Customer Reviews

Freedom for Ministry. Revised Editiion

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Freedom for Ministry is a very good book for protestant, evangelical, and even reformed evangelicals to read and apply to their lives and ministries. I was required to read this book for a seminary course, Church in the World, by Dr. Richard Horner at Reformed Theological Seminary. I knew before reading it that Neuhaus was respected by evangelical leaders but I did not know the man and his rich wisdom for ministry as a Christian.

I recommend this book and plan to reread it in the near future and apply some of it's principles to my own ministry.

After first reading the book in 1994 and having a mixed experience of being a minister, I recently re-read sections. I was surprised how much I'd absorbed; how many quotes had become my own vocabulary. Every page of this book has a quotable quote because it deals with the reality, the paradox and the vicissitudes of ministry. Starting first with our common misconceptions of the church and then correcting them, Neuhaus then moves into how we can sustain hope when its so difficult ministering to selfish self centered people. He deals with the basis of our ministerial authority and the minister's role as celebrant of the sacraments. He is scathing of the psychological mov't's impact on our training and points to the classical roles of spiritual direction and pastoral care which Eugene Peterson would pick up & expand later. The chapter dealing with the search for community should be read by every Emerging Church devotee before leaving the Institutional Church. The value, often now dismissed, of the role of preaching is given two chapters and finally, the need for character in the minister founded on a lifestyle of holiness. My favourite quote: One of the troubling things about the ebullient testimonials of the "born again" is that the birth seems to have been without pain, without scars, without sacrifice. Neo-Pentecostals in particular, but not Neo-Pentecostals alone, make the new birth sound more like winning the lottery than walking the way of the cross and resurrection. The payoff we are told, is family harmony, business success, sexual fulfillment and a host of other goodies." (p. 139) The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction"

I recently finished reading this book by Neuhaus. I am studying to become a minister in a protestant denomination, and my professor (who served as an excellent pastor for over two decades) absolutely loves this book. As do I. Neuhaus does not get caught up in detail, but hits the subject of ecclessiology and why we minister right on the head. This book is a must for anyone seeking to enter the pastorate.

No accurate description was given. I thought it was the revised edition from the 90's. No luck! It was the older edition from the 70's.