Church book group awakens the ‘Sleeping Giant’

Do you love books? How about a book that would awake and deepen your spiritual life? Craiglockhart Parish Church is holding a book group to discuss Tommy MacNeil’s book ‘Sleeping Giant: A Call to the Church to Awake and Arise,’ following the author’s book tour in Edinburgh in late 2022. Being described as a challenging yet hope-filled read, the book is surely a good choice for a Christian book group at which people can share and encourage each other. The book, published in 2021, is the first publication of Stornoway minister Tommy MacNeil. MacNeil has been minister of Martin’s Memorial Church of Scotland, Stornoway for the last 15 years, during which spiritual renewal and revivals have broken out among both younger and older generations.

Martin Fair, minister of St Andrew’s Church in Arbroath and former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said in the foreword: ‘Tommy calls us to renewal and revival and reformation but all the time, reminds us that such movements are God’s doing. Even so, as pages are turned, we find ourselves inspired to join in … And beyond that, we’re inspired to pray - and to persevere in prayer and to recognize it as the priority.’

‘Sleeping Giant is nothing if not a challenge to the Church. But if in reading it, you don’t find yourself challenged - you’re missing the point, spectacularly so! We’re called to look out to our churches and communities but not before having looked in to our own hearts and having acknowledged our own need of revival.’

Without any difficult theological language, this is a book that combines biblical narrative, theological insight and much personal reflection, while being easy to read. In its pages, readers will discover a strong and urgent calling to wake up the powerful but ‘sleeping giant’ - the Church of Christ. Using Ezekiel’s vision of God restoring dry bones to life and transforming them into an army (Ezekiel 37), the author offers his readers ten helpful insights into personal and church revival. Interested to know more? Get the book, read and even join a book group yourself! May it be a clarion call, waking us up to arise and live out the word of God.

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

‘Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.’

For enquiry about Craiglockhart Church book group, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..