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Get Connected with                                                         TOGETHER NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2021



 Ingram Content Group

                  The John Watkins Interview


 Ingram Content Group gives UK booksellers access to a catalogue of over 250,000 titles from leading UK, North American,
 and international Christian publishers. In recent years, we’ve added UK warehousing capabilities, allowing us to expand the   Five hidden things our culture
 range of content we supply to the Christian community even further.                                                  THE JOHN WATKINS INTERVIEW


 With supply chain challenges affecting the book trade worldwide, there’s never been a better time for booksellers to start   can’t stop talking about
 working with Ingram Content Group.
                              John Watkins speaks to Daniel Strange about his new book,
 The ability to order single titles has been a real help, and the quality of   Making Faith Magnetic.
 Ingram Lightning Source’s books is excellent.
 -Andrew Lacey, The GLO Bookshop, Motherwell
       On one level the basis of the book, the five   people is also a suppressed truth. We are all
       magnetic points, seems fairly complex.   worshippers. Sometimes this is more conscious
       Who is your target readership?    in our lives, sometime more unconscious and
       It’s not meant to be complex but rather a helpful   seen only in the fruit of our lives, the specific
       framework to support our understanding and   decisions we make, the patterns and ‘scripts’
       engagement with the world around us. We’re   we follow. Isaiah says that the one who creates
       often bewitched, bothered and bewildered by   and worships idols doesn’t stop to think (Isa.
 Speed &  Free   Convenient   our culture, so the magnetic points give us a set   44:19). Part of our witness is to get people to
                                         stop and think.
       of biblical lenses through which to make sense
 Sustainability  Shipping  Invoicing  of our world. My target readership is disciples of   In our evangelism should we be always
       Jesus who want to ‘keep themselves from idols’
 No more waiting for books to ship   Even better, we offer free   ipage®, ICG’s ordering platform for   (1 Jn. 5:21) and ‘give a reason for the hope they   thinking of these ‘magnetic points’ of
                                         contact? How do we do that?
 from distant locations. With ICG,   shipping* to booksellers in the UK   retailers is integrated with Batch,   have’ (1 Pet. 3:15) – I hope that’s all Christians!   The magnetic points I hope are a framework to   Daniel Strange
 you can source a wide range of   on any order quantity of all titles   making your invoicing process as   How far are the longings of our hearts   support how we connect and confront people
       conscious or sub-conscious?       with the claims of Christ. Using the points
 Christian content locally within   delivered from our UK facilities.  efficient & painless as possible.  Fallen human beings are messy! The Bible   gives us traction to link our friends’ lives with   People increasingly regard our faith as
                                                                            somewhere on a spectrum from irrelevant
 days of placing your order.   says we know God and don’t know Him at the   our own. Furthermore, I would suggest that   to evil. How do we get a hearing to tell
       same time. We are running to Him and away   we are not to think of our lives as a pie-charts   them of Jesus?
       from Him at the same time. We are idolaters   which compartmentalise into segments like
 *Titles eligible for free UK shipping are priced in Pounds Sterling on ICG’s ordering platform, ipage.   and deceive ourselves, but idols are fashioned   ‘evangelism’, ‘work’, ‘church’ etc. Rather, our   By showing people (in numerous ways) that we
       out of good things in creation so at the basis   lives are a flow diagram: we are followers of   all have a worldview, we all have commitments,
                                                                            we are all under authority of some kind in our
       of our idolatrous worship of other things and   Jesus, magnetised to Him and by Him, and   lives, we are all worshippers. The magnetic
                                         naturally this should lead to us being witnesses   points give us the traction we need to say that
                                         for Him in all our lives.
                                                                            Jesus is both the subversion and fulfilment of
                                         Do these points of contact work across all   human lives and cultures. He is the fount of
 Get in Touch:                           cultures or only in the ‘developed’ west?  living water rather than a cracked cistern who
                                                                            cannot hold water. It’s not easy and can take a
                                         As long as there are human beings, the points
                                         are there in some form. Yes, they come in a   lifetime of witness in relationships, but it’s part
 For bookseller enquiries,   For publisher enquiries,   variety of configurations, and are often buried,   of what it means to love our neighbour.
 please contact Mark Hunt at  please contact Laura Dolan at  but they are always there. Remember that    What is your prayer for this book?
                                         J. H. Bavinck’s (the originator of the points)
 mark.hunt@ingramcontent.com  laura.dolan@ingramcontent.com  original context was as a missionary in   That Christians in their local congregations
                                         Indonesia and so the points were applied    will come together and collaborate on how the
                                                                            points can be applied in their own lives and
                                         in a non-western setting.
                                                                            contexts. Let’s engage together and support one
                                         In your experience is there one main   another in our discipleship and witness. Let’s
                                         question/longing people have?      think about how we can not only critique culture
                                         At one level, I think the current cultural narrative   but build a new culture in our local contexts.
 Learn More with our Guide to            does revolve around questions of fulfilment,
                                         well-being and happiness, if people stop and   Daniel Strange is College Director at Oakhill
 Distribution (UK edition):              think about these things at all (see above).   Theological College in London where he

 ingramcontent.com/together-2021         However, beneath this I think there are the   lectures on Culture, Religion and Public
                                         ‘magnetic points’ I talk about in the book: a way   Theology. Dan is married to Elly and they have
                                         to connect, a way to live, a way out, a way to   seven children. He is an elder at East Finchley
                                         control and a way beyond. These are responded   Baptist Church and loves jazz music and West
       ISBN 9781784986506/The Good Book Company/  to in so many different ways, but our lives are   Ham football club.
       Daniel Strange/PB/160 pp/£8.99    attempts to answer them.
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