Monday 10 December 2007

Total Ministry

Total Ministry
Stewart C Zabriskie

This is an light, thin (107 pages) and easily read book which tells the story of the "Nevada Experiment" and the implementation of this as "Total Ministry" in the Episcopal Church in the US.

It contains some real gems - particularly when (Bishop) Zabriskie shares some of his own hard earned learning, and it sets out a fairly good defense of Total Ministry which he makes clear is not a system or a model but a way of being church.

Worth a read if you want to get the feel for how Total Ministry might work. It's also particularly good in the exploration of leadership and priesthood. As we continue our investigation of Local Shared Ministry in Milton Keynes, it seems to me that the Nevada approach is very similar to that of Auckland Diocese - and therefore very "coordinated" or "top down". The LSM Project Group has come to the conclusion that this will not work in MK. Zabriskie's situation is very different to ours...

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