Synopses & Reviews
The drive to excel. The need to achieve. The desire to compete. These areconcerns that face every pastor, but rarely are these issues discussed openly.Pastors, like other professionals, are human beings who have a need to achieve.Unfortunately, because pastors are expected to be models of altruism, this needfrequently goes unrecognized or is denied outright. Pastors then are faced with theproblem of learning to channel this unexpressed desire into positive, healthyavenues, while they struggle at the same time to curb any feelings of self-servingambition. They must discover how to balance the needs of their vocation with theirown need to compete. And pastors must silently confront and resolve issues ofpersonal integrity that relate to the never-ending struggle for bucks, bodies, andsouls.
At last, Robert Schnase brings this potentially dark sideof ministry to light. In Ambition in Ministry, he examines themotivations for accomplishment in ministry and, in so doing, identifies a number ofpower-hungry personality types: the Wily Politico, the Spiteful Malcontent, theFavor Currier, the Arbitrary Intervener, and others. Schnase demonstrates how suchpersons destroy community and develop a politics of manipulation or resignation inministry. Ambition in Ministry confronts these issues openly inorder to help pastors recognize their feelings in this area and to suggest waysclergy can use natural aspirations to strengthen their ministry and avoid thedestructive, life-sapping desires of self-promoting ambition. Essential reading forevery ministry professional.