Revisiting a Great Book

Creative Ministry by Henri Nouwen

You know a book is good when you read it at least a couple of times, and that seems to be the case for most of Henri Nouwen's books.  Nouwen had the unique gift of saying very powerful things in a very short amount of book space.  And this book is no different.  This is a book that I have read a couple of times and each time I read it I learn new things from him.  Nouwen's main concern of the book is "the relationship between professionalism and spirituality in the ministry."  With this concern in mind, he focuses on five key areas:

1. Beyond The Transference Of Knowledge: Teaching
2. Beyond The Retelling Of The Story: Preaching
3. Beyond The Skillful Response: Individual Pastoral Care
4. Beyond The Manipulation Of Structures: Organizing
5. Beyond The Protective Ritual: Celebrating

Even though this book was written in 1971 it is as timeless as ever, and Nouwen appears more and more to come across as a prophetic voice in these important times.  Nouwen critiques his own book near the end, obviously stating that these five areas are not the only ones that are important to ministry, but I think they cover a pretty expansive spectrum of the life of ministry.  I especially found helpful the chapters on preaching and organizing.

I recommend that every preacher read the chapter on preaching, and I guarantee that you will walk away, or should walk away with some conviction in this area of ministry.  This specific quote really stuck with me:

Perhaps the greatest temptation of the preacher is to think that only he has a theology and to believe that the best thing to do is to convert all those who listen to his way of thinking.  In this way, however, he has failed to realize that in a very real sense he has not loved his neighbor as himself, since he has not taken their views and experiences just as seriously as his own.  When this is true, in fact, many of those who listen to his viewpoint will become indifferent or irritated without exactly knowing why.  And the preacher who spends a great deal of time studying books and preparing his sermons will himself become more and more disillusioned as he starts feeling that nobody wants to listen to the Word of God.  All the while, however, he has forgotten that God's Word does not have to be exactly the same as his own.  When the preacher addresses himself to non-existent feelings and is anxiously preoccupied with his own theology, he tends to increase instead of decrease the already existing resistance against the message (pp. 33).