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In Ordained Ministry in The United Methodist Church, author William B. Lawrence gives us a gift in this history of ordination in the Methodist tradition. From our beginnings, ordination has always been about the community. The community confirms one's call, helps him/her make decisions about preparation for ministry, and shares in the supervision and ongoing evaluation of the ordained. Ordination is a communal affirmation for the common good. Dr. Lawrence challenges us to look outside the church to the needs of the whole world as we make decisions about who will be ordained and how they will live out ordination.
This book is a compilation of information about the call to ministry and the avenues The United Methodist Church offers to embody that call. It is based in the concept of servant ministry and servant leadership presented by the Council of Bishops.
"Christian vocation," says Kathleen Cahalan, "is about connecting our stories with God's story." In The Stories We Live Cahalan rejuvenates and transforms vocation from a static concept to a living, dynamic reality. Incorporating biblical texts, her own experience, and the personal stories of others, Cahalan discusses how each of us is called by God, to follow, as we are, from grief, for service, in suffering, through others, within God. Readers of this book will discover an exciting new vocabulary of vocation and find a fresh vision for God's calling in their lives.
Ordained ministry, says Willimon, is a gift of God to the church--but that doesn't mean that it is easy. Always a difficult vocation, changes in society and the church in recent years have made the ordained life all the more complex and challenging. Is the pastor primarily a preacher, a professional caregiver, an administrator? Given the call of all Christians to be ministers to the world, what is the distinctive ministry of the ordained? When does one's ministry take on the character of prophet, and when does it become that of priest? What are the special ethical obligations and disciplines of the ordained? In this book, Willimon explores these and other central questions about the vocation of ordained ministry. He begins with a discussion of who pastors are, asking about the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, and then moves on to what pastors do, looking at the distinctive roles the pastor must fulfill. The book also draws on great teachers of the Christian tradition to demonstrate that, while much about Christian ministry has changed, its core concerns--preaching the word, the care of souls, the sacramental life of congregations--remains the same. Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we are called, not a profession that we choose. To answer that call is to open oneself to heartache and sometimes hardship; yet, given the one who calls, it is to make oneself available to deep and profound joy as well.
Many churches are “mule churches”–strong for a generation but unable to reproduce themselves. As a mule comes from a horse and a donkey, they were the product of demographics and cultural conditions conducive for a generation of strength but did not produce many offspring in new church starts or strong candidates for ministry. Mule churches create a generation or more of pastors, superintendents, and bishops who think they knew what made for strong church, who think their approach to ministry is the key reason for their success. And it produces churches with a nostalgia for the way things used to be. This makes it hard for churches to adapt to change. We've been declining for a long time due to changes in secular and consumer culture, demographics radically adjusting normative family structure, and a theology based in consumer marketing rather than mission-driven vitality. Now we realize that the church is free to not just make the gospel relevant to life but to make life relevant to the gospel. Conservative evangelical Christianity was able to focus on relevance prior to its ascendency on the national stage. Methodism requires a similar period of confessional self-definition. We are going through these confessions now in the debate about our stance toward homosexuality. Most students and most professors go to the seminary "to fix the church," because they realize that the future of the church and its seminaries are inseparable. Seminaries provide scholars for the church, who learn how to think, who learn how to take the long view, who shape identity, who foster a "culture of calling." A new kind of Methodist progressive evangelicalism is regenerating, which lives the great commandment (love) and the great commission (reproducing disciples) on a global scale. Before, seminaries prepared pastors to maintain healthy churches in stable neighborhoods. Now, every neighborhood is changing and many churches are losing their members and their confidence. They long for a recovery of their sense of mission and a new kind of leadership. A new kind of seminary is regenerating to foster hope, wisdom, creativity, and engagement with the great issues of our day.
This volume is a collection of essays by leading United Methodist scholars about the implications of the revised orders of ministry in The United Methodist Church. Eagerness to effectively communicate the gospel has driven an approach to ministry that is fundamentally pragmatic and functional. In approaching the question of the role of ordained ministry within the overall calling of the people of God, Methodists have traditionally asked "What works?" and then gone on to reflect theologically on the approach they are considering. In 1996, UM General Conference enacted sweeping changes regarding the offices of deacon and elder. The decisions of General Conference have raised a number of questions that we are just now beginning to explore. This book addresses major recent changes within the denomination and explores these changes from a historical, theological, and practical point of view. It helps readers understand the dynamics of and the reasons for the new order of ministry and helps them understand the implications of the changes for the denomination and for individuals.
An anthology of reflections on the tasks, joys, and challenges of ordained ministry, written by influential classical and contemporary thinkers.
United Methodist deacons build bridges between the Church and the world.