Thomas Chapman’s book A Practical Handbook for Ministry is an interesting and important work for any person who wants to successfully run a ministry. In this book, Chapman has edited and compiled the writings of Wayne Oates, a man who possessed tremendous wisdom both in theology and leadership. With that in mind, this book presents just what its name suggests – a practical means for individuals to lead churches and other ministries.
The first part of the book deals with the pastor, who he is, and who he must be. The author believes that the pastor has a special duty. He must be called by God, and more than that, he must be prepared to live to a higher standard. In this part of the book, the author is challenging the reader to question whether he is ready to lead.
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"Book Review: A Practical Handbook for Ministry".
Likewise, this book is strong because of its ability to identify the many different layers of pastoring. In some cases, people have to care for the physical needs of the hungry or sick. In other cases, people need to care for the emotional needs of the weary. Of course the pastor’s role is ultimately to care for the spiritual needs of people. All of these things go into pastoring, and the author makes that abundantly clear.
The author also takes on a tough topic – just how “official” must a pastor be? The author concludes that there can be a mixture of professional and charismatic. The pastor, it seems, needs to be able to walk a path down both of these lines without straying, and that can be a difficult task in some instances.
One of the neat things about this book is that it can be digested in parts. One does not need to sit down and read the entire thing. Rather, one can pull it from the shelves and refer to an individual part when the situation arises. This is why the book is so practical. It reads almost like a how-to book for pastoring rather than a long treatise on pastoral theory.
A good example of this is with the book’s section on the nuclear family. Often, a pastor will be charged with the duty of helping a couple or a family through a rough spot. This book is able to shift gears adequately to prepare the pastor for what that might look like and how he should respond.
Likewise, the author deals extensively with pastoral counseling. This is where the author’s bread and butter lied throughout his life. He believed that a major part of the pastor’s role was to be a good counselor. This meant more than just agreeing to listen. It meant that the pastor needed legitimate psychological skill. The book provides a guide on how to do this for someone who might be unfamiliar.
There are some weaknesses to this book. It is not exactly an updated version. Much of the wisdom is quite old, and while it can be applied to modern churches, it is written from a more traditional perspective. It can also be difficult to apply for people in bigger churches, as this seems to have been written with small and medium-sized churches in mind.
This particular book is a good one for a person who wants a lot of advice on a lot of topics. The combined writings of Wayne E. Oates, it provides his wisdom on almost every topic that a minister could imagine. It is a good book that comes with good theological backing, and its tone is quite authoritative. It is the kind of work that probably could occupy the shelf of every minister, as it might be used on occasion when a tough topic comes along.
