Designed to guide both new and experienced ministers in their everyday pastoral work, this comprehensive volume has been revised to aid twenty-first-century pastors, church staff, ministers, chaplains, and seminary students, who face the challenges of providing competent, contemporary ministry. Technological suggestions, solid policy and programming guidelines, along with specific suggestions on various aspects of ministry provide pastoral inspiration and study content. The following informative and thoroughly updated chapters are included: The Pastor and His WorkThe Building of the ChurchCommunication in the ChurchA Pastorate from Start to FinishThe Need for Pastoral PreachingThe Planned Preaching MinistryPastoral EvangelismThe Pastor and WeddingsThe Pastor's Ministry to the BereavedThe Church OrdinancesPolicies and Programs for Effective MinistryBudgeting for Effective MinistryThe Pastor and the Church StaffThe Pastor and His DeaconsThe Pastor's Public RelationsFinally, BrethrenHelpful appendices include notes on sermon planning, using technology in pastoral work, and suggested reading with updated resources for ministers.
Dr. Joe H. Cothen is a graduate of Mississippi College and the University of Southern Mississippi. He earned his ThD from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also served as professor of pastoral work. For more than four decades, he has held pastorates in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. A native of Poplarville, Mississippi, Dr. Cothen is also the author of Come to Bethlehem: The Christmas Story; The Old, Old Story: A Guide for Narrative Preaching; The Preacher's Notebook on Isaiah; and The Pulpit Is Waiting: A Guide for Pastoral Preaching, all published by Pelican.