As I have had time at the beginning of my ministry I have spent it reflecting on the way we each resource our ministries.
First off then is books. now coming from a dyslexic it may seem odd for me to be talking about books as a resource. But really it is true, there are many books which have truly helped me with my understanding of both the church and ministry.
So I thought I'd share some of them with you here.
"Everything must change" by Brian McLaren
I'm not going to go into the full details of this book, after all you can always Google it and get a better review than I can manage. What I will say about this book is just how obvious his.message is, you think "Of course! It makes so much sense, why hasn't somebody said this before." His point is basically we cannot just go on as we always have, the tools of the past don't work any more and everything mist change.
"Net gains" by Andrew Pratt
In many ways another one of those "Well duh!" books. It tells you things which are somehow common sense, like "take time to just be, don't be obsessed with doing" but that we often convince ourselves in ministry are lies being told us by our brains. "We can't take time to go for a walk around the neighbourhood or sit and read a book! We need to be DOING something, visiting someone or writing a sermon or something!" If we are to do that though, all the time, every day we would quickly burn out. We need someone like Andrew to tell us, no, give us permission to do these things. And of course it helps that he is a Reverend Doctor.
"Children's letters to God" by Stuart Hample
A brilliant book and a must own for all ministers. We take ourselves too seriously too often. We convince ourselves that God will only hear our prayers if we say them the right way. Piffle and tosh! Does God hear us better for our "Almighty Father in Heaven, the world is full of the works of your majesty and you grace to us surpasses all"? Does it help to do all the "Lord I just wanna pray to you right now, we just wanna ask you...."? Do we need to bend bow and supplicate? Or do we approach God as children approaching our father?
Here is a little sample.
First off then is books. now coming from a dyslexic it may seem odd for me to be talking about books as a resource. But really it is true, there are many books which have truly helped me with my understanding of both the church and ministry.
So I thought I'd share some of them with you here.
"Everything must change" by Brian McLaren
I'm not going to go into the full details of this book, after all you can always Google it and get a better review than I can manage. What I will say about this book is just how obvious his.message is, you think "Of course! It makes so much sense, why hasn't somebody said this before." His point is basically we cannot just go on as we always have, the tools of the past don't work any more and everything mist change.
"Net gains" by Andrew Pratt
In many ways another one of those "Well duh!" books. It tells you things which are somehow common sense, like "take time to just be, don't be obsessed with doing" but that we often convince ourselves in ministry are lies being told us by our brains. "We can't take time to go for a walk around the neighbourhood or sit and read a book! We need to be DOING something, visiting someone or writing a sermon or something!" If we are to do that though, all the time, every day we would quickly burn out. We need someone like Andrew to tell us, no, give us permission to do these things. And of course it helps that he is a Reverend Doctor.
"Children's letters to God" by Stuart Hample
A brilliant book and a must own for all ministers. We take ourselves too seriously too often. We convince ourselves that God will only hear our prayers if we say them the right way. Piffle and tosh! Does God hear us better for our "Almighty Father in Heaven, the world is full of the works of your majesty and you grace to us surpasses all"? Does it help to do all the "Lord I just wanna pray to you right now, we just wanna ask you...."? Do we need to bend bow and supplicate? Or do we approach God as children approaching our father?
Here is a little sample.
“Dear God. How did you know you were God?”
“Dear God. Are you really invisible or is that just a trick?”
“Dear God. How come you did al the miracles in the old days and you don’t do any now?”
Finally I would like to direct you to a series of books which both shine a light on and hold a mirror up to ministry.
"The Wee Free Men", "A Hat Full of Sky", "Wintersmith", and "I Shall Wear Midnight". by Terry Pratchett.
They are a collection of comic fantasy adventure books set on the Discworld (if you don't know, shame on you, off you go and Google it, we'll be here when you get back. Have you done it? No? Go on off you go, I'm not starting up again until you do because you need to know this :D Oh good you're back) and star Tiffany Aching who is a young witch who is learning what this witching lark really involves. Visiting, helping people and guiding people through the liminal (Hello Father Earey) moments of birth, life and death.
These books a great on so many levels, but by far the best one is that reading them teaches and challenges you about ministry without it seeming like work (and they are brilliantly observed given that the genius Pratchett is not a man of faith himself)
So please, go out, find these books, put the kettle on, make your brew of choice, open up a pack of Jaffa cakes (no choice in this, Jaffa cakes are important, they have chocolate, no milk and are low in fat, plus the orange counts as one of your "five a day"), unplug the phone, put your feet up, read them, and then mark it down as work :D
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