Search results for: 'whole'
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 ...
- Laura Barry
- 12 Feb 2024
An Evening with Selina Stone at Waterstones, Birmingham
Join Waterstones for an insightful evening with Selina Stone, discussing her book Tarry Awhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2024. Wisdom from Black spirituality for people of ...
- Emma Collins
- 9 Dec 2019
How to start your devotional journey
If you're looking for a new devotional or looking to start your devotional journey we've chosen three devotional books to help you to pause and reflect throughout the year ...
- Emma Collins
- 13 Apr 2021
Remembering Answered Prayers
Why is it important to remember our answered prayers? How might remembering these prayers help us in a pandemic? Find out in this Q&A with Richard Gamble, author of ...
- Emma Collins
- 10 Jun 2021
What makes all-age worship so difficult?
In this adapted extract from Worship for Everyone, Nick and Becky Drake address the challenges of all-age worship, and suggest practical steps to help overcome ...
- authise authise
- 26 Mar 2019
Terry Waite on prison reform and rehabilitation - part 2
Terry Waite is an Anglican humanitarian and author. In the 1980s, he worked as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy, travelling to the Middle East and negotiating the release of hostages, when he himself was taken as a hostage. Since his release from captivity he has worked extensively with prisoners and is a supporter of SPCK’s ...
- Naomi Shakespeare
- 17 Aug 2018
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, ...
- authise authise
- 28 Aug 2019
Augustine’s Confessions, the story of his journey to adult Christian faith
On 28th August we celebrate the feast of St Augustine of Hippo. Saint Augustine of Hippo was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and philosopher from Numidia. Saint Augustine of Hippo is just one of twenty Christians that Rowan Williams reflects upon in his new book Luminaries. In this extract we learn about 'Augustine's Confessions' ...
Be present in your life
Many of us practice mindfulness in our daily lives – during our commute, before a stressful meeting, on our lunch breaks, and at the end of a busy day. It can help us to manage stress and anxiety.
There are many similarities between mindfulness and the beliefs held in Christian spirituality. Tim Stead wrote the book about how we can ...
Where do writers get their ideas?
In keeping with our #NaNoWriMo theme, we interviewed Sarah Meyrick, author of The Restless Wave, about her idea for her new novel.
How do you begin with an idea and turn it into a ...
- authise authise
- 1 Jul 2019
Converting to Orthodoxy
Martin Dudley was a prominent Anglican priest at St Bartholomew's in the heart of the City of London. In March 2018 he was received into the Orthodox Church. Martin's upcoming book Being Orthodox is an accessible guide for those who seek to become or live as Orthodox Christians. In this blog post you will find out when and why he made the move to ...
- Laura Barry
- 16 Jan 2023
Blue Monday Week: Save 10% on Mental Health Resources
Banish January Blues and save 10% this Blue Monday Week on inspirational and uplifting Mental Health Resources. ...
The SPCK January 2018 Releases
After a quiet but important December, SPCK is starting the New Year with a great roster of titles. With a brand new book from Paul Hattaway, a long-lost prayer book, and resources for the whole church family, we can't wait to see what you'll make of the SPCK January 2018 ...
Stories and salad bars: catching up with Paul Kerensa
Paul Kerensa is a busy comedian and author. We caught up with him about his plans for ...
- authise authise
- 1 Aug 2019
A Day of Hope: Empowering Teenage Girls and Youth Leaders
On 31st August we will be holding A Day of Hope: Empowering Teenage Girls and Youth Leaders. This event will empower and equip teenage girls to face all the challenges of life with faith in themselves and faith in God. With speakers including Meg Cannon, Jessie Faeber, Rachael Newham and more, this is an event not to be missed! Find out more in ...
I thought there would be cake too!
Tim Gough is the author of Rebooted, which looks to the Bible to reframe how youth ministry works for our generation. We gave him a copy of I Thought There Would Be Cake, our book club read for this month, and he had lots to ...
- Emma Collins
- 16 Jul 2020
'Not just a travelogue...' - Nick Owen reviews Utterly Brilliant! by Timmy Mallett
With lockdown measures gradually easing, there are many changes as to what we are now allowed to do. Changes to places where we can now visit are not the only changes that are occurring, our reading habits have also changed!
At the start of lockdown many readers’ preferences were either books that they could escape to or books that could ...
- Emma Collins
- 8 Nov 2021
Advent Books: Discussion and Readings
Join Church House Bookshop for an evening of discussion and readings with the authors of three new Advent ...
The story you need to tell
“Only a smile, only a word, only a kindness done.A brief exchange, a little light from one to one.”
- John McLeod, Appreciation Poems
As Too Soon, a mother’s journey through miscarriage, is published today, I wanted to share my motivation for writing the book and my hopes for it. When I endured the horror of four consecutive ...
5 light-hearted books to read this Christmas
How will you be spending the Christmas holidays? Many of us will be unwinding by spending time with family and friends. These lighthearted books are perfect for sharing with the whole family. Many of these books are also included in our Christmas promotion, helping you to save the ...
- authise authise
- 16 Jun 2018
My Day on the Shop Floor
16 – 23 June is Independent Bookshop Week – and we’re participating!
Over the course of this week, we’ll be sharing content about our favourite independent bookshops.
To start off the week, our Commercial Director Alexandra McDonald blogs about the one – one! – shift she worked in a bookshop.
...
- authise authise
- 5 Apr 2019
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 4 Dec 2019
New for December 2019
December sees the publication of a great selection of titles for Lent 2020. So if you've started your Lenten preparations early make sure to keep an eye out for these new books. Highlights include Saying Yes to Life: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020 and The Glory of the Cross by Cardinal Vincent ...
- Laura Barry
- 14 Jul 2025
5 Inspiring Books for Your Faith Journey
Explore 5 inspiring books to help you grow in faith, build spiritual habits, and navigate life’s big questions with ...
- Laura Barry
- 30 May 2022
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 ...
Use more than just words - take positive action
Words affect us in so many ways. They can hurt us, help us, and alter our perspective. Jessie Faerber writes about the next step beyond words: taking ...
- authise authise
- 20 Mar 2019
Give the gift of story this Mother's Day
As Mothering Sunday approaches, give Mum a story that will touch her heart in a way no other gift ...
- authise authise
- 8 Jun 2019
God is Great Collage - Children's Art Week 2019
To celebrate Children's Art Week 2019, we're sharing this great activity from The Prayer Experiment Notebook on creating a 'God is Great' collage. Tweet your child's finished collage to us at @SPCKPublishing for your chance to win a stack of our children's ...
SPCK's Top 5 Gifts for Leaders
Leaders in the church are an instrumental part of delivering the Word of God. SPCK has compiled a list of books with these church leaders in mind.We hope the books we’ve chosen are beneficial for their professional endeavours as well as their own personal ...
- Emma Collins
- 2 Jan 2020
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 4 Mar 2021
'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 ...
- Laura Barry
- 14 Apr 2022
Easter Reading For All The Family
Celebrate Easter this weekend with a selection of reflections, meditations, and Bible story books that the whole family can ...
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 ...
What Not To Say To People Who Have Depression
We all wish we could help our friends and family who are hurting. Sometimes, the things we say to try to comfort them can actually do more harm than good. Rachael Newham, author of Learning To Breathe, considers what we should and shouldn’t say when speaking to someone who has ...
- Emma Collins
- 19 Nov 2020
Gifts with Strings Attached
Receiving a generous gift is often much harder than giving. We can feel obligated or humbled, depending on who is doing the giving. It’s a real challenge to daily accept and believe God’s grace as the ultimate loving gift with no strings ...
- Emma Collins
- 1 Dec 2020
SPCK’s AGM – An Annual Gathering in Exceptional Times
On 19th November 2020, our AGM took place via Zoom. Find out more about the event in this blog ...
- authise authise
- 2 Feb 2021
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 Hero in God’s Eyes
We're into the #SPCKBookClub!
Mankind has reinvented its heroes of old slaying dragons into superheroes facing alien invasions. We often have our own versions of a hero we look up to. Maybe it’s your favourite celebrity or social activist. Maybe even your mum or dad. And as Christians, we often have Biblical heroes we admire like Queen ...
- authise authise
- 28 May 2019
World Hunger Day - We're Hungry Too
Sylvia Green chats about her book We’re Hungry Too, World Hunger Day and what you and your family can do to help through a fun ...
- Emma Collins
- 28 Oct 2019
Religion and GM Technology
In this extract from Has Science Killed God? Professor John Bryant discusses GM technology and the religious attitudes towards this ...
- Emma Collins
- 14 Feb 2020
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 ...
- Laura Barry
- 29 Jul 2025
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 ...
- Laura Barry
- 21 Jan 2022
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 ...
Behind the Scenes: Illustrating the Children’s New Living Translation Bible
Our Commissioning Editor Juliet Trickey and Editorial Intern Miriam Huggland are on the blog today discussing the illustrations in our new NLT Children’s Bible. How does an editor brief an ...
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 ...
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 ...
- authise authise
- 16 May 2019
Spanning the Decades: The Restless Wave
Sarah Meyrick's final post for our Spanning the Decades series is all about families and how to survive them. Order her new book, The Restless Wave, available ...
- authise authise
- 9 Sept 2019
Exploring Patterns of History - an extract from The Human Odyssey
The long human odyssey of self-discovery has reached a crucial stage: everything we do affects everyone and everything else - and we know it. In this extract from Stephen Green's new book The Human Odyssey he explores patterns of history and questions whether these patterns justify the narrative of a human journey - an odyssey which, for ...
- Emma Collins
- 8 Sept 2020
Our first response needs to be silence - a reflection from Fr Laurence Freeman
'The pandemic has reminded us of our inherent solidarity as a human family. It has also exposed the forces at work – like bad government, greedy money-makers and the obscene gulf between rich and poor - that demand correction or punishment'. Fr Laurence Freeman reflects on the effects of Covid-19. This reflection was originally ...
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, ...
Q&A with Janet Morley
Janet Morley, author of Haphazard by Starlight, is on our blog today chatting writing and Christmas ...
- authise authise
- 3 Apr 2019
Schools assemblies can be fun!
Do you remember your school assemblies? I do, and how I wish I would forget some of them! We had one teacher, who would insist on taking Monday morning assemblies. Sure, you might think that he should be applauded for stepping up and taking on the task that no one else wanted.
But you would be ...
- Emma Collins
- 14 Oct 2019
Why you should read this book... Q&A with Tricia Goyer, author of Twice Rescued Child
We catch up with Tricia Goyer, author of Twice Rescued Child. She tells us what inspired her to write the book and what we as readers can take away from the ...
- Laura Barry
- 21 Apr 2021
SPCK Group Press Release 21 April 2021
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the AFD Group today announce it has been agreed that SPCK will acquire from AFD the publishing business of Lion ...
- Emma Collins
- 25 Oct 2021
Saying Yes to Life: 2 Years On
Ahead of COP26, we're sharing the impact of Saying Yes to Life in helping people get involved with the climate crisis all around the ...
6 Questions for Stephen Cherry
Stephen Cherry chatted with us about his book Barefoot Ways and his plans for ...
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 ...
Believe in the power of prayer
Debra Green OBE is the National Director and Founder of Redeeming Our Communities (ROC), founded in 2004; a registered charity and Limited company. She is frequently asked to speak at events and conferences. She also speaks at conferences organised by statutory authorities and public services.
Debra has 25 years of experience in bringing ...
- authise authise
- 13 May 2019
Mindfulness, Spirituality & Mental Health Awareness Week
Tim Stead, former Vicar, mindfulness teacher and author of See, Love, Be – Mindfulness and the spiritual life writes for Mental Health Awareness ...
- Emma Collins
- 10 Jan 2020
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 18 Jun 2020
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 24 Nov 2020
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 23 Dec 2020
How to keep yourself busy this Christmas
If you're facing Christmas alone, or need some inspiration for keeping busy this Christmas we hope that this list of activities will help to put your mind at ...
- Emma Collins
- 14 Jan 2021
A Reminder by Sarah Bessey
You don’t have to be productive and you don’t have to change the world. You’re already so loved. You don’t have to be smart. You don’t have to be simple. You don’t have to read all the right books by the right people. You’re already so loved. An extract from A Rhythm of Prayer edited by Sarah ...
- Emma Collins
- 22 Jul 2021
Re-imagining how we worship
Now that we can gather together again, Nick and Becky Drake share their thoughts on returning to the church building and how we can re-imagine how we worship ...
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 ...
- Emma Collins
- 8 Apr 2020
SPCK Authors at Spring Harvest Home
From 13th to 17th April Spring Harvest will be delivered direct to your living room via a free online conference on YouTube. Many SPCK authors are taking part in Spring Harvest Home and you will be able to find out more about them in this blog post. You will also find here the latest edition of SPCK Today which is a special Spring Harvest edition. ...
- Emma Collins
- 6 Aug 2021
The New Rules of Social Media
When used correctly, social media can be a helpful tool for youth leaders. There is of course a dark side to social media. In this extract from Leadership 101, Tim Alford, National Director of Limitless provides 5 top tips for using social media ...
A Chat with Stephen Cottrell
1 August is Play Day, which encourages the value of play and imagination.
Our author Stephen Cottrell has always told stories to his children. Now, he has written a children’s story too. Read about the origins of his new book The Sleepy ...
- Emma Collins
- 9 Oct 2019
Black History Month and Extraordinary Saints
Black History Month allows us to take time to consider the individuals who have been relegated not just to the side-lines of history but forgotten through the ages. Sharon Prentis, Intercultural Mission Enabler and Dean of BAME Affairs for the Church of England in Birmingham tells us that whilst there has been a marked improvement in acknowledging ...
- Laura Barry
- 1 Nov 2022
Join SPCK author John-Paul Flintoff on an Online Pilgrimage
Join John-Paul Flintoff, author of Psalms for the City, on an online pilgrimage as he etches exquisite and quirky illustrations on to the streets of ...
- Laura Barry
- 2 Apr 2023
Celebrate International Children's Book Week
Celebrate International Children's Book Week with 20% OFF the Adventuring Girls series. ...
- Laura Barry
- 6 Mar 2026
What Is the True Mark of Christian Discipleship?
Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, reflects on the Emmaus story and why sharing the good news of Jesus lies at the heart of authentic Christian ...
- authise authise
- 19 Mar 2019
Terry Waite on prison reform and rehabilitation - part 1
Terry Waite is an Anglican humanitarian and author. In the 1980s, he worked as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy, travelling to the Middle East and negotiating the release of hostages, when he himself was taken as a hostage. Since his release from captivity he has worked extensively with prisoners and is a supporter of SPCK’s ...
- authise authise
- 7 Jun 2019
Q&A with Debbie Flood
SPCK’s Partnerships Director, Primavera Quantrill, spoke to Olympic Rower Debbie ...
A chat with Sharon Moughtin-Mumby of Diddy Disciples
We chatted with Sharon Moughtin-Mumby about the principles of Diddy Disciples, her programme for younger children that grounds them in faith and encourages curiosity, compassion for others, personal expression, and ...
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!, ...
- Emma Collins
- 3 Nov 2021
Jesus, the Earth, and Environmental Justice (an extract from Justice for Christ's Sake)
Twenty years before Greta Thunberg arrived on the scene, Bishop James Jones asked young people how worried they were about the future of the world. In an assembly of 250 young people, all of them raised their hand to show concern. In this extract from his memoir, Justice for Christ's Sake, James reflects on this time and how it led him explore what ...
- Laura Barry
- 23 Mar 2023
SPCK Authors at Spring Harvest 2023
Spring Harvest is back on April 10th to April 14th, and we're thrilled to be publishing Flipped, the official theme book, and The Beatitudes, the official workbook. To celebrate, we're offering 20% OFF books from all attending ...
- Laura Barry
- 15 May 2024
SPCK Authors Rowan Williams & John Lennox Speaking at The Hay Festival
SPCK Authors Rowan Williams and John Lennox will be speaking at The Hay Festival: How The Light Gets ...
- authise authise
- 12 Apr 2019
Very Brief Histories Event
The Very Brief History series is a collection of short, accessible introductions on histories, legacies, and movements that have shaped the world written by industry experts. Our event on Saturday features four speakers uncovering the lives of Thomas More, Immanuel Kant, Byzantine Christianity, and Julian of Norwich.
...
- Laura Barry
- 12 May 2022
20% Off Mental Health Resources
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we've put together a selection of SPCK titles that encourage and support mental health, from inspirational biographies to insightful books on mindfulness and self-care. All 20% Off this ...
- Laura Barry
- 3 Nov 2025
Who Am I? Rediscovering Our True Identity This Advent
In Who Am I?, Bishop Nick Baines invites us this Advent to pause, reflect, and rediscover our true identity in Christ—the God who seeks us out with love, grace, and surprising ...
6 Questions for John Bowker
We chatted with John Bowker recently about his new book Religion Hurts, which publishes 18 ...
Prayer as a form of self-care
Gemma Simmonds, author of The Way of Ignatius, is on our blog for self care week, discussing how prayer is as essential to self-care as healthy eating, good sleep, regular exercise, and time with friends and ...
- Laura Barry
- 11 May 2023
SPCK Authors at Big Church Festival: Storytelling and Crafting Tent!
Join us and our amazing authors at our Storytelling Tent at Big Church Day Out on the 27th & 28th of May! Crafting space, chill out library and live readings from all your favourite children's authors, and ...
- Laura Barry
- 2 May 2023
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 ...
- authise authise
- 18 Jun 2018
From bookseller to sales rep - Julian Gittings interview
Continuing on with our participation in Independent Bookshop Week, we chatted with Julian Gittings about how his work as a bookseller prepared him to work as a sales ...
- Emma Collins
- 3 Mar 2020
Why the title 'Irrepressible'?
"These twelve principles mean a lot to me and have formed so much of my thinking over recent years. I hope they will give other people some practical handholds and a good dollop of hope". Cathy Madavan, speaker and author of Irrepressible: 12 principles for a courageous, resilient and fulfilling life tells us why she wrote the book, why ...
- Laura Barry
- 22 Apr 2024
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 ...
- Laura Barry
- 20 Jan 2026
SPCK Group to Lead Sales & Distribution for Baylor University Press
From July 2026, SPCK will represent Baylor University Press's academic and non-academic titles across Europe, South Africa, the Far East, Australasia, and ...








