelism across the Cultures

Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, BAME Mission and Ministry Enabler for the Diocese of Leicester writes about Evangelism across cultures in new book Anglican Evangelists. In this blog post will find an excerpt from this ...

World Population Day and Christian Demographics

Our Global Advocacy Manager Dr Angus Crichton reflects on the continuing expansion of humanity and the shift of worldwide ...

What can we learn from our animal friends? Meet Danny, the Irish Setter

All over the world, everywhere, humans and animals form great bonds that give them both another kind of gift of life. This is one of the reasons why Joan Chittister wrote the book, Two Dogs and a Parrot. For World Animal Day we're sharing an extract from the book where we meet Danny, the unruly Irish ...

How we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community

As we approach the end of Black History Month we're sharing an adapted extract from Ben Lindsay's book, We Need To Talk About Race. In this extract Ben explores the ways in which we can create an inclusive Church community effectively. He also discusses why inclusivity means much more than just having a diverse congregation, which, on its own, ...

Religion and GM Technology

In this extract from Has Science Killed God? Professor John Bryant discusses GM technology and the religious attitudes towards this ...

Hope unleashed from a firefighter

With news of the official report into the Grenfell Tower fire being released today Gaby Doherty, author of Grenfell Hope reflects on the courage shown by the firefighters as well as the criticism they faced for the policies they operated ...

Does Richard Dawkins even agree with himself?

In his latest book Outgrowing God, Richard Dawkins tries to show that all religious belief is intellectually nonsensical and thus highly damaging in practice. In this extract from Rupert Shortt's rebuttal, Outgrowing Dawkins, Rupert presents his argument for why he thinks Dawkins's focus has not always been on ...

New Year, New You

Happy New Year! It's the start of a new year and a new decade and many of us will looking at the year ahead with the motivation to become better versions of ourselves. Whether you want to make sure that this year you take more time out to reflect and meditate, or you want to grow your faith in 2020, let us help you on this journey with these ...

Taking Action to Save Water

Water is a key theme throughout Saying Yes to Life: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020. Whilst Ruth Valerio reflects on light and water in relation to the Days of Creation (Genesis 1), she also relates this back to the environmental, ethical and social concern that we face today with Climate Change. In this extract from the book ...

Is there such a thing as ‘women’s spirituality’?

Do women write differently from men? Is there such a thing as ‘women’s spirituality’? Liz Hoare asks these questions and more in her introduction to Twelve Great Spiritual Writers. In this short extract from the introduction Liz reflects on the history of women as writers and explains why she has chosen to write about these twelve ...

Keeping up-to-date with SPCK authors

In this blog post you will find a list of author-led online events, radio interviews, Facebook LIVE events, Twitter takeovers and much ...

Notes on Love by Lauren Windle - publishing July 2021

We're delighted to announce our latest acquisition, Notes on Love by journalist, speaker and recovering addict Lauren Windle. Perfect for fans of Dolly Alderton’s Everything I know About Love and Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail but who felt that they didn’t capture the nuances of what it means to date within church culture. Find out ...

Lesson 90: Be Nice

Tola Doll Fisher reflects on Ephesians 4.31, and how it can be used to remind us to not engage in behaviour that can negatively impact another's mental health. This extract from her book Still Standing is Lesson 90: Be ...

The Medical Clergyman

Who do you go to when you’ve got a fever or broken limb? Your local vicar probably wouldn’t be the first person you would think of. Before the year 1858, medicine could be practised by a wide variety of people. A scientifically minded clergyman was one of them. In this extract from Caves, Coprolites, and Catastrophes, historian Allan ...

First day back, so teacher training.

'First day back, so teacher training. Classes arrive tomorrow. A tedious day, but we could wear jeans, drink our coffee hot and go to the toilet when we chose'.  A familiar scene for many who work in education. In this extract from Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean? We learn what the first two days of term are like for ...

Lessons from Loss

Baby Loss Awareness Week takes place 9th - 15th October and is an opportunity for the bereaved to unite with others across the world to commemorate their babies’ lives. In this extract from Still Standing, Tola Doll Fisher reflects on the feelings she experienced after losing her daughter ...

Who doesn’t like making top-ten lists?

In this extract from We are Satellites by Martin Saunders, we learn how lists of favourite films, books, music or games all have one thing in common, and that is: the creative arts. With creative arts having the same common root of human creativity, where does that creativity come ...

Thoughtful Gifts for Her

If you’re unsure what to buy your wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, or daughter, then look no further as we suggest some gift ideas to help you find that perfect ...

Our Need for Renewal - Reflecting back on SPCK’s 2020 Annual Lecture

SPCK’s well-received AGM and annual lecture on 19 November gave us all, “much to ponder and act on.” as one attendee told us. The virtual event was hosted by broadcast journalist, Genelle Aldred in conversation with four esteemed SPCK authors who shared their understanding of ‘renewal’ and responded to questions from ...

Miss, What Does Unprecedented Mean?

The pandemic has doubled if not tripled the workload and the angst for teachers. Some colleagues I know are physically in the classroom, teaching surprisingly-large numbers of pupils while streaming those lessons live to pupils at home. Fran Hill, author of Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean? tells us what teaching in a pandemic ...

'A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change'

#ChoosetoChallenge is this year's theme for International Women's Day. With this mind, we are sharing an extract from Josephine Butler: A Very Brief History. Josephine challenged social attitudes to women and campaigned for women's rights. In this extract, author Jane Robinson tells us about Josephine's far-reaching influence, and how one of her ...

Q&A with Ruth Valerio & Paul Kerensa

We chat to Ruth Valerio and Paul Kerensa about their new book Planet Protectors: 52 Ways to Look After God's ...

SPCK Authors at United Breaks Out 2021

Find out which SPCK authors are taking part in United Breaks Out ...

Through the Year with SPCK Group

Explore our wide selection of inspirational and enlightening daily devotionals and 365 Children's Bibles to connect with God each ...

SPCK Authors at Wildfires

Wildfires is this week and we're thrilled that many of our talented SPCK authors are participating at events throughout the week. To celebrate we're offering 20% off books from authors speaking at ...

The Queen and SPCK

Over the past 70 years of her reign, Queen Elizabeth’s support for SPCK and its mission has remained steadfast, a continuation of the centuries of royal patronage we have enjoyed since our charity was founded by Thomas Bray in ...

Our charity has been promoting Christian knowledge for over 300 years – now Christians are in the minority

 As a charity who has spent the last 300 years promoting Christianity, we see in the rejection of nominal Christianity (people identifying themselves as Christian out of routine or family tradition, rather than necessarily practicing the faith), an opportunity born out of ...

CRT Awards 2023

Find out in this blog post which THREE our books have been shortlisted for the 2023 Christian Resources Together ...

SPCK Authors at Creation Fest!

Join SPCK Authors Sarah Yardley and Hope Virgo at Creation Fest on the 3rd to the 6th of ...

SPCK Author Tim Alford at Limitless

Join Tim Alford, author of Leadership 101, at Limitless Festival on August 5th - 6th! ...

SPCK January New Releases

Explore our fantastic six new titles out this ...

Explore Our February New Releases

Discover our amazing new releases this month! From the perfect baptism, christening and dedication gifts to our multimillion bestselling children's Bible - The Children's Bible in 365 Stories, there is sure to be something for every child this ...

Discover our March New Releases

Discover our new releases this March! From My Big Story Bible by bestselling author Tom Wright to Lauren Windle's insightful and entertaining Notes on Feminism, there's a book everyone can ...

Celebrate Earth Day With 7 Earth-Friendly Reads For Kids

Today is Earth Day! Celebrate Earth Day with your child or grandchild with 7 inspiring fiction and nonfiction books all about the Earth and the environment. These captivating books will inspire kids to make god's world a cleaner and more beautiful place to ...

17 Books We Can't Wait To Read This Summer!

Explore seventeen wonderful books that we can't wait to read this ...

Bible Sales Surge Among Gen Z: SPCK's Role In The Growing Demand

Gen Z is driving a surge in Bible sales, seeking meaning, mental well-being, and faith through Scripture like never ...

John Lennox: Apologetics and Christ’s Return

Renowned Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox will speak at the Cambridge Apologetics Conference 2025 on how Christ’s return and the renewal of creation shape Christian witness ...
  • 22 Jan 2019

Catching up with Michael Cassidy

Michael Cassidy, author of Footprints in the African Sand, blogs for us about his role in the dissolution of the ...

Social Imagination, African Politics and the African Theological Network Press

This World Book Day we're sharing another ATNP update from Dr Angus Crichton, SPCK's Global Advocacy Manager. The African Theological Network Press (ATNP) is one of SPCK's charitable programmes, an ecumenical venture, committed to serving the church in Africa and the ...

Love Means Love: Same-sex Relationships and the Bible

Last month saw the publication of Love Means Love by David Runcorn. Prior to publication we sent out review copies of the book to a number of individuals who we thought would be interested in reading it. In this blog post you will find a review from Emma, a supporter of the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England. She tells us what it ...