Books about Willimon from Amazon.com

Ordained ministry, says Willimon, is a gift of God to the church--but that doesn't mean that it is easy. Always a difficult vocation, changes in society and the church in recent years have made the ordained life all the more complex and challenging Is the pastor primarily a preacher, a professional caregiver, an administrator? Given the call of all Christians to be ministers to the world, what is the distinctive ministry of the ordained? When does one's ministry take on the character of prophet, and when does it become that of priest? What are the special ethical obligations and disciplines of the ordained? In this book, Willimon explores these and other central questions about the vocation of ordained ministry. He begins with a discussion of who pastors are, asking about the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, and then moves on to what pastors do, looking at the distinctive roles the pastor must fulfill. The book also draws on great teachers of the! Christian tradition to demonstrate that, while much about Christian ministry has changed, its core concerns--preaching the word, the care of souls, the sacramental life of congregations--remains the same. Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we are called, not a profession that we choose. To answer that call is to open oneself to heartache and sometimes hardship; yet, given the one who calls, it is to make oneself available to deep and profound joy as well..
Price: $16.19 [Notify me when price goes down.]

One of the world s most admired preachers here offers his practical and sage advice for some of the most basic tasks of ministry: preparing, delivering, and evaluating sermons; planning, leading, and evaluating worship services; offering public prayers; and celebrating baptism and the Lord's Supper. In addition, Willimon provides creative suggestions for involving laity in worship. Ideal for beginning ministers and seasoned veterans alike, A Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship will assuredly become a standard must-have for mainline Protestant clergy..
Price: $10.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Who will be saved?" is almost always a question about them, and rarely about us. Thinking itself wrapped securely in the everlasting arms, the church has spent much of its history speculating on whether God will allow anyone else to join the party. One of today's most respected theologians contends that the church should stop asking "Who will be saved?" and ask instead "How is God calling me to participate in the redemption of the world?" Who Will Be Saved? draws on Wesleyan tradition and the teachings of Karl Barth to examine carefully the biblical teaching on the reach and scope of God's salvation while enabling readers to explore and reach their own conclusions on the question of whether all will, in the end, be saved..
Price: $9.41 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Foreword by William H. Willimon This collection of vividly illustrative sermons by a leading contemporary Episcopalian preacher eloquently heralds the Christian call to faith in the face of modern challenges. Widely known for their up-to-the-minute relevance to modern life, the sermons of Fleming Rutledge are always out on the edge, challenging the boundaries of contemporary thought and experience. No issue is too threatening, no event too shocking, no question too impertinent to be addressed. Following Karl Barth's dictum that sermons should be written with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, Rutledge weaves the changing events of the daily news together with the unchanging rhythms of the church seasons. Her book leads readers through the liturgical year, from All Saints to Pentecost, showing how the biblical story intersects with our own stories..
Price: $7.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Willimon writes with passion about the dynamics and implications of preaching to a congregation, to those who, having been called, are either baptized or yet to be baptized The preacher, says Willimon, needs to address the people in a congregation with "peculiar speech", letting the biblical text call them to live a transformed life in keeping with their baptism..
Price: $8.30 [Notify me when price goes down.]

William Willimon combines the latest findings in Lukan scholarship with he pastoral, educational, and theological concern of the local church to provide a new interpretation of Acts. He bases his comment on the idea that the purpose of Acts was not to make Christianity acceptable to the Roman state but rather to preserve the integrity of the church against the onslaught of classical culture..
Price: $12.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]