Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

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Introduction

Since its inception, readers have downloaded over 5,000 copies of articles from Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry. Those readers come from over 110 countries around the globe. Consequently, we encourage scholar/practitioners who have completed substantial work in practical theology to consider Discernment as a vehicle to share their hard-won wisdom. We are currently working on a number of new articles; those that exit the review process in the next few weeks will be added to this issue; those completed later will find a place in Issue 2, which will be published later this year.

In this issue, Mason Lee considers the value of virtue in dealing with the realities of how congregations read texts. Congregations that have learned to incorporate certain virtues into their character, both corporately and individually, are more likely to be able to work through significant differences in how individuals in that congregation read the text. In "Reading the Bible Together: The Virtue of Patience as a Resource for Navigating Interpretive Disagreements in Congregations," Lee presents patience as a key virtue in this regard.

Rains, Schroeder, and Bruner present "A Reader's Guide to Children's Ministry." As a field of study too few know well, children--and ministry with children--have become the focus of an increasing number of scholars and practitioners over the last several decades. These authors have surveyed this field of work, present and describe the most prominent books, and indicate their significance to the scholar, the minister, and the people in the pew.