Book Review: The Resurrection of Ministry

The Resurrection of Ministry: Serving in the Hope of the Risen Lord

by Andrew Purves
published in 2010 by InterVarsity Press

Summary: The author seems to have been inspired by a phrase "moving beyond ministry in the mood of Holy Saturday to ministry in the mood of Easter Sunday."  This phrase interwined itself with the reality that many in Christian vocations have lost a certain passion for ministry.  Working through resurrection theology, the author tries to establish some steps towards regaining the excitement of ministry based on the truth of the Resurrection.  He begins with the reality that our hope is rooted in the resurrected Jesus rather than the event itself.  He then moves towards the Ascension and the reality that our ministry is empowered by the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit.  He then begins to establish a theology of the Resurrected Christ which should inform and inspire our ministry.

Review: Overall, I did not enjoy this book.  I picked it up hoping to getting a sense of renewed passion for ministry, but what I read was a disjointed theological dissertation that seemed inspired by a phrase rather than a real passion for ministry.  The author, while having served as a pastor for a brief period a long time ago, is a seminary professor who is writing this book for the people on the front lines from the hallowed halls of academia and frankly I feel like he is a little out of touch.  His premise seems to be that if our passion for ministry is not what it used to be that somehow we have failed to keep the truth and joy of Jesus at the center of our ministry.  I take exception with that and consider it a false premise and with that being false, in my humble opinion, that made the entire book less than inspiring for me.  Most of the time the author just irritated me or made me frustrated.  I finished the book as I am all about being challenged by different points of view than mine, but this book just fails to deliver.  It is written in pretentious academic language, it doesn't flow with any easily discernible logic and it reads much more like a book about theology than about ministry.

Reading Recommendation: NO, invest your time and energy in something like Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion by Wayne Cordeiro.