52 Ways to Grow your Faith by Greg Peter Farah

• 52 Weeks to Grow your Faith
• 
  
• Print Length: 240 pages
• Publication Date: September 3, 2012

Book description: 52 Ways to Grow Your Faith will do what it says AND give you freedom. Your spiritual growth strategy does not have to be limited to reading and praying. Try growing spiritually while walking, driving or working out. 52 Ways to Grow Your Faith will jump-start a stalled faith, provide a road map for a new faith, and energize an active faith. Use this resource with friends in a weekly study group or on your own - but get ready to grow and connect with God in a busy, noisy world.

My thoughts: The book is just what the description says it is--quick and easy ways to grow your faith, especially for people who don't have much time for reading and praying. Or especially for people who may not like to read and/or aren't comfortable with spending a lot of time praying. Those traditional ways just don't work for everyone. 

Fortunately, there are other ways. Some of the more obvious ones include appreciating the beauty of this world, sharing your testimony with a friend (or a stranger) and listening to their story. He encourages serious involvement in small groups. 

There are also more methodical ways to grow, such as setting a time (and an alarm) to sit and just be with God, if for only five minutes. 

Mr. Farah also suggests ways to grow through the arts, such as listening to contemporary worship music, attending Christian concerts, and reading through an old church hymnal. 

(So many of the old hymns were deeply meaningful! But many of the new ones are, too.)

All in all, this book was breezy, light reading--maybe written for people who don't like to read (or don't have much time to). The suggestions are probably best for new Christians, youthful Christians, and too-busy Christians who need their faith rekindled. The right reader might love this book.  

But if you seriously want to grow your faith, deep calling to deep, you need to get serious about the spiritual disciplines. I suggest you try any or all of the following books:

1. Renovation of the Heart and its companion volume: Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice
2. A Year with God: Living out the Spiritual Disciplines
3. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us
4. Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life
5. Building Y0ur Spiritual Core: 101 Creative Ways to Connect with God 
6. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
7. Recapturing the Wonder by Mike Cosper

52 Ways to Grow your Faith was given to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.