When I get my hands on a new book I take 20 minutes to do a quick initial read through of the whole book. I look at chapter headings, and the sub-headings within the chapters to get a sense of what direction the book takes. When I come across a section that I find compelling, I’ll spend some time reading a paragraph or two.
In my initial read through of “the Power of All: Building a Multivoiced Church” I was compelled to read a section on ‘communities of disciples.’ During my reading I came across this helpful paragraph.
In our complex and evolving culture, no preacher or church leader, however gifted, has all that we need. Those who have expertise in biblical interpretation and who have been theological trained bring precious resources to the community, but we cannot expect them to be experts on the diverse social, economic, political, scientific, cultural, family, neighbourhood, organizational, and ethical issues we face. Theologians pontificating on scientific or economic issues they barely understand are no more deifying than scientists or economists with little or no theological education sounding off about theological matters. What we need, if we are to develop creative and thoughtful responses to the many issues that confront us day by day, is the shared experience, knowledge, expertise and wisdom of the whole community.
Sian and Stuart Murray Williams, “the Power of All: Building a Multivoiced Church.” pg, 133
What does it look like to develop communities predicated on this type of mutivoiced engagement? What are your expectations of a pastor?
anabaptistly 
Thanks, Chris. I find it to be a helpful book.
We will be reading through it as a staff here at Emmanuel Mennonite. I am excited to engage this book with a multitude of voices.
One of these days I’ll get around to reading this one… FORTUNATELY it’s already on my list so reading this review doesn’t expand my list… just reinforces that I don’t have enough time to read everything I want to. 🙂
As to your questions… this is where home group ministries come into play. The theologian can give the theological principles and such in a teaching environment… but there needs to be laboratories for experimentation and practical application. It’s hard to do that in a “sit in a pew” kind of atmosphere hence the need for those more intimate groups. It it’s also hard, since most of Christian theology involves the concept of community, to do those practical applications as “lone rangers”. We need those group environments to play out what we’re learning.
Yes. We neeeeeeed discernment within our communities!!! Amen brotha!