Newsletter January 2018
Lego Cathedral
Though we are many, we are one body. We all know that, of course! On a recent visit to C
hester, we visited the cathedral. They are building a Lego model of the cathedral, one brick at a time! Visitors can buy a brick for £1: all proceeds are for restoration projects. Seeing the model growing reminded me that we are all one body, though we have different jobs to do. Some of the Lego bricks are tiny, and some won’t even be seen once the model is complete, but each have their place! It’s good to remember that we are all in the body of Christ together – all with different tasks to do, but each one of us essential. As we start a new year, I’d like to thank you all for all you have done to help get Christian books into the hands of young people all over the world. It’s a joint effort, and I couldn’t do it without you. 🙂
Trinity School in Sevenoaks
Thanks to supporter Trish for this photo! Wonderful to see our books in the Trinity School library (Sevenoaks). Could you offer books to give to a local school? They may be read many times by many young people ov
er several years. What a great way to sow seeds. Some might fall on the path, of course, some in thorns and some among weeds, but some may grow in good soil. It might take a bit of courage to ask, but don’t let your fear stop you!
P.S. A local primary school teacher is using A Pennyworth of Peppermints with her book club. 🙂
Book Party
If you have friends and family who love books, let me know if would you like to hold a book party. It takes a bit of organisation, but if you love having people round it’s definitely worth it for a bit of fun, to get books into kids’ hands and to earn yourself a bit of commission. 🙂 Please contact me for more details.
Where Do they Go?
Most of the time we have no idea what happens to our books after they leave us in a box or a jiffy bag. Who reads them? We just don’t know! Occasionally, however, we get some feedback to keep us encouraged.
Author Mary has given some books to a family to take back to Taiwan with them. I think that’s a first. When I first started Dernier Publishing, getting books to children abroad seemed like an impossible dream. It’s truly amazing to see what the Lord has done. Thank you so much for your help, for being here, for supporting, for buying books and for your encouragement.
Books are also shortly off to The Gambia and Tanzania, and even a few to China. Please pray for all these books – no, I don’t mean that, please pray for the readers of the books! Some will be adults, as in some countries there are few Christian books around and they are greatly valued. Who knows what the Lord will do? 🙂
Here’s something else totally unexpected: at a recent Torch Trust holiday for people with sight loss, a book group listened to I Want to Be an Airline Pilot on audio, and each person was given an additional copy of the book in the format that suited their needs best (Braille, large print or CD). We were told that:
“Although this was a book for youngsters even the adults got a lot out of it. They found that it brought back memories of when they were young and had dreams like the person [Shema] in the book. It got to the stage where some read the book 2 or 3 times and each time got something different out of it and said it was an enjoyable book.”
Thank you so much to all of you who pray for us – your prayers are making a difference in the most unexpected of places!
Audio, Kindle, Epubs, Print on Demand and Books in Greek
Please pray for all these time-consuming projects. All are on the way, but all are taking longer than anticipated. Prayers appreciated.
Lent Resource for Young People
Looking for a Lent Resource for your young people? Lent starts on Wednesday 14th February. Not long now! Revenge of the Flying Carpet is a great book to use as a Lent Resource for 10-14s-ish, as the subjects of justice, forgiveness, judgement and mercy are on our minds. There are thought-provoking Book Group Questions in the actual book, and more detailed questions online for leaders to us (with grateful thanks to Brenda Lord for her expert help).
Is this something you could do as a family? Read the book together, then discuss the questions? Or suggest it to your congregation? One of the most pressing needs is for church young people to be discipled. It’s so easy to let the time slip by in lots of busy projects, but passing your faith on to your children is something only you can do, and you only have a short time. Don’t delay, start today! You can order the book from our website, or from your local Christian bookshop.
New Book!
Finally, exciting news – we have a new book on the way, which will be released, God willing, in the late summer. It’s called A New Me and charts the progress of Jess, who finds Jesus following a series of events. Author Roy Jones lives in Kent, where the story is set. We will be bringing you more news bit by bit.
But for now I’ve said enough!
Apologies for being a bit late, but I hope you all have a very happy new year, full of hope, joy and peace.
Janet