Joan S. Gray

Our Presbyterian church, which is in transition between called pastors, used this book to begin our exploration to rethink our mission. On reason we selected this book from three our Transitional Pastor suggested for study, was because Rev. Gray is a Presbyterian Pastor and a past moderator of the General Assembly. In this book Rev. Gray presents a lot of food for thought and discussion, and I feel the people who participated in our church's classes benefited from it. I certainly did. Of show more course, we want our churches to be "sailboat" churches, not "rowboat" churches; we want to follow God's spirit and the direction the wind takes us.

However, I really got hung up on the word "discernment" and its variations. Though I am a college graduate and a lifetime Presbyterian, this is a word that I have NEVER used in my vocabulary and beginning on about page 52, she uses it consistently (much too frequently for my comfort level), and I had to do a lot of research on its meaning, its synonyms, antonyms, etc. show less

This book is an excellent guide for church leaders, elders and deacons, to learn to function as spiritual leaders in their congregations. A good overview, with practical and encouraging suggestions, it is helpful and timely.