Book Review: Developing in Ministry

This is the second volume I've reviewed in SPCK's "Library of Ministry", the first being Keith Lamdin's "Finding Your Leadership Style", which was an interesting book on the topic of Christian/Church leadership. Todays offering, "Developing in Ministry" by Neil Evans, is in a similar vein, with its subtitle "Handbook for Effective Christian Learning and Training", looking at the area of personal professional development and how that applies to clergy. Written with particularly Anglican clergy in mind, this book offers an interesting insight into that world, and offers some useful tips and thoughts for other leaders.

This book is fairly straightforward to review - it is a useful resource that contextualises (into the church) the concept of personal career development. This is well known speak in the business world, and Evans does a good job of relating these ideas to Church Minsitry. Doubtless this is largely due to the years he has spent doing just that in practical terms! The need for this book is there, I believe, due to something the author identifies early on; "The Church has in the past had an unfortunate association with things being done shoddily and without proper care and attention". This is, sadly, often the case, and (I would imagine) professional clergy and unpaid alike would benefit from some of the ideas in this book.

This book is immensely practical, with not a wasted word in my opinion. Its 8 chapters cover issues like management of change and relationships, the issues of complementary approaches (Delegation and so on), self-reflection and evaluation,  a Trinitarian understanding and justificaiton of Shared Ministry, and a call for an integrated and structured approach to development in ministry. Whilst much of the issues outlined are within an Anglican context, I would imagine that those of us outside that ecclesial fold can learn a lot about developing our leadership skills from implementing some of the basics in this book.

I enjoyed reading this - though I knew from the title that it would not be a narrative masterpiece or piece of theological revolution. But sometimes its good to read practical books, that aid us in the moment rather than forcing us to reflect on our very being! For this reason, I'd recommend this book to people in church leadership, regardless of position and pay, as a way of evaluating and thinking through issues of effectiveness and development.