Pastoral Imagination
Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life
- Church Leadership & Ministry
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2021
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Publisher's Description
In Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life, Eileen R. Campbell-Reed informs and inspires the practice of ministry through slices of "on the ground" learning experienced by seminarians, pastors, activists, and chaplains and gathered from qualitative studies of ministry. Each of the fifty chapters explores a single concept through story, reflection, and provocative open-ended questions designed to spark conversation between ministers and mentors, among ministry peers, or for personal journal reflections. The book provides a framework for understanding ministry as an embodied, relational, integrative, and spiritual practice. Pastoral Imagination is closely integrated with the author's Three Minute Ministry Mentor web resource, which introduces the topics in the book through brief video presentations. The book serves as a coaching guide and a ministry mentor in its own right by expanding on these topics through the author's reflections, observations, and questions. Addressing the importance of the practice of ministry, Campbell-Reed states: "Ministry itself, like most professions and complex practices, is dogged and driven by a rush to achieve. Yet to focus on achievement can be disastrous, especially if we skip over the steps for learning. To learn the practice of ministry--a multifaceted professional and spiritual practice--takes time and preparation, risk and responsibility, support and feedback." The book can be used by individuals for personal growth; with groups in new-pastor retreats, CPE training programs, ministry peer groups, or supervision settings such as internship or field education; for devotional inspiration at staff meetings; and in seminary classrooms that prioritize teaching ministry as a practice. The Pastoral Imagination Journal is a companion to Campbell-Reed’s book Pastoral Imagination. The 8″ x 10″ journal is full color, 108 pages, and it includes questions for reflection from all 50 chapters of the book. Blank pages allow space to write reflections. The journal is available exclusively at the author's web site.
Endorsements (7)
“Campbell-Reed's book is ideal for giving both professors and students a vision, rich stories, and deep questions to accompany them as they learn in practice how to speak love, enact hope, and demand justice in our broken and beautiful world.”
“Encyclopedic in scope and pulsing with heart in every word. Pastoral Imagination is a compendium of wisdom and a companion for ministry. Pastors will turn to it again and again.”
“Eileen Campbell-Reed has given us all a generous invitation to ponder anew what makes for faithful leadership today. Through story and scholarship... you will find here a treasure trove of insight, learning, and wisdom... that nurtures a lifetime of ministry.”
“Evocative, discerning, and insightful--this book gives... a travel itinerary for how ministers become engaging leaders of communities of faith today.”
“Pastoral Imagination is a book of wisdom. Campbell-Reed expertly mentors the reader in the habits, disposition, and reflective ways of being that catalyze growth.”
“Gaining wisdom in the pastorate typically takes decades of trial and error and lots of support and advice from colleagues. In Pastoral Imagination, Campbell-Reed does us a great service by distilling decades of developed intuition into 'ministry minutes,' giving us the mentor that we need.”
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