• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Hope-Filled Family

  • Adoption
    • Adoption process
    • Parenting an Adopted Child
    • Blended families
    • Explaining adoption to others
  • Faith
    • Discipleship for kids
    • Discipleship for parents
    • Books and resources
  • Family Life
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
    • Education
    • Home
  • Seasons
    • Christmas & Advent
    • Mothers’ Day
    • Easter & Lent
    • Fathers’ Day
    • Summer
    • Halloween
    • Birthdays
  • ABOUT ME
    • About Me
    • Contact
  • Shop
  • Basket

THE MINISTRY OF A MESSY HOUSE – REVIEW

January 26, 2015 16 Comments

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

I use affiliate links in some blog posts. If you click through and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to yourself. Thank you for your support.

My wonderful cousin Naomi, general fountain of knowledge when it comes to books, especially Christian ones, recently sent me a copy of ‘The Ministry of a Messy House’ by Amanda Robbie, after reading my blog How does God bless others through our mess?

The Ministry of a Messy House by Amanda Robbie. How do hospitality and mess go hand in hand? How can I be hospitable with a messy family? The Ministry of a Messy House by Amanda Robbie. How do hospitality and mess go hand in hand? How can I be hospitable with a messy family?

Well, blow my socks off if it didn’t just put me out of a job. Mrs R has all the hospitality know-all I’d love to have, and has helpfully published it in one easy-to-read paperback.

IMG_0168[1]
The ministry of a messy house (in a messy house)

A bit more about the book

On closer inspection, however, I discovered it wasn’t just a book about hospitality, although that’s a recurrent theme from start to finish, and there are plenty of tips and suggestions and perceptive theological links.

This is a book about ‘mess’ in all its forms: relationships, church, kids, food, homes. So, even if you have a spotless home and manage to stay on top of your kids’ toys, this book will teach, challenge and inspire. Its starting point is that we’re all ‘messy’, and what we have to offer is flawed and not always high-quality. But when we offer it to God through offering it to others, He does something special with it.

Now that is a very simplistic summary – but if I went into more detail, there’d be no point in buying it, right?

What I most appreciated was…

…the humour and reality of it all. Also the fact that the author is married to a vicar, like me. Her home-life bears so many similarities to ours, that I found this fascinating reading – especially given that they’re a few years ahead of us. It was encouraging to see how things had worked themselves out in their lives, and to be reminded of why we do what we do.

Here’s a pic of the book so you know what you’re looking for when you rush over to your favourite online bookseller directly after reading this review:

IMG_0170[1]

You’ll enjoy this book if…

…you want something comfortably easy-to-read, radically practical and Biblically truthful. There are pearls of wisdom scattered throughout, and I was certainly kept interested from start to finish.

Buy The Ministry of a Messy House right now!

(And you may also enjoy my 5 Fun Tidy-Up Ideas for Kids…not saying anything. Just leaving it there.)

Related posts:

12 Fabulously Varied Lent Devotions for Families
HOW TO MAKE ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL (AN IDIOT'S GUIDE)
12 CHRISTIAN HALLOWEEN PARTY IDEAS (WHICH DON'T CELEBRATE THE SCARY STUFF!)
SHOULD SINGLE CHRISTIANS ADOPT?
PARENTHOOD AND BIBLE READING: WHERE CAN I FIND THE TIME?
TWO FABULOUS CHRISTIAN ANIMAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
A REALLY INCREDIBLE FEAST - BOOK REVIEW
CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING NO FATHER?
Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Books and resources· Discipleship for parents· Faith· Home

The Hope Filled Family (thehopefilledfamily.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and all regional Amazon sites.

Previous Post: « FIVE WAYS TO BLESS YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER AT THE END OF TERM (IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES)
Next Post: I DON’T UNDERSTAND MY 3 YEAR OLD’S PLAY »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laura says

    January 27, 2015 at 5:59 am

    I need this book in my life!! Our secret is that I dread guests opening the cupboard in the spare room and being flattened by all the washing we’ve removed from the bed and stuffed in there.

    Reply
    • desertmum says

      January 27, 2015 at 7:47 am

      Hahaha! Love it! (And I might just steal the tip!)

      Reply
  2. David and Ang says

    January 27, 2015 at 7:19 am

    we use to put things in the spare room and shut the door when folk visited.
    Now it’s the nursery where folk want to look at we have a problem

    Reply
  3. jen says

    January 27, 2015 at 8:47 am

    The beauty of a downstairs loo is that no one has an excuse to go upstairs!!! I keep downstairs reasonably tidy/clean but upstairs is a dive!!

    Reply
  4. Kate says

    January 27, 2015 at 8:57 am

    This book sounds great. I’m also a vicars wife whose house is messy! My messy secret is: the reason we open our house up so much to other people is to try to make ourselves keep it tidier. All that actually happens is we do massive panicked tidy ups more frequently!

    Reply
  5. cookingfanatic says

    January 27, 2015 at 10:35 am

    I basically never open the curtains in our bedroom. Between getting up, putting baby down for naps, and going to bed there’s so little time!

    Reply
  6. sparklepetal says

    January 27, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    I’m definitely going to buy this book (if I don’t win it!) because I need some further reassurance on it being OK to let people into my less-than-spotless home.

    I am expecting double glazing companies to come and do quotes today and tomorrow so I’ve been trying to clear a path to the windows they will want to measure. I uncovered a really bad secret behind the blind which I permanently keep closed over a hard-to-reach tiny window. It’s thick with dust and disgusting yuck behind the blind!! I’m so glad I read this now to remind me to go back with a cloth and some powerful cleaning product before the salesman turns up 🙂

    Reply
  7. izzyinyork says

    January 27, 2015 at 6:52 pm

    Ooh me please! I have a purportedly very clever dishrack with a purportedly very clever drainage system. There is a removable spout that keeps water flowing into the sink, not onto the countertop. Now it does the job beautifully, but the channel that the water flows down to reach the spout is ALIVE with gunk and impossible to get into and clean. And I don’t care. X

    Reply
  8. Jenny says

    January 27, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    I didn’t dust our flat at all since my daughter was born,more than seven months ago (I finally did it last week!!) Jx

    Reply
  9. Andy B says

    January 29, 2015 at 7:29 am

    Hi Lucy,

    Well I guess I’m disqualified from entering the competition – cause I have no ‘messy secrets’? …..Everyone who has ever been to our house knows full well that we make absolutely no secret of our mess. It’s there in plain sight in every room for all to see!

    Oh well.

    Reply
  10. Angela says

    January 30, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    Collapsable crates are great. Clutter from the living room is swept into them and the crates shoved into our bedroom until everyone’s gone.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 5 UNCONVENTIONAL SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES OF A NEW PARENT says:
    May 18, 2020 at 11:32 am

    […] ready to read Actual Books, then I highly recommend Ordinary Mum, Extraordinary Mission and The Ministry of a Messy House. Both are readable, thought-provoking and relevant to family […]

    Reply
  2. 5 FUN CLEAN-UP ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS says:
    May 27, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    […] home is harder to keep tidy now than it was pre-kids. (The Ministry of a Messy House is a fabulously encouraging book for […]

    Reply
  3. 6 THINGS I GOT WRONG ABOUT DECLUTTERING says:
    May 27, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    […] enjoy this creative, busy, messy life – but I also (although my home doesn’t show it) like order and […]

    Reply
  4. 7 EASY STEPS TO MAKING A FAMILY MEAL PLAN says:
    May 29, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    […] And if your home or kitchen or lack of organisation is getting you down (it happens to us all), be encouraged by THE MINISTRY OF A MESSY HOUSE! […]

    Reply
  5. 10 FAITH-BASED NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR EXHAUSTED PARENTS says:
    June 2, 2020 at 10:35 pm

    […] See Parenthood and Hospitality and The Ministry of a Messy House. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Hope-Filled Family - UK Christian parenting and adoption blog by Lucy Rycroft
  • About
  • DISCLOSURE POLICY
  • COOKIE POLICY
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Terms and Conditions