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


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


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

Darren Edwards


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


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