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By William H. Willimon
Ordained ministry, says Willimon, is a present of God to the church--but that does not suggest that it is simple. continually a tough vocation, alterations in society and the church lately have made the ordained lifestyles the entire extra complicated and difficult. Is the pastor essentially a preacher, a qualified caregiver, an administrator? Given the decision of all Christians to be ministers to the realm, what's the specific ministry of the ordained? whilst does one's ministry tackle the nature of prophet, and while does it develop into that of priest? What are the exact moral duties and disciplines of the ordained? during this booklet, Willimon explores those and different primary questions about the vocation of ordained ministry.
He starts off with a dialogue of who pastors are, asking in regards to the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, after which strikes directly to what pastors do, the targeted roles the pastor needs to satisfy. The ebook additionally attracts on nice lecturers of the Christian culture to illustrate that, whereas a lot approximately Christian ministry has replaced, its center concerns--preaching the notice, the care of souls, the sacramental lifetime of congregations--remains an identical.
Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we're known as, now not a career that we elect. to reply to that decision is to open oneself to heartache and infrequently difficulty; but, given the one that calls, it's to make oneself on hand to deep and profound pleasure as well.
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Additional resources for Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry
Example text
His high point as a leader came when he stooped down and washed his own followers’ feet (John 13:12-20). Thus Hippolytus’s prayer ends in Christology, with reference to “Jesus Christ our Lord”, the one who is the model for all ministry. On the virtual eve of his death, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in the pulpit of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, his own congregation, and preached a sermon that was full of premonition of the impending end of his ministry. King was not standing before great multitudes on the Mall in Washington, or before a crowd of civil rights protestors in Mississippi.
As Paul taught, the gospel transcends our social, racial, and economic divisions (Gal. 3:27-29). 7. Ordination is an act of collegiality. In Hippolytus, the ministry of the church is also characterized by collegiality, that is, admission to a group of colleagues, the elders of the church who sit in council and decide on matters related to the governance of the congregation. With the agreement of all let the bishops lay hands on him and the presbytery stand by in silence. 31 Paul speaks about how he and Apollos, in their leadership at Corinth, complemented each other, with Paul planting the seed and Apollos nurturing the young plants of faith.
Jesus then contrasted the leadership of the Gentiles, who love to lord over people, with that of his followers. “The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. . I am among you as one who serves” (22:26-27). After a popular book by Robert K. 24 Although the image of pastor as “servant of the servants of God” has much to commend it, recent thought on the pastor as servant has received some severe criticism. 25 Theologian Edward C. Zaragoza has exposed the ways in which the servant leader model often masks a subtle temptation to have authority and power over others while at the same time publicly denying power and authority.