8. Local Ministry

The theme of Local Ministry was always going to be a key element of my sabbatical. I won't bother to list all the blog entries that mention it...

At the end of my sabbatical I simply want to reflect that local / mutual / shared / total / collaborative forms of ministry are absolutely key for the future of the church and that I will continue to prioritise this area of work over the years ahead.

Dynamic Local Ministry

Dynamic Local Ministry
By Andrew Bowden and Michael West

This is good book if you want a well structured (british) introduction to the development of local ministry.
It includes a wonderfully uncomfortable description of the catalogue of troubles that have beset traditional ministry during the twentieth century, a solid account of the history of local ministry in the UK, and a series of sections dealing with local ministry from different perspectives.
The final section is whistle stop tour of developments in the US and New Zealand - Total Ministry and Local Shared Ministry.
This book is on my mind at the momment because we're relaunching the Local Shared Ministry Project Group in January 2008. I've reread this book and would love to get it into a few people's hands... I may start circulating it...

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...