The Theology and Practice series is not complete. I’m convinced that there are yet a few more questions lurking out there, so I’m not going to turn it into a book yet. However, what we have covered so far is currently compiled into a single webpage on the static server PDF in the media files here. Here’s the link:
If you want to save a copy, all of the formatting info is built directly into the file, so just right-click in your browser and save as a web document. Once I sense that we’ve covered enough issues, I’ll transform it into a book and publish it in more formats.
I might like to know your thoughts on ministry vs vocation, where members of a covenant household or organization might find their calling that couldn’t really be considered a ministry, per se. That might be framing it too narrowly, but does that idea make sense?
I’ve worked in a lot of different volunteer ministries, but only rarely have I actually worked in my vocation. Several times I was quite convinced that church leadership had some kind of subconscious urge to sabotage any hope I had of working in my vocation. My vocation is teaching and counseling. I’ve done youth ministry, music, organizational management, materials, maintenance, etc., all of which I was pretty mediocre in performance. Anything I might say about it would be highly influenced by a lifetime of frustration.
The biggest mistake mainstream churches make is planning things out, then pigeon-holing whoever is available into the positions they dreamed up. It’s all focused on activities, instead of working to enhance the fellowship of the people. The better approach is to take stock of what God has given you and let people make the most of what they know best. A great deal of what we should expect to see is people trying stuff that ends up not working too well, and helping them learn from their mistakes. In other words, the whole point is development, not having some well-oiled machine. The latter never happens without losing the creativity of the Spirit, if it happens at all. The former simply has not been tried anywhere I’ve served.