The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers

by David Hansen

Publisher:

IVP

, 2012

Overview

Named one of the Top Ten Books by the Academy of Parish Clergy

Hundreds of books, tapes, workshops and seminars promise to answer these impossible questions. Some offer a set of practical guidelines; others suggest a system or pattern to follow. Some stress various ministry functions; others feature case studies as models of success or failure. Some are helpful. Others are not. But in The Art of Pastoring, David Hansen turns pastoral self-help programs on their heads. He tackles the perennial questions from within his own experience.

From the Inside Out

Hansen’s fresh, bold narrative grows from nearly a decade of ministry. He draws you into his life and into the lives of Florence-Victor Parish in the mountains of Montana, including unforgettable encounters with unforgettable people--a stubborn pioneer woman who still chops her own firewood though she’s blind and 90 years old, a championship rodeo cowboy who was baptized in his boots, and many more. Hansen’s goal is to help you discover “that pastoral ministry is a life, not a technology... [that] life as a pastor is far more than the sum of the tasks I carry out. It is a call from God that involves my whole life.”

From Calling to Living Parable

Every pastor has encountered those who struggle to hear God’s voice in a hospital room, who reach for Jesus in the sacraments. No systematic answers can meet their deep, eternal needs. What can touch them, Hansen contends, is a life itself, a life lived as a parable of Jesus. “As a parable of Jesus Christ,” Hansen writes, “I deliver something to the parishioner that I am not, and in the process I deliver the parishioner into the hands of God.”

It is this knack for getting to the heart of things that makes The Art of Pastoring valuable for pastors in any setting--rural, suburban or urban. Parachurch workers, missionaries, church leaders and ministry volunteers will also find inspiration here.

In this significantly revised new edition, Hansen includes new insights into his view of pastorate as parable and adds a new postlude in which he comes clean on his “constant attempts to leave the ministry.”

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Key Features

• Offers a set of practical guidelines.
• Turns pastoral self-help programs on their heads.
• Includes new insights into his view of pastorate as parable.

Praise for the Print Edition

This book literally saved my ministry.

--From the foreword by Ian Stackhouse, Guildford Baptist Church, Surrey, UK

Hansen’s The Art of Pastoring is a gem that most pastors should read every few years to recenter their lives and ministries on and in Jesus Christ. I do not fly fish, nor do I tend sheep. Yet I understand what Jesus means when he says to ‘tend my shee’; I also understand what Hansen means when he says that the pastor is the fishermans fly.

--Scott W. Sunquist, dean, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

The ‘art’ of pastoring, indeed! Not a science, not a technique, not a manual-driven set of programs, but a deeply felt, highly nuanced story of God’s transforming grace being manifest by his servants. No one paints this picture of the life and ministry of the pastor better than David Hansen.

--Dr. David Horn, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Title: The Art of Pastoring: Ministry without All the Answers
• Author: David Hansen
• Publisher: IVP
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 223
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Pastoral theology; Clergy › Office
• ISBNs: 9780830866533, 9780830841042, 0830866531, 0830841040
• Resource ID: LLS:9780830866533
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T20:50:50Z

About David Hansen

David Hansen is pastor of Heritage Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also pastored in Montana, the setting for many of the stories in his book The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers (IVP). Hansen is also author of Loving the Church You Lead: Pastoring with Acceptance and Grace (Baker). In 1999, Hansen was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has been a contributing editor for Leadership Journal, and is a frequent speaker at pastoral ministry conferences.

Sample Pages from The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers