National Estate Churches Network

Reading List

These books and others are listed in the NECN Directory, if you have a suggestion for another book to include, please get in touch.

If you buy a book using the links below, a small percentage will be donated to NECN.

You can choose something from our Christian Reading List, Secular Reading List or use the search to find other fiction/non-fiction books on Bookshop.org.

Anything you purchase from Bookshop.org or Hive.co.uk having arrived there via these links will support NECN financially even if itโ€™s something we havenโ€™t recommended. Thank you for supporting NECN in this way.

Search for a book on Bookshop.org

Christian Reading List


Finding the Treasure: Good News from the Estates

Al Barrett

Thanks to the generosity of both the editor, Al Barrett, and the publisher, SPCK, NECN will benefit financially from sales of this book



Being Interrupted: Reimagining the Church’s Mission from the Outside, In

Al Barrett & Ruth Harley


David Sheppard – Batting for the Poor: The authorized biography of the celebrated cricketer and bishop

Andrew Bradstock


Intelligent Church: A Journey Towards Christ-Centred Community

Steve Chalke


A Call to Act: Building A Poverty Busting Lifestyle

Martin Charlesworth & Natalie Williams


A Church for the Poor: Transforming the church to each the poor in Britain today

Martin Charlesworth & Natalie Williams


The Myth of the Undeserving Poor: A Christian response to poverty in Britain today

Martin Charlesworth & Natalie Williams


Everyday Church: Mission by Being Good Neighbours

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis


Good News to the Poor : The Gospel Through Social Involvement

Tim Chester


Unreached: Growing Churches In Working-Class And Deprived Areas

Tim Chester


Mission in Marginal Places: The Theory

Paul Cloke & Mike Pears


Mission in Marginal Places: The Praxis

Paul Cloke & Mike Pears


Mission in Marginal Places: The Stories

Paul Cloke & Mike Pears


Crossover City: Resources for Urban Mission and Transformation

Andrew Davey


Poverty: The Inclusive Church Resource

Susan Durber


Chav Christianity: Exploring What It Looks Like to Be a Working-Class Christian

Darren Edwards


Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread : From Argos to the altar – A priest’s story

Father Alex Frost


Jesus and Jellied Eels

Jesus and Jellied Eels: Making sense of my life

Laurie Green


Blessed are the Poor? : Urban Poverty and the Church

Laurie Green


Urban Ministry and the Kingdom of God

Laurie Green


Fruitfulness on the Frontline: Making a Difference Where You Are

Mark Greene


Here I Am: Joining God’s Adventurous Call to Love the World

Andy Hawthorne


Faith in the Poor: Britain’s poor reveal what it’s really like to be ‘socially excluded’

Bob Holman


Urban to the Core: Motives for Incarnational Mission

Juliet Kilpin


The Word on the Street

Rob Lacey


Not Forgotten: Walking with Jesus in the Wilderness

Chris Lane


Ordinary Miracles: Mess, meals, and meeting Jesus in unexpected places

Chris Lane


Ministering Cross-Culturally: A Model for Effective Personal Relationships

Sherwood G. Lingenfelter and Marvin K Mayers


12 Rules for Christian Activists: A Toolkit for Massive Change

Ellen Loudon


Church Unplugged: Remodelling Church Without Losing your Soul

David Male


Church in Hard Places

Mez McConnell & Mike McKinley


Beyond the Good Samaritan

Ann Morisy


12 Rules for Northern Soul: Football, Punk, Jesus

David O’Brien


Pilgrims and Priests: Christian Mission in a Post-Christian Society

Stefan Paas


Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

Neil Powell and John James


Reimagining Mission from Urban Places: Missional Pastoral Care

Anna Ruddick


Seeking a City with Foundations: Theology For An Urban World

David W. Smith


A Gathering Momentum: Stories of Christian unity transforming our towns and cities

Roger Sutton


Invisible Divides: Class, culture and barriers to belonging in the Church

Natalie Williams and Paul Brown


Secular Reading List


Skint Estate: Notes from the Poverty Line

Cash Carraway


Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class

Owen Jones


Estates: An Intimate History

Lynsey Hanley


Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns

Kerry Hudson


Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass

Darren McGarvey


The Fall and Rise of Social Housing: 100 Years on 20 Estates

Becky Tunstall