A Ministry Shaped by Mission
''This is the best brief study of the theology of ministry that I know. Paul Avis deals in a lucid and succinct way with a remarkably wide range of issues about ministry, and at the same time covers a considerable amount of historical and ecumenical ground. He comes directly to grips with the widespread contemporary challenge to the very idea of ordained ministry, and gives an answer which is both firmly committed to a particular office of ordained ministry and quite sensitive to the concerns of those who worry about this idea. He ties ministry to mission (God's and the church's) in a thoroughgoing way, without ending up with a merely functionalist understanding of ministry, as mission-oriented ecclesiologies often do. And Avis deals in a clear and substantive way with lay ministry and the diaconate, precisely as parts of the church's "holy order." On this and many other matters Avis writes with an ecumenical sensitivity which will make the book attractive not only to Anglicans, but to Christians of any denomination who want to think about ministry. I would certainly recommend it to Lutheran professors, pastors, and seminarians as the first book to read on the theology of the church's ministry.''—Prof Bruce Marshall (Lutheran) of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas"The vital connection between the unity of the church and its task of spreading the gospel has been the motivating theme of the modern ecumenical movement from its beginnings. Yet the healing of inherited divisions among Christians has often been hampered by differences over ministry, particularly the ordained ministry. (In the United States, for instance, Episcopalians have been primarily concerned to maintain their historic succession of bishops, while Presbyterians have held on to their historic suspicion of them.) In this book Paul Avis proposes a fresh look, whereby the whole church is seen as participating in God's mission, and its leaders have its conduct and oversight as their chief responsibility. Avis's vision holds promise for the internal reconciliation of the church and its structures, so that a restored unity may itself make and continue a persuasive evangelical witness to a broken world."—Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, Cushman professor of Christian Theology at Duke UniversityThis book has a definite and creative point of view that is shaped by its title. It will stimulate new thought about the relationship of ministry and mission, at the same time as it raises questions about their relationship to worship and to patristic prototypes. Avis offers a competent survey of the contemporary scene, especially in modern English theology, which is firmly grounded in reformation and ecumenical thought-forms. For these reasons, the book will also be of much interest to American and non-Anglican readers as well, for there is no better introduction to its subject in print. —J. Robert Wright, Professor of Church History, General Theological Seminary, New York City, and Historiographer of the Episcopal Church.