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Seminary education is designed to equip would-be clergy with all the necessary skills that will help them navigate their life in ministry. But seminary can’t anticipate everything clerical life throws at them. This book by a veteran priest and clerical coach will help clergy at every stage of their career navigate the complexity, drama and spiritual challenges they will face daily.
Drawing on her extensive experience working with clergy leadership training, mentoring, and coaching, Carol Pinkham Oak proposes a practical, accessible, and highly useful book for building learning communities of clergy peers who reflect together on their experiences in ministry. She characterizes the fruit of this reflective practice in ministry using three overarching themes: Connection, Clarity, and Momentum.
A seasoned sailor as well as clergy, Oak uses analogies from sailing to underline her teaching. She writes: “Just like the skill of the sailor can expand each day when the wind, waves, tides and sun are different, creating different dynamics through which to navigate, so the skill of the leader can be expanded each day when navigating the dynamics of human activity.”
"One of the great strengths of this book is Carol Pinkham Oak's conviction that ministers are formed in community as they reflect together on the realities of practice. By offering a practical framework for reflective conversations, mentoring, and lifelong learning, she equips leaders to grow in wisdom throughout every stage of ministry."
"I urge everyone entering ministry to read this book as a mentoring guide. Rev. Pinkham Oak offers a model of Reflective practice that she has clearly made her own. Sagacious, learned, and insightful, she not only provides outstanding advice, but provides multiple avenues for accessing and processing assistance as ministers move through their ministry. This should be required reading for all in their initial years of ministry."
“Wisdom is knowledge earned by practice, and the practice of ministry is a lifelong exercise of learning in community. The Reverend Carol Oak is a wise minister and a faithful guide to all who aspire to higher levels of ministry skill and deeper joys of spiritual service. Find some friends or colleagues to read and reflect together on this book. Then set sail on the never-ending adventure into the infinite horizon of God’s open future.”