Letting Go: Transforming Congregations for Ministry

Roy D. Phillips

Pioneering thinkers have been saying for decades that the key to church renewal lies in nurturing the ministry of the laity. Using as a basis his more than thirty years of experience in parish ministry, Phillips makes the case that in order for lay ministries to flourish, pastors need to let go of their traditional views about their role in the congregation. Letting Go forthrightly explains what it means for pastors to do less, so their members have the opportunity and freedom to grow.

Foreword by Michael Cowan.

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Praise for the Book

“Pastors and lay leaders approaching this book with practical hopes, needs, and questions will not be disappointed. ...This thoughtful and valuable book is a partner, waiting to converse with anyone interested in engaging with a wise and committed practitioner on the critical subject of the vitality of America's religious congregations as Christian communities of faith enter their third millennium.” —from the foreword by Michael Cowan

“In this era when overworked ministers experience burnout and frustration, and lay people come to church seeking meaning and community but not always finding either, Roy Phillips' book offers a new and exciting approach to ministry and to the life of a congregation, a shared ministry that, if implemented, will renew the church, energize ministers, and fulfill seeking laity. It should be required reading for all church leaders, starting with ministers.” —William R. Murry, President and Academic Dean, Meadville/Lombard Theological School

“As I read Roy Phillips' book my head kept nodding in eager agreement and my highlighter quickly marked up passages to which I want to return. I realized he was describing a model of congregational life and ministry for which I had hungered nearly my entire adult life. Roy provided exciting models, energized my imagination with pictures of a new paradigm of church, and led me to numerous other thinkers and ministry practitioners whom I now want to explore. I'll put this book on my short shelf of key ministry resources I turn to for renewed hope.” —Jean Morris Trumbauer, Shared ministry consultant and author

About the Author

Roy D. Phillips has served as minister in both long-term and interim pastorates, in small congregations and large. A frequent workshop and retreat leader, conference speaker, lecturer, and pulpit guest, he consults with congregations and clergy on issues of congregational mission, leadership, and organizational redesign. His interests include revitalizing congregational life through a gifts-based shared ministry and enhancing spiritual deepening and development through the discipline of small-group conversation.

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ISBN# 1-56699-221-4
Alban No. AL212
paper, 153 pages
1999

In stock

$12.00 ($9.60 for members)

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