Book Reflection Pastor: The Theology And Practice Of Ordained Ministry (Book Review Sample)

Book Reflection
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry
Author’s purpose
The authors of the book Pastor: The Theology and practice of ordained bring about a vivid understanding of the duties and roles of the pastors. It draws ideas from the scriptures, tradition and the current world to properly bring it out. William poses questions on the purpose of the pastor and what they ought to do and also to try to understand their call. Being a pastor, the writer has used his knowledge and experience to answer various questions pertaining the ministry. He brings about the dilemmas the pastors face when doing their duty and sometimes why they fail to heed the call to work for the lord. The dangers the preachers face while spreading the word might push them over the edge. The important attributes a pastor should be having are wisdom, being truthful to others and themselves, compassionate and courageous (Willimon, 2016). They should also understand their roles in the church; mediators between the congregation and God, they should be good preachers and also they to act as the interceders between God and his flock.
The author also discusses the issue of ordination. He terms it as a gift from God to the church. Ordination is similar to creation but not seen as such. Given the challenges the current world has plagued on the pastors, vocation has become a complicated thing. The society has generally misunderstood the role of the pastors; what are their obligations and what are not? The perception that the general public has on pastor is not good, the way they have filled up our media platforms has further raised questions on whether or not they are achieving their primary goals of spreading the word, rather than making money.
The author writes this book also to inform pastors that church leadership a calling and one can be chosen by God to serve regardless of what they are currently doing. Citing the cases of Ambrose and Martin Luther King, he portrays that they were never at any point interested in being vessels of God (Willimon, 2016). However, these two went on to fulfill their duty more than expected. It shows that one can be called from birth to even when performing another task. We do not know the plans of God, but we should heed his call. Church leadership has also is also something not many understand. The author uses the son of God; Jesus and his disciples. We all need someone to lead us in our lives. The chosen leaders, however, may not be suitable to the eyes of the society but to the lord they are,; as such we should accept them.
How This Book Challenges My Thinking about the Ministry
The author has majorly focused on the roles of the pastors. The way he portrays them has made understand that nobody can wake one morning and decides to be a preacher; it demands a lot from them. We have all made perceptions about the ministry by being judgmental on the pastors; this always is negative; the book, however, changes that by providing us with proper understanding. Not all pastors are called by God per se, but when called upon we should always heed his cal (Willimon, 2016). Pastors are not necessarily the church leaders; that is why we have the clergy, and we should understand that.
Strengths
One of the strengths of the book is how it has merged the context of the Bible, history and the current affairs to bring out points. It also profoundly explores its discussion topic and provides adequate information to facilitate understanding about pastor hood. The description of pastor hood as portrayed by the author is very clear on their purpose to the ministry. The book also achieved its goal of stating who pastors are in an ordained ministry and what their roles pertain towards this course.
Through identifying various examples, the book has backed up its claims making it easier for the reader to discern how pastors should stick to their roles regardless of changing world. Further, the book relies on current literature concerning church leadership to guide pastors on what the Holy Spirit demands of them as servants of GOD (Willimon, 2016).
Weakness
First of all the book is extremely large and apart from being tiresome and time-consuming, the reader might lose focus from the main point. There are too many stories before the main point is brought up. William sometimes provides a shallow description of a particular topic. ‘Irresistibility of Jesus’ was not adequately supported by the author. Sexism is also encouraged by the author; his perception of female pastors and they cannot address certain things.
The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call
Author’s purpose
In writing this book, the authors sought to inform the pastors to remember the theological and bible teachings that guide them as servants of Christ. According to them, pastors should serve Christ without being influenced by cultures that make not efficiently spread the truth about the gospel. The authors refer to the pastors as unnecessary but do not mean they are useless in the service but rather in specific ways they often assumed to be necessary. Cultures have made pastors custodians of moral order in the society rather than teach biblical teachings (Dawn & Peterson, 2000). Pastors are often looked upon by the community as people who are nice and uphold good morals. The authors show culture has made pastors unnecessary by making them feel like it is their sole duty to keep the congregation together something which Christians can also accomplish. Culture also force pastors to lead them to worldly ways that do not speak the truth about Christ but focuses on the competition with other churches. The author purposely shows how pastors have been made “unnecessary” by cultures to meet their needs rather than serve their exact role of spreading the teachings about Christ.
How this book challenged my thinking about the ministry
Based on what the author's terms as “unnecessary” it has given me a clear picture that pastors do not deserve to face the many pressures brought by our cultures on what we as people think is their role in the ministry. Pastors as servants of God face a lot of challenges from the cultures that have made them backslide from delivering their duties of preaching about Christ and his teachings (Dawn & Peterson, 2000). Fighting about worldly things and focusing on being on top over other churches should not lea...