'A nice give away booklet' for carol services

SPECIAL DELIVERY
By Colin Webster
10 Publishing. 80 pages. £3.99
(£1 a pop for orders of 100 or more)
ISBN 978 1 915 705 310

Finding a fresh and readable Christmas giveaway book is something I looked out for every year when I was a local church pastor. Last month I mentioned one written by Andrew Wilson. This booklet by Colin Webster is another strong contender for distribution for Christmas 2024.

Talking to the author recently he mentioned three key things about this booklet.

1. It is built around a simple image of a parcel delivered to an unexpected place. Following the lead of Jesus, who always spoke in parables, this booklet seeks to grab people’s attention with vivid word pictures.
   
   The value in using a vivid image like parcel deliveries is that every time we see a van delivering parcels the image pops back into minds and connects with what we have read in the booklet.
2. It is written in a style that keeps in view those who have little or no Christian background. The booklet is written in accessible jargon-free language. The chapters are short, and the writing is fluent. There is a limit to what some people are likely to read; there is enough here to communicate the gospel, but not so much that a person might feel overloaded.
3. This is not one of those Christmas books that jump prematurely to Easter. Instead, it drills down into the Christmas story as recorded in Luke 2, lingering there to reflect on the ‘special delivery’, and what it can mean for us.

A nice little booklet to give away at Christmas events like Carol Services, toddler groups and coffee mornings. The folk at 10ofthose have also put together a helpful range of additional free resources linked to the book on their website; these include graphics for PowerPoint presentations for Christmas services, and evangelistic flyers.