Pastor Paul
Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Being a pastor is a complicated calling. Pastors are often pulled in multiple directions and must "become all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22). What does the New Testament say (or not say) about the pastoral calling? And what can we learn about it from the apostle Paul?
According to popular New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, pastoring must begin first and foremost with spiritual formation, which plays a vital role in the life and ministry of the pastor. As leaders, pastors both create and nurture culture in a church. The biblical vision for that culture is Christoformity, or Christlikeness. Grounding pastoral ministry in the pastoral praxis of the apostle Paul, McKnight shows that nurturing Christoformity was at the heart of the Pauline mission. The pastor's central calling, then, is to mediate Christ in everything. McKnight explores seven dimensions that illustrate this concept--friendship, siblings, generosity, storytelling, witness, subverting the world, and wisdom--as he calls pastors to be conformed to Christ and to nurture a culture of Christoformity in their churches.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this wise work, New Testament scholar McKnight (The Jesus Creed) uses the ministry of Paul to guide pastors in their vocation. With deep affection for a pastor's "complicated calling," McKnight explains how pastors are nurturers of "Christoformity," meaning that they are meant to conform to the principles and disposition of Christ. With this focus on spiritual formation, he emphasizes that the central activity of pastoring isn't preaching, but rather it is listening to God. McKnight warns pastors against being tempted by the celebrity and image-driven world of social media. Instead, he writes, pastors should focus on the heart of Paul's ministry, which he categorizes into seven themes: a culture of friendship, siblings, generosity, storytellers, witness, world subversion, and wisdom. While McKnight holds up Paul as a lodestar for living faithfully, he also criticizes some of Paul's choices, such as his rift with Barnabas and John Mark: "I confess that I think Paul was just too hard-nosed." McKnight frequently digs into the Hebrew or Greek of the Bible to better expose the true meaning and context of passages, but his tone remains conversational throughout. Though best suited for those in the pastorate, general Christian readers will relish McKnight's insightful exploration of Paul's letters.
