The Pastor as Midwife
Life-Giving Leadership for the Healing of the Church
- Church Leadership & Ministry
- Publisher: IVP Academic (InterVarsity Press)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Lessons from Midwives for Pastoral Leadership We find ourselves in a moment in which the church is in great pain. Congregations are dwindling, denominations are fracturing, and church scandals have become all too common. We need a new imagination to capture the hopefulness of God birthing something new in the midst of the pain of the old creation. In The Pastor as Midwife, Shawna Songer Gaines brings her pastoral experience alongside her research on the vocation and practices of midwifery to explore a vision of pastoral leadership that is shaped by the wisdom of those who walk alongside expectant mothers. Learning to pastor like a midwife helps us embrace what God is doing in our pain and see new life in unlikely places. This book gives pastors a ministry paradigm that embraces change and pain as part of God's salvific work in the world. Gaines helps pastors embrace a new, life-giving posture for ministry marked by advocacy, listening, and letting go of control. Like the apostle Paul in Romans 8:22, pastors who long to witness the birth of God’s new creation are invited to imagine their work like a hopeful midwife. With The Pastor as Midwife, you will: learn how the practices and wisdom of midwives offer a new way of approaching pastoral leadership, a way that begins and ends with a hopeful view of God's work in birthing new creation; engage with thought-provoking reflection questions to explore your own leadership patterns; and reenvision ministry to see change and pain as integral to God’s life-giving work in the world. Wherever you are in your journey as a pastor, The Pastor as Midwife offers a thoughtful and hopeful perspective on ministry in a changing and often challenging world. Learn to witness and partner with God in the birth of new creation with The Pastor as Midwife, trusting in the Spiritof God who brings new life to a fallen but beautiful world.
Endorsements (3)
“We always live inside metaphors. All humans do. Metaphors are powerful shapers of our actions, pastoral practice not excluded. We might argue that the challenges facing pastoral ministry, and the church overall, are a deficiency in a rich theological and practical metaphor to guide us. If this is the case, then Shawna Songer Gaines does us all the best of services. With beautiful writing and deep insight, she gives us a metaphor to live by, a metaphor that can lead pastoral practice to holdtogether both the divine and human realities. From this metaphor she offers us new visions of life and fullness for the church and the vocation of the minister. This book is a gift.”
“Ludwig Wittgenstein warned us that pictures can hold us captive. There are many metaphors or word-pictures that have captured the imagination of pastors and ministers. Some of them have been helpful, and some (especially those imported from otherspheres of life and influence) have had their limitations. Shawna Songer Gaines wants to offer a fresh (and biblical) word-picture for ministry. The pastor as midwife. This book offers a fresh, insightful, and creative way for pastors to frame their ministry as they participate in the birth of a community that reflects the new creation.”
“Wise and tender, Shawna Songer Gaines recovers a biblical metaphor deeply needed in our time, a metaphor that can bring healing and transformation to a hurting church. Gaines has midwifed me in discipleship and leadership, and you won't regret inviting her to do the same for you.”
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