Unfinished Business, Revised Edition: Returning the Ministry to the People of God
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
The Reformation restored the Scriptures to the people, but the job was only halfway finished. Today the church is awakening to the truth that ministry is not just the domain of clergy, but belongs to the entire body of Christ. God is moving her to complete her unfinished business of placing the ministry back in the hands of the people. Unfinished Business has played a pivotal part in helping the church reclaim ministry at the grassroots level. First published in 1990 as The New Reformation, it has become a classic resource for church life. Expanding on and updating the original material with fresh examples and references to eight key important movements, this new edition lays foundations for the church to move from: · Passive to active · Maintenance to mission · Clergy to people of God · Teacher/caregiver to equipping enabler Pointing us back to the church as an organism, not an institution, author Greg Ogden shows how each of us is called to help finish the Reformation’s unfinished business: expressing the priesthood of every believer practically in the church, the world, and all avenues of life.
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Top Highlights
“The best summary of the role of equipping pastor I have seen was articulated a generation ago by a ‘layman,’ Elton Trueblood: ‘The ministry is for all who are called to share in Christ’s life, the pastorate is for those who possess the peculiar gift of being able to help other men and women to practice any ministry to which they are called.’[3] The equipping pastor initiates the maturing of the body by assisting the people of God to practice the ministries to which they are called. In other words, equipping pastors deploy their gifts in such a way that the members of the body discover and are developed in accord with their God-ordained function in the church and world.” (Page 133)
“I have often wondered if I should turn to the choir to get an instant rating on my sermon. I expect them to raise cards from their laps like we used to see judges hold up at an iceskating competition. This morning’s sermon is a 5.8 out of a possible 6.” (Page 127)
“Saints (Greek, hagios) are the ordinary, garden-variety Christians in a particular time and place whose only distinction is that they are chosen by God, claimed by Jesus Christ, and convened by the Holy Spirit as the church.” (Page 80)
“Instead of the minister of the sacraments, you have the minister of the Word as the most important part of the body” (Pages 72–73)
“preacher presses for a decision, appealing to the heart, but a teacher addresses the mind and desires understanding” (Page 207)