Ministry Nuts and Bolts: What They Don't Teach Pastors in Seminary

"I believe that a person who attempts to lead a ministry without a vision will have an experience similar to a blindfolded tourist attempting to drive around the Arc de Triomphe. Except for the Scriptures, the only constant in today's world is change. We live in a century wherein everything is changing at breakneck speed. Navigating a ministry vehicle through the last decade of the twentieth century and beyond will prove impossible unless everyone on board knows where that vehicle is headed." (92-93) Malphurs, Aubrey Ministry Nuts and Bolts: What They Don't Teach Pastors in Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. 192pg. The author's motivating thesis In reading the book Ministry Nuts and Bolts I quickly located a number of statements that suggest the author's purpose. From distinguishing vision from mission, all the way to the stressed importance of core value development, to the push for team-based ministry, Aubrey Malphurs indicates a number of underlining objectives. One major and clearly intentional objective however, is far beyond the realm of speculation as it is printed far before the book gets started. Located at the end of the books' introduction Aubrey Malphurs writes, "I have written this book to help leaders, pastors, and church boards think through these ministry ABCs", and as Mr. Malphurs explains these "Ministry ABCs" are "the core values [that] form the fundamental nuts and bolts of any ministry." (12) In short, he intends to help the reader develop and implement core values, mission directives, a clear vision and the strategy to make it all work. Identification of the author's underlying convictions I. The first section of this book is about defining, discovering and developing core values. Here Aubrey Malphurs asks the reader to define what kind of church you are and to discuss the "core values" of the congregation and focus on those that are constant, passionate, and biblical beliefs. These core values Malphurs writes, are what "drive[s] the ministry vehicle" and "make[s] sure that ministry leadership know[s] itself". (18) Constant passionate core beliefs that are biblical he suggests create a launching pad for each ministries direction and intent. II. In the second section Aubrey Malphurs asks the reader to define and develop a mission both congregationally and personally. This he writes is to be used to develop a credo: a credo that defines the mission. And mission as he puts it is "a broad biblical statement of what the organization is supposed to be doing." The question "what is mission" should answer another question: "what are we trying to do?" (67) Mission comes out of determining your niece and seeing what can be done. In this section as well Malphurs distinguishes between setting personal and professional mission statement but includes some conflict management tools as helps. In addition Malphurs also includes a template for creating a written mission statement. This mission is cognitive and describes where

This title is one of several books I have read by Aubrey Malphurs. He is, in my estimation, the best authority on church strategic planning for established, evangelical churches. In this volume, the author gives an overview of church strategic planning, ideal for a seminary graduate beginning his first pastorate or an older pastor who is just beginning to think strategically. To get the full scope of Malphurs' thought, the best title is "Advanced Strategic Planning." This work could have been entitled "Basic Strategic Planning" -- it is a good introduction to the subject. If you're looking for a resource person on church strategic planning, you simply can't go wrong with Malphurs. Everything I have read by him is top-notch and first-rate.

Malphurs is the best writer of practical planning and the development of a church's strategy that I have seen to date. He takes the mission, vision, values of various organizations and shows how they are of immense importance for preventing conflict and setting goals. I use this book when I consult with pastors and elders around the world. He takes advantage of the information in both business and religion to help leaders think about their goals and thenfollow through on them.