Abstract
Written by two Southern Baptist leaders, Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt, this book deals with various aspects of identifying and raising potential ministry leaders in the local church. The book has applications within ministry leadership as an educational tool for equipping leaders and consequently speaks to the educational ministry of the local church. Pace and Pruitt posit that a crisis of ministry leadership has confronted the church today with a vacuum of young ministry leaders answering the call to ministry. Therefore, their stated purpose in writing the book is to “provide you with a resource designed with future vocational ministry leaders in mind that can help equip them to be faithful to their calling” (p. 14). Using biblical foundations and practical guidelines for issuing a discipleship method for new ministry leaders, the authors alternate writing 11 chapters for initiating a planned process to invite a response to ministry calling.
The first three chapters deal with the person experiencing a call to ministry. In chapter one, Pace outlines the steps for answering a call. These include confirmation through desire, spiritual giftedness, fruit, and affirmation; consideration of scrutiny, responsibility, and sacrifice; examination of motives; a reality check; and a commitment to the call. Chapter two involves Pruitt's examination of spiritual foundations. These consist of correctly understanding a person's identity in Christ and spending quality time with the Lord in Bible study, meditation, and prayer. Pace's admonishment to delve deeply into God's word is the makeup of chapter three. That comprises finding enjoyment in personal Bible study, growing in discipleship and spiritual warfare, and making applications through teaching others.
The following five chapters cover various aspects of ministry activity. In chapter four, Pruitt encourages a lifestyle of prayer as a facet of being a disciple. Still, in chapter five, he furthers the idea by describing the prayerful lifestyle with an activity of talking like a disciple. This evangelism activity must be engaged personally and taught to others. In chapter six, Pace describes a healthy church ministry reflecting biblical metaphors of Christ's body, bride, and building, along with the personal ministry assignment to build up the church. In chapter seven, he expounds upon the Holy Spirit's role to be present, counsel, comfort, and grant victory in ministry. Pace spends chapter eight reflecting on the holistic call of ministerial servanthood, pointing to the various biblical metaphors for serving one another.
The book's final three chapters relate to a proper mentality of ministering. Considering the toll ministry takes on family life, Pace spends chapter nine discussing the importance of praying for, prioritizing, and protecting the minister's family life. Pruitt gives solid advice for mental preparation for ministry in chapter 10. These are words of encouragement toward perseverance, even if perfection is unattainable. Pace follows up with chapter 11 by offering practical considerations for preparing family, finances, and further education. The book concludes with an instructive chapter for pastors on ways to issue effective invitations to the call to ministry.
Pace and Pruitt offer a tangible educational methodology for training within the context of ministry leadership. This is significant because the authors seek to equip pastors to invite members to answer a ministry calling and educate them for their ministry assignments. If one of the biblical roles of a pastor is to equip church members to engage in ministry, this book addresses that role straightforwardly. An obvious strength in the authors’ approach is to focus the educational ministry of the local church toward recruiting and training future vocational ministers. In doing so, the authors cover many themes related to ministry calling and practice. Another strength is to lay the responsibility of recruitment and training at the feet of the local church pastor rather than outsourcing it to an external parachurch organization. Because the authors argue for the incubation and birth of new ministers from within the local church, the book serves as a clarion call for a renewed look at the church's educational ministry as the primary source for future ministry. Yet another strength is the practical encouragement to make an invitation to answer a ministry calling a regular part of each sermon delivery.
One area for improvement in the book is the shallow nature of the discussion regarding precisely what is entailed in equipping. Although the authors address the issues of answering a call to ministry, the concepts of spiritual giftedness and ministry training are only highlighted with broad strokes in the first few chapters. The reader is left wanting a more intense dialogue regarding the applications for assigning people to ministry. The book reads more like a survey of varied topics in ministry rather than a resource text, as promised in its introduction. Because the thematic discussion is so broad, deeper conversation about practical applications is needed to properly delve into the intrinsic issues that the authors only briefly mention. To their credit, the authors address this need by referencing some valuable materials in their endnotes to allow for further study.
Another issue within the book's writing style is the mnemonic devices employed by one of the writers. At times his points seem forced to find an alliteration or rhyming word, and sometimes the alliteration is distracting. Regardless, the subpoints under each heading provide adequate flesh on the narrative skeleton.
This book is not only a good resource for pastors who wish to create a system for calling out the called in their churches, but it also could serve as a text for small group study. Each chapter deals with a unique theme worthy of consideration by the whole church. A study course with a discussion guide could accompany this book to make it more digestible for the congregation. Accordingly, as pastors are encouraged to include a call to ministry within their invitations, small groups in the church could also add this consideration to each of their gatherings. Regardless, this book will significantly evaluate themes already discussed in missiological and pedagogical circles. Because the authors merge theology with pedagogy, the church's mission to make disciples is clarified with leadership development that can exist from within as much as from without.