INTRODUCTION
This is article presents gleanings from three books: Discipleshape: 12 Weeks to Spiritual Fitness by Dan R. Crawford, Spiritual Leadership: Responding to God’s Call by J. Oswald Sanders and Preparing for Christian Ministry: An Evangelical Approach by David P. Gushee and Walter C. Jackson, editors. Each of the three books was quite different and each approached the spiritual development of ministers from a different perspective. Two of the books were found to be more helpful and one was found to be less so. Some of the information was difficult to comprehend and some of it was elementary and quickly dismissed. However, much of the information in the readings was useful.
DISCIPLESHAPE: 12 WEEKS TO SPIRITUAL FITNESS
An Overview
Dan R. Crawford’s Discipleshape is largely anecdotal, often pithy, sometimes preachy, and seldom helpful. Indeed, it offers little substantive instruction on precisely how a more effective and meaningful spiritual walk with Jesus Christ may be achieved. Crawford is long on describing what a spiritually mature Christian looks like, but he fails to build a useful roadmap to guide the reader to the intended destination, that being spiritual fitness. Spiritual problems are identified, but real solutions are lacking. Crawford asks many pertinent and insightful questions, but then he consistently departs from the questions, asks additional questions or simply leaves the questions unanswered. When questions are answered, Crawford’s scholarship and biblical interpretation sometimes becomes suspect because his answers regularly seem designed to appeal to the emotions rather than to the intellect. However, although real applicable truth was difficult to cull from this work, a few aspects of the book have been particularly helpful to this writer.
Helpful Insights
There are at least two areas in which this book was useful in achieving its intended goal. First, the “Exercises for Spiritual Fitness” at the end of each of the twelve weekly lessons[1] forced introspection. Many of the suggestions and thought-provoking questions brought issues into focus that were otherwise obscured by the writing style and content of the book. These exercises provided a platform for reflection upon the spiritual condition of the reader and moved the reader to consider the impact of such probing and self-evaluation on future attitudes, decisions and behaviors.
Second, in the chapter entitled “Week Four: Walking,” Crawford discusses 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.[2] He organizes this Bible passage into eight sections and suggests how each section directly correlates to each specific quality or aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. Understanding the relationship between how one ought to love and how the fruit of the Spirit may be manifest in the life of a believer is paramount in developing spiritual maturity and fitness. Crawford’s illustration handles this deftly.
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP: RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL
An Overview
- Oswald Sanders’ Spiritual Leadership is an excellent guidebook for the spiritual development of Christian leaders. While much attention is given to what a spiritual leader should look like, it is done in such a way as to school the reader in the art of leadership, rather than to merely identify the goals of leadership development. There are many practical tools for aiding the leader to become more spiritual, effective and fulfilled.
Helpful Insights
Several key areas of this book have been identified which are especially relative to the spiritual walk and call to ministry of this writer. However, given the narrow format of this paper, the number expressed here will be limited to just three. The first key area is that of the fallible leader in the chapter entitled “The Search for Leaders.” Sanders, in referring to the great leaders of the Bible, states that “Such leaders still have shortcomings and flaws, but despite them, they become spiritual leaders.”[3] He points out that while the greatest leaders put into service by God accomplished great things, they were not without their problems and each of them made mistakes. This is of particular comfort when this writer considers his own shortcomings and flaws in light of God’s call upon his life. It is reassuring and even energizing to know that God uses imperfect vessels for even His greatest works. When this writer begins to question his own qualifications for spiritual leadership, the strength to press on can be drawn from the examples of flawed men such as Moses and Paul.
The second key area of this book was the contrast between the natural leader and the spiritual leader. This guidance was offered in the chapter entitled “Natural and Spiritual Leadership.” Sanders stresses that spiritual leadership is contradictory to natural leadership.[4] Where the natural leader is self-confident, make’s his own decisions, is ambitious and independent, the spiritual leader places his confidence in God, seeks God’s will, is humble and depends upon God. Such ideas are foreign to the natural leader and provide a challenge to this writer.
The third key area of this book is the emphasis on prayer. Sanders argues that, above all, “the spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church” in his devotion to prayer.[5] He encourages the reader to master the art and to commit to a life of prayer as a foundation for the spiritual leader’s walk and ministry. He gives compelling examples, helpful tips and sound reasoning to spur the reader to a deeper relationship with Christ through prayer.
PREPARING FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRY: AN EVANGELICAL APPROACH
An Overview
Preparing for Christian Ministry edited by David P. Gushee and Walter C. Jackson is a collection of thoughtful and in-depth essays, some of which are quite detailed and highly technical. The editors compiled an interesting and varied list of qualified writers and cogent topics.
Helpful Insights
This volume presented many useful approaches, techniques and insights into ministry, and, though all of them would be too numerous to list here, one does stand out among them. It is the subject of the essay entitled “Authority in Ministry” by Walter C. Jackson who is one of the book’s editors. Jackson emphasizes the confidence in one’s calling to vocational ministry that comes about through recognizing the authority that attends that calling, stating that “the minister derives a clear sense of authority from a personal call to ministry.”[6] He notes that the “call to ministry is a deep reservoir of strength and power”[7] that undergirds one’s ministerial authority. His position is that a calling from God into vocational ministry implies and imparts a certain authority in ministry under which the one called may freely act. This revelation has fueled this writer’s resolve to move ahead into ministry with a more relaxed and assured sense of purpose and duty.
CONCLUSION
The readings were a mixed bag of both benign information and divine revelation for this writer. In the course of wrestling through many of the ideas and concepts contained in these readings, something of lasting import gradually became clear. This writer will never be worthy of holding a vocational ministerial position in the body of Christ, nor will he ever be fully qualified to lead even the smallest group of believers. But, he is surer of God’s calling upon his life for such service, and he is content to serve imperfectly while striving to emulate his model of perfection, Jesus Christ. And, though this writer cannot serve flawlessly, should he one day hear from the lips of his master “Well done, good and faithful servant,” his reward shall be complete and his service shall not have been offered in vain.
[1] Dan R. Crawford, Discipleshape: Twelve Weeks to Spiritual Fitness (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), 20, 37, 57, 80, 98, 114, 134, 150, 168, 189, 211, 229.
[2] Ibid., 73-75.
[3] J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership: Responding to God’s Call (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 17.
[4] Ibid., 29
[5] Ibid., 86.
[6] Walter C. Jackson, “Authority in Ministry” in Preparing for Christian Ministry: An Evangelical Approach, ed. David P. Gushee and Walter C. Jackson (Grand Rapids: BridgePoint Books, 1998), 287.
[7] Ibid.
