dissertation

268
may also be important – then they are to be encouraged to embark on a more formal
theological training. 287
Recruitment and selection, then, go hand in hand. The job of the church is not only to
recruit those who are suitable but also to screen out those who are unsuitable. “The active
recruitment of young adults who are then prepared through the screening process
has to be the name of the game.” 288 One additional important criterion for selection, according
to Eddie Gibbs, is engagement with society. “Those who seek ministry in the
church as an escape from the pressures of secular employment need to be weeded out.
At the same time, those offering themselves for ministry without any significant life experience
outside of the church need to immerse themselves in the secular world – just as
a missionary candidate would be encouraged to have pre-field cross-cultural experience.”
289
Anglican Bob Jackson argues in favor of ‘a culture of recruitment’. He says that the
culture and perhaps the theology dictates that the church should sit back and wait for
people with an inner sense of call to come to it. The church today, however, “needs
every parish priest and every church member to be a potential active recruiter of young
ordinands.” 290 Jackson believes that seminary candidates should show potential as
leaders of mission and a commitment to enable others in mission and evangelism. Referring
to the perhaps simplistic, but still suggestive table Future shapes of ministry below,
he writes, “Sometimes our selection procedures and our culture have screened out the
‘right hand’ types of people in favour of those on the left. Now we actively need to recruit
them:” 291
Pastor to the flock Leader in mission
Church curator
Church planter
Chaplain
Missionary
Settler
Pioneer
Conformist
Entrepreneur
Being safe
Taking risks
Maintaining existing forms Pioneering fresh expressions
Doing the ministry Ensuring it is done
Father Cork
Enabler of others’ ministries
Multi-competent dog collar Specialist team
Single-church leader Oversight of churches
286
Cf. Guder ed., Missional Church, 213.
287
Cf. Carl George, “It is fictitious to think that seminaries are able to create leaders. Seminaries can polish
leaders; they can be identified, improved on, and perfected. The most practical approach is not to let anybody
in who doesn’t know already how to lead.” George, The Coming Church Revolution, 299-300.
288
Jackson, The Road to Growth, 117.
289
Gibbs, Leadership Next, 38.
290
Jackson, The Road to Growth, 117.
291
Ibid., 121.