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Publisher's Description

Meet 'the Bookless bunch', a very ordinary family who went green.

When God challenged him over his attitude to the environment, Dave Bookless did a total rethink. This led to major changes, not only in his family's lifestyle but also eventually in his career: full-time involvement in the global A Rocha movement that aims to care for God's fragile world.

But in one sense this book isn't about going green at all. It's a personal account of a life lived in relationship. It's about roots and belonging, suffering and healing, identity and meaning, faith and doubt. It's about how in God's economy nothing need be wasted.

This is a story about the messiness that each human being wades through in every area of their lives, and about a God who can take all that seems most wasteful and useless, and recycle it into something of infinite worth.

Commendations

'This story, both of A Rocha UK and of the 'Bookless Bunch', is wonderfully and movingly told. It brought tears to my eyes and inspired me in my desire to love God and look after all that he has made. Dave has been one of the pioneers in calling the Church to pick up its mandate to take care of God's world and it has been my privilege to work with him and learn from him. I have no hesitation in encouraging you to read this book - you won't regret it!' - Ruth Valerio, author of 'L is for lifestyle'

Bibliographic Details

ISBN: 9781844744732
Format: Paperback
Extent: 160 pages
Publication Date: 16/07/2010
Published by: IVP

Extract

Contents

Acknowledgments and dedication

Foreword

1. A load of rubbish: Scilly story

2. Roots and rootlessness

3. Teaching and learning in Bradford and Devon

4. Cracking up

5. Riding the roller coaster

6. Urban dreams: The birth of A Rocha UK

7. The vision unfolds

8. The miracle of Minet

9. A team and a centre

10. The vision expands: A Rocha beyond Southall

11. Lessons in lifestyle

12. Coming home

Afterword: Unfinished

God Doesn’t Do Waste is a fascinating title that resonated with me when I saw it, since I had recently received a beautiful pair of earrings made from recycled plastic bags found on a rubbish dump in one of the poorest areas of Peru, crafted by women living there. It was an illustration that God can make something beautiful out of what we call rubbish!

I knew nothing of the content of this book, but, as I read the first few chapters, I became excited as God’s plan for Dave Bookless’s life emerged.

Through a long sequence of events, including very difficult personal circumstances, Dave persisted in seeking God’s way forward towards realizing his dream. He relates his journey from a distinct concern for the environment to the founding of A Rocha UK, a Christian nature conservation organization. He describes his involvement with A Rocha as a defining moment which brought together many of the threads of his life that had become important to him.

This book is challenging on many levels. It is easy to focus on successes, but while Dave is grateful to God for them, he is also honest about his struggles, the many family health issues, and the necessity of ‘hanging in there’ when prayers are not answered in the way he would have hoped. He and his wife Anne remain realistic in their understanding that

God works through pain and suffering, as well as through healing.

God Doesn’t Do Waste is eminently readable; it will raise the awareness of its readers that we can all do something to care for and preserve the beauty of God’s world.

Fiona Castle