Download or read book Ordained Ministry in the United Methodist Church written by William B. Lawrence and published by United Methodist General Board of Higher Education. This book was released on 2011 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Christian as Minister written by Meg Lassiat and published by United Methodist General Board of Higher Education. This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Stories We Live written by Kathleen A. Cahalan and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.
Download or read book Pastor written by William H. Willimon and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A New Church and A New Seminary written by David McAllister-Wilson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-04-02 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Ordaining Women written by B. T. Roberts and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: B. T. Roberts saw the exclusion of women from ordination as analogous to racism. His ability to see the new community made possible by Christ offers Christians today a prophetic vision of the difference Christ makes. Roberts's 1891 Ordaining Women takes seriously the scriptural promise that Christ has unmasked the false distinctions and repaired the damaged social arrangements of this world. Like the abolition of slavery, the ordination of women becomes yet another obvious sign of the world made new in Christ. With careful attention to biblical interpretation, church tradition, and empirical evidence, Roberts exposes the biases that have long held captive the Christian imagination. In this new edition, Benjamin Wayman offers an updated and fully annotated version of Roberts's original work and demonstrates the breadth and depth of his analysis. Roberts's vision of the gospel challenges the traditional and still-dominant view of the global church, and invites Christians to reimagine the inclusion of women in ordained ministry. If Christians had for so long been wrong about race, might we today be wrong about gender?
Download or read book Polity Practice and the Mission of The United Methodist Church written by Thomas E. Frank and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2006-04-01 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Commissioned by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry for use in United Methodist doctrine/polity/history courses." This in-depth analysis of the connection between United Methodist polity and theology addresses ways in which historical developments have shaped--and continue to shape--the organization of the church.This revised edition incorporates the actions of The United Methodist General Conference, 2004. The book discusses continuing reforms of the church's plan for baptism and church membership, as well as the emergence of deacon's orders and other changes to ordained ministry procedures. The text is now cross-referenced to the Book of Discipline, 2004, including the revised order of disciplinary chapters and paragraph numbering. Denominational statistics are updated, along with references to recent works on The United Methodist Church and American religious life.
Download or read book The Orders of Ministry in the United Methodist Church written by John E. Harnish and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Answering the Call written by Meg Lassiat and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 1968 written by United Methodist Church (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pastor written by William H. Willimon and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of reflections on the tasks, joys, and challenges of ordained ministry, written by influential classical and contemporary thinkers.
Download or read book Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons written by Catholic Church. Congregatio pro Institutione Catholica and published by USCCB Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Congregation for the Clergy.
Download or read book The United Methodist Deacon written by Margaret Ann Crain and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: United Methodist deacons build bridges between the Church and the world.
Download or read book Crafting the Sermon written by Charles D. Ensminger and published by Wesley's Foundery Books. This book was released on 2019-08-16 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If it doesn't happen on Sunday, it doesn't happen. A down-to-earth, practical introduction to the ins and outs of preaching for lay preachers, bivocational and local pastors, and others newly arrived in the pulpit. Trends show that a large number of lay preachers and part- and full-time local pastors have assumed the principal responsibility for filling the pulpit week by week in increasing numbers of local churches. While most of these individuals can draw on a wealth of life experiences, as well as strong intuitive skills in knowing what makes a good sermon, having listened to them much of their lives, what they often don't bring to the pulpit, however, is specific, detailed instruction in the how-tos of preaching. That is precisely what this brief, practical guide to preaching has to offer. Written for those who have a heart for preaching, author Charles Ensminger begins by emphasizing the importance of authenticity, accessing the context and needs of the congregation, and the need for preachers to hear how the text applies to their own spiritual journey. The book includes helpful suggestions for resources; sermon planning, preparation, and delivery; as well as how to choose effective and memorable illustrations.
Download or read book A Dictionary for United Methodists written by Alan K. Waltz and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Safe Sanctuaries written by Joy Thornburg Melton and published by Upper Room Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Only Resource of Its Kind Is Now Two Bestsellers in One! Tragically, churches have not always been safe places for children or youth or vulnerable adults. With this in mind, attorney, pastor, and author Melton outlines a process for developing policies and procedures to recognize and reduce the risk of abuse in the church. Safe Sanctuaries combines and expands information from two of her earlier groundbreaking books, which focused, separately, on children and teens. "Safe Sanctuaries is the most helpful resource I have found dealing with this troubling topic," says one minister. "Straightforward yet non-threatening, the information is helpful for all denominations and congregations of faith." Practical guidance is provided in developing and implementing a substantive, holistic action plan of abuse prevention: recruiting, screening and working with volunteers training models for all who work with children, youth, and vulnerable adults suggestions for congregational response to unthinkable allegations of abuse order of worship celebrating the adoption of "Safe Sanctuaries" policies Melton's transformative, relevant, and foundational resource will train leaders in what they need to know to stay safe and keep the vulnerable in their care safe. This revised edition now features updated and timely information about protecting young people from online predators.
Download or read book Fulfilling God s Call written by Sharon Rubey and published by . This book was released on 2009-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
