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Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church
ed: John A. Emmett; Commission for Mission, the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, 2009.
A new resource designed to assist Church Councils, Presbyteries, Placements Committee, Pastoral Relations Committees and other interested groups to discern which approach to ministry will best enable a faith community or congregation in its response to the call to God’s mission.
If you are interested in using this book, it’s probably because your faith community or congregation is in the midst of conversations about what ministry will best assist your members in their response to God’s mission.
This book outlines five approaches to ministry.
The approaches build on the three ministries of the Uniting Church in Australia:
- ministry of the Word (ordained ministry);
- ministry of Deacon (ordained ministry); and
- ministry of Pastor (baptised member ministry).
To make the best use of the five approaches requires:
- clarity about the purpose of the Church;
- awareness of the context you are a part of; and
- knowledge of your faith community or congregation’s call to God’s mission.
This booklet offers resources to assist you to respond to each requirement.
Use this booklet to identify which approach to ministry will best serve your needs.
Contents include:
Discerning approaches to ministry
Explanations
Five Approaches to Ministry
A summary chart of the five Approaches to Ministry
Rural Ministry
Diagrams to illustrate various approaches in action
Contextual Inquiry resources
The document can be downloaded in sections from the links on the right.
Inquiries Contact: John A. Emmett 9251 5404 john.emmett@victas.uca.org.au
Understanding Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church
The pdf series titled, ‘Understanding Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church’ is a background resources paper for the book and pdf series titled, ‘Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church’.
Understanding Approaches to Ministry for a Missional church includes four sections:
1. Section One – An Introduction to Approaches to Ministry
2. Section Two – Explanations
3. Section Three - Five Approaches to Ministry
4. Section Four – Appendices
Each section provides material not covered in the book and pdf series titled, ‘Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church’ : e.g. a full and detailed explanation of each of the five approaches is provided in ‘Understanding Approaches to Ministry…’
The appendices provide a outline of the different models of contextual theology suggested in each of the five approaches, as well as providing a brief history of the development of the ‘Approaches to Ministry…’ series and some additional clarification of terms.
Use the pdf series, ‘Understanding Approaches to Ministry…,’ to gain deeper insights into the background and conceptual framework behind ‘Approaches to Ministry for a Missional Church’
The sections can be downloaded from the links on the right.
Towards Intentional Missional Communities - a study workbook
Available for free download from this website.
For more information and to download the workbook in full (1.7MB) or in 4 smaller sections click here.
The workbook is also available in hard copy from the Commission for Mission (cost is $10 plus postage and handling). Call 9251 5255 to order your copy.
Dependable Strengths for Congregations
Discover Your Call
"Discover Your Call" workshops are so much more than a spiritual gift inventory or a personality assessment. DYC workshops use the Dependable Strengths Articulation process, specially adapted for congregations by Luther Seminary, to invite people to reflect on positive experiences from their lives, tell their stories and discern together what God has designed them to be.
"Discover Your Call" works on the assumption that God created each individual with unique gifts and strengths that, when discovered, can be a powerful force for change in churches, communities, homes and mission fields.
Through this process, participants work with each other, developing a deeper intimacy and understanding of the others they serve with on boards, ministry teams or fellow congregants.
Every participant will leave with a renewed understanding of the unique person God has made them to and where they were designed to fit in the call of God.
For more information you can contact the people below and/or visit www.dependablestrengths.org
Contact: John A. Emmett 9251 5404 john.emmett@victas.uca.org.au or Adrian Pyle 9251 5253 adrian.pyle@victas.uca.org.au , accredited workshop leaders, for more information or to arrange a workshop.
Ten Conversations Your Congregation Must Have
Who wants to talk about church? We do - and thanks to Anthony B Robinson from the Alban Institute we have some real BBQ stoppers to kick us off. Some of these conversations will be confronting, and others may already be taking place. There are lots of people in our communities who have never been to church, and can't see any reason to have anything to do with us. Many churches are in decline and out of touch. Join in a conversation that brings people together and looks to the future.
To download a copy of the booklet, Ten Conversations Your Congregation Must Have, click here
To find out more about Anthony B Robinson’s ideas for conversations that matter, see:
•“Changing the Conversation – a third way for congregations”, Eerdmans 2008. In this book, Robinson outlines each conversation, identifies why it is important and indicates where such conversations might lead.
This book is great for Church Council members to read and discuss as a Council – perhaps 2 chapters each meeting. It will take five months or so but it is very enriching and worthwhile.
Consider inviting your Minister or Presbytery Minister for Mission and Education to lead a one day 10 conversations workshop.
•“Transforming Congregational Culture”, Eerdmans, 2003, another of Robinson’s books in which he explores what happens when congregations operate from outdated assumptions about their context and role in today’s world. He calls us back to the purpose of the Church (see the Basis of Union Para3) - the transformation of life and gives practical, workable approaches for making the necessary shifts.
•“What’s theology got to do with it? Convictions, vitality and the Church”, Alban Institute, 2006. In this book, Robinson shows how the ‘doing’ of theology is foundational to thinking, knowing, being and relating as a Christian. Robinson shows what happens when a church looses its language in favour of the idiom of the day; or loosens its language to go with the flow of contemporary ideologies in an uncritical fashion. This book will stiffen the spine of any weary minister, whether lay or ordained.
