Book ReviewThe Soul of Ministry
Book Review/The Soul of Ministry by Ray S. Anderson
In his book the Soul of Ministry, author Ray Anderson seeks to establish a dialogue with the reader about the ministry of God. His basic premise is that "the ministry of God is to the world for the sake of the world and that the continued ministry of God is carried out by the people of God". He takes the reader through stages, keeping the focus on God's people as a whole and individuals, both preachers and congregants and their roles with in the framework of the church.
He reminds the reader of the importance of spreading God's word and that "it is only through God's ministry that God's nature and purpose are revealed".He presents well thought out explanations for his stances, supplying the reader with an arsenal of information to explain his ideas. Mr. Anderson encourages the reader to look at ministering in both an historical and contemporary context. While relying on the past as a foundation, the author urges the minister who is reading the book to not get mired in the past, but to contextualize the information he or she is using for the present, making it more applicable to the congregants in their daily lives. He reminds the reader that "Theology is meant to be an open and continuing inquiry into the truth of God revealed through God's ministry as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, and, that theological discernment must be open in the direction for the Holy Spirit in order to interpret any given situation in terms of each preference of God's rather than conform to historical precedent".
Mr. Anderson urges the reader to constantly remind him or herself that every act of ministry whether in the pulpit or in the everyday living of life teaches and reveals something of God and that every ministry is God's ministry from the beginning. I thought this was a heartening reminder - for when one gets caught up in thinking about the sermon they are writing, or are going to write, it's helpful to remember why we are writing the sermons in the first place - as one of our primary forms of ministry. On the subject of preparing a sermon, Mr. Anderson continues with another helpful reminder - "the preparing and preaching of a sermon from the Word of God ought to be praxis discernment of the ultimate goal…there are some truths in Scripture that are only revealed through the living preaching and teaching of the text."
I believe if we remember that statement it has the potential to make us preach with a different focus. We need to remember that while folks might read their Bibles at home everyday they come to church on Sunday for a lesson that can only come from the pulpit, from the preacher who is actually preaching the sermon, explaining and contextualizing the message for the congregation, making it the living breathing word of God. It's much different to learn something out of a book that when someone teaches it to you out loud.Mr. Anderson goes on to discuss baptism. He suggests that "there is a sense in which one can say that baptism in to Christ is ordination into the ministry of God.
As Christ was called and ordained to his messianic ministry through baptism…where he was anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God's messianic promise…so the baptism of every person can be viewed as a calling into the ministry of God." I thought this was in interesting point that sometimes gets overlooked. While people might think of baptism as the joining of God's family here on earth, they might lose sight of their responsibility within, and to, that family. He also reminds us that "one can not 'come to Christ' apart from coming into the fellowship of his body - the church. This fellowship - koinonia - is not only spiritual, but personal and social.
Every person who is baptized - anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit - IS a minister of God here on earth and should be reminded of the responsibility and power that go along with that mantle. Mr. Anderson discusses the idea of a servant ministry by saying "the difference between a ministry founded on the meeting of needs and one that is directed by the will and wisdom of God is that…those who attempt to minister based on needs will sometime or another arrive too late. When need is the master the servant becomes a slave." He urges us to view serving God as actually being servants ourselves - that that is the true heart of a real ministry. He strongly urges the reader to "think not so much where we are called to minister, but where we are sent to be servants."
When we minister to others whether from the pulpit or in our daily lives we must remember that how we are living our lives and spreading the word of God is as servants to one another - using Jesus' earthly life as our example, our ideal. In closing, I found Mr. Anderson's book to be a well thought out and presented look at contemporary ministry. While some of the ides presented were naturally recycled from other sources, he reminded the reader of some basic, yet important, views on ministering and his presentation of the material lent itself to a fresh approach.
