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.
A comprehensive, quick reference for all Episcopalians, both lay and ordained. This thoroughly researched, highly readable resource contains more than 3,000 clearly entries about the history, structure, liturgy, and theology of the Episcopal Church—and the larger Christian church worldwide. The editors have also provided a helpful bibliography of key reference works and additional background materials. “This tool belongs on the shelf of just about anyone who cares for, works in or with, or even wonders about the Episcopal Church.”—The Episcopal New Yorker
This 20th anniversary edition introduces the unique approach of Listening Hearts to the spiritual practice of discernment for a new generation. Written to make the often elusive and usally clergy-centered spiritual practice of discernment accessible to all people, Listening Hearts features simple reflections and exercises drawn from scripture and from Quaker and Ignatian traditions. The seminal work in the Listening Hearts Series, this book has been a beloved resource for tens of thousands of individual reaeders, retreat participants, small groups and church leaders, listening for and responding to God's call in their lives.
Within the last 15 years, a new form of ministry in the Church of England has established itself - locally trained priests ministering in their own parishes. From an early experiment in London's East End where working class men were trained to minister in their communities and at their places of work, there are now 18 recognised OLM training schemes in England and as the numbers of stipendiary clergy fall, this order is set to grow. This was one of the first books to focus exclusively on the origins and nature of ordained local ministry, and the formation and role of OLMs. It will prove invaluable to those in training, those already working in parishes and their colleagues, all who may be considering this calling and all involved in ministry training.
Ordained Anglican ministry is changing rapidly. Soon the majority of clergy are likely to be volunteers and, especially in rural areas, female. All mainstream Churches recognise that new contexts need new forms of ministry. Ordained Local Ministers (OLMs) are priests specifically called out by their local congregation and ordained to minister in that locality. Half the dioceses in England and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion including Australasia, Scotland and North America have established formal schemes to enable this type of ministry. Some dioceses believe the process has helped to revitalise parishes and raise the spiritual temperature of congregations. Others have called a halt, believing their schemes have somehow gone wrong or have not 'delivered'. The time has come for a calm assessment of available evidence about an experiment into which the Church has poured considerable time, effort and money over the last twenty years. Does it have ongoing value, or is it just one more bright idea that has flourished for a season and has now had its day?
This special hybrid volume provides the ordination liturgies of the Church of England from both The Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship, alongside a study guide for these services. It is intended to facilitate study of the texts by all who are interested in what the Church of England teaches about ordination, and especially by those who are themselves preparing to be ordained. It also serves as a resource for ecumenical dialogue about ministry in the Church. The first part presents the authorised ordination services, annotated with references to Scripture and to the Canons of the Church of England. The second part explains the thinking behind the services and offers a practical guide to planning ordinations. It includes: Introduction by the House of BishopsThe Common Worship Ordination Services (for Deacons, Priests and Bishops)The Ordinal (1662)A brief history of ordination ritesA commentary by the Liturgical CommissionCelebrating ordinations - a practical guide
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.