Power in Weakness
Paul?s Transformed Vision for Ministry
Author Timothy G. Gombis Foreword by Michael J. Gorman ISBN 9780802871251 Binding Trade Paper Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date February 02, 2021 Size 140 x 216 mmEnvisioning cruciform community built on resurrection hope
After Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he turned from coercion and violence to a ministry centered on the hope of Christ’s resurrection. In earthly terms, Paul had traded power for weakness. But—as he explained in his subsequent letters—this “weakness” was actually the key to flourishing community that is able to experience God’s transformation, restoration, and healing. What would it mean for pastors today to take seriously Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” and lead their congregations in this way?
Instead of drawing leadership principles and practices from the worlds of business, education, and politics—which tend to orient churches around institutional power and image maintenance—Timothy Gombis follows Paul in resisting the influence of the “present evil age” by making cruciformity the operating principle of the church. Gombis guides the reader through practices and patterns that can lead a congregation past a focus on individual salvation, toward becoming instead a site of resurrection power on earth.
“This is a breath of fresh air to read in the era of ‘influencers’ and self-help sermons and should be required reading for those already leading or aspiring to lead churches.”
“The words of Paul and the words of Tim work together in this book to offer us a fresh, compelling vision of ministry for the contemporary church. Let those who have ears to hear, hear.”
— Michael J. Gorman
from the foreword
“Could pastors need a conversion? Could the professionalization of ‘ministry’ actually set us up against God? Tim Gombis helps us see Paul as a pastor engaged in self-oriented ministry before he met Jesus, willing to use coercive power in order to move God to act on Israel’s behalf. Tim calls pastors to the same shattering renovation that Paul himself underwent and offers vulnerable examples from his own pastoral journey. This book is about Paul, about Tim, and about all of us engaged in the perilous vocation of shepherding God's flock. Kyrie eleison.”
— Julie Canlis
author of Calvin’s Ladder
“Tim Gombis is an outstanding teacher and an expert on Paul. This book confronts the disturbing postures of power that have become prevalent in the church and provides new possibilities for cross-shaped leadership. The compelling ways of thinking that Tim proposes have radically transformed my own approach to ministry over the last decade. I highly recommend Power in Weakness for pastors and leaders who desire to serve Christ and his church well.”
— Brenda DeVries
pastor, The Journey, Grandville, Michigan
“As a pastor for nearly three decades, I was constantly bombarded with resources on leadership. Many were not helpful, and few were biblical. Timothy Gombis provides a needed alternative to popular models of leadership, which can be controlling and coercive even when efficient. In Power in Weakness, Gombis applies the paradoxical nature of following Jesus (i.e., the way up is down) to Christian leadership. Gombis explores the apostle Paul with pastoral sensitivity and exegetical skill, offering us a Christlike, cross-shaped pattern for leadership. Power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Pastors and other ministry leaders, even if initially agitated, will ultimately be motivated to serve God with power discovered and energized through weakness.”
— Dennis R. Edwards
author of Might from the Margins: The Gospel’s Power to Turn the Tables on Injustice
“This is the book I wish I’d read twenty years ago on my way into pastoral ministry. Every pastor takes his or her cues to some degree from Paul’s letters and example. Yet we tend to read Paul through the lens of our own assumptions. Tim Gombis puts Paul in his own world and helps us see how Paul understood his pastoral ministry.”
— Chris Gonzalez
president, Missional Training Center
“Most of the books I have read on pastoral leadership suffer from a fatal flaw. They try to ‘use’ Scripture to help pastors ‘succeed.’ But success is often connected to church size, money, power, and popularity. These kinds of books are misguided because they try to squeeze biblical material to fit into a worldly mold. Gombis subverts that approach by demonstrating the cruciform spirit of Paul's ministry. Power in Weakness blends biblical insight with numerous case studies in real-life ministry today. This is not only one of the best ministry books I have read but an incisive study of Paul's theology as well."
— Nijay K. Gupta
author of Paul and the Language of Faith
“What kinds of values shape our churches and pastoral leaders in North America? All around us we see churches, pastors, and ministries devoted to success, prestige, excellence, efficiency, influence, and church growth. But what resemblance do these values have with Paul’s consistent emphasis on God’s power revealed in the self-abasement of the humble Christ? Gombis provides not only a theology of Paul’s ministry but also guides us to think with Paul what it would look like if our churches and leaders truly sought to embody Paul’s vision of cruciformity. This is a vision of ministry and pastoral leadership our churches desperately need to hear.”
— Joshua W. Jipp
author of Saved by Faith and Hospitality
“Drawing on years as a scholar of Paul, in this book Tim Gombis translates and applies his scholarship to contemporary pastoral realities, shaped by his own de
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Paul’s Unconverted Ministry
2. Conversion of Paul’s Resurrection Imagination
3. Conversion of Paul’s Ministry Imagination
4. Pastoral Ministry in Cosmic Perspective
5. Cruciform Ministry and Image Maintenance
6. Cruciformity and Credential Accumulation
7. Cruciformity, Passivity, and Taking the Initiative
8. Cruciform Ministry Postures
Epilogue
Bibliographic Essay