Soon after my conversion, I developed a passion for the Church. I think it’s when I discovered the words of the theologian Mick Jagger, who once said, “The church doesn’t scratch where I itch.” It was also about the frustration of having grown up in church but having misunderstood the Gospel until I was sixteen.
Somewhere I saw the works of Howard Snyder. New Wineskins (a.k.a. The Problem Of Wineskins or Radical Renewal) was a popular read, with its famous chapter, ‘Must the pastor be a superstar?’. But his next two books were significant for me. The Community Of The King has been my basic ecclesiology for a quarter of a century now – even the title is significant, for the way it denotes the relationship between church and kingdom. Then The Radical Wesley made important connections for me between contemporary radical evangelicalism and core Wesleyan beliefs and practices. It’s Methodism as I would like to know it.
Later came the call to ministry, but what that involves for me has taken a long time to work out – and I’m still in process. But one book became a compass for me, and another gave me a good shaking, because it made explicit some subconscious doubts I had about traditional church and the accompanying patterns of ministry. The compass was Working The Angles by Eugene Peterson. He set out three fundamental tasks of the minister: prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction. These help me with my sense of priorities.
The book that shook me I only read about three years ago. It was The Shaping Of Things To Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. It is one of the most solidly biblical books to come out of emerging/missional church circles. It was their emphasis on the fivefold gifts of Ephesians 4 (the apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teaching) as given to the whole church, but key to missional leadership that articulated my anxieties with traditional ordination better than anything else since Marjorie Warkentin’s seminal study of Ordination. Frost and Hirsch so unsettled me that I ended up having a pastoral conversation with my Chair of District where I expressed some of my unease. I continue to live with, and work through that unease. It isn’t pleasant, but I pray it will be productive in the long run.
Well, I think that will do for Part 2. Do chip in with your own favourites in these areas. At present I am planning at least two more posts in this series: one on spirituality, and another on what I call my ‘pastoral first aid kit’.
Technorati Tags: books, HowardSnyder, EugenePeterson, MichaelFrost, AlanHirsch, MarjorieWarkentin
Big Circumstance 
Thanks for the lists of books. You asked about other books, so I thought I would give mine. The most influential book for me is The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard B. Hays. His thought radically changed the way I read scripture. I love Lesslie Newbigin, too, as well as Foolishness to the Greeks, but I think his Good Shepherd: Meditations on Christian Ministry in Today’s World meant so much to me from a ministerial point of view. When I heard the call to ordained ministry, I was reading Good News in Exile: Three Pastors Offer a Hopeful Vision for the Church by William Willimon and two others. It makes more sense in an American context, but it spoke to me in the call for ministers to be teachers of the faith, which is where I believe my calling to be. Willimon’s Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry translates more across UK and US cultures, and I was reading that I was learning to embrace my call. Willimon has a great sense of what it means to be a pastor. Joel Green’s commentary on Luke is one of my favourites, too, but that’s a little different than influential books. And I will read most anything by Bishop Tom Wright. I have been thinking that I need to expand my reading lists, so thanks for posting this.
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Great stuff, Will, thanks. Years ago I used to subscribe to Leadership Journal (now I make do with their weekly email), and Willimon used to write regular columns in it. They were always well worth the read.
I’m preparing the next post in the series, on spirituality, at present. Hopefully I’ll put it up tonight.
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