From earliest times the Western Church has fiercely debated questions about the place of the ministry within the Church and Church government. What requirements should be met by candidates for holy orders and what do we expect of priests and ministers: personal holiness, training for their calling, social skills or merely the possession of official ordination? The Church has at different times produced very different answers and the 30 scholars from Britain, the Netherlands, and Belgium, whose papers in this volume follow the course of the debate concerning the good shepherd from the early church through to modern times, show on the one hand what happens to Christian communities that have lost a clear view of the functions of the ministry and on the other just how much trust people have always placed in their priests and pastors. With contributions by Anton Weiler, Charles Caspers, Robert Swanson, Petty Bange, Mathilde van Dijk, Claire Cross, Fred van Lieburg, Ingrid Dobbe, Frank van de Pol, Eamon Duffy, Joke Spaans, Trevor Johnson, Gian Ackermans, David Wykes, Jeremy Gregory, W.M. Jacob, Joris van Eijnatten, Nigel Yates, David Bos, Leo Kenis, F.G.M. Broeyer, Frances Knight, John Tomlinson, Stuart Mews, Lieve Gevers and Ian Jones.

From earliest times the Western Church has fiercely debated questions about the place of the ministry within the Church and Church government. What requirements should be met by candidates for holy orders and what do we expect of priests and ministers: personal holiness, training for their calling, social skills or merely the possession of official ordination? The Church has at different times produced very different answers and the 30 scholars from Britain, the Netherlands, and Belgium, whose papers in this volume follow the course of the debate concerning the good shepherd from the early church through to modern times, show on the one hand what happens to Christian communities that have lost a clear view of the functions of the ministry and on the other just how much trust people have always placed in their priests and pastors. With contributions by Anton Weiler, Charles Caspers, Robert Swanson, Petty Bange, Mathilde van Dijk, Claire Cross, Fred van Lieburg, Ingrid Dobbe, Frank van de Pol, Eamon Duffy, Joke Spaans, Trevor Johnson, Gian Ackermans, David Wykes, Jeremy Gregory, W.M. Jacob, Joris van Eijnatten, Nigel Yates, David Bos, Leo Kenis, F.G.M. Broeyer, Frances Knight, John Tomlinson, Stuart Mews, Lieve Gevers and Ian Jones.

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Church growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church? Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.

The following commentary is an attempt to address the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium on the Roman Curia (March 19, 2022). Primarily it will reflect the changes made regarding the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus (June 28, 1988); other relevant documents that have (had) an impact will be referred to as well. Pastor Bonus - Praedicate Evangelium. Commentary only outlines the changes that came with the new Apostolic Constitution; it is not the author's intent to provide a detailed commentary on the Secretariat of State, curial institutions, institutes of justice and finance or other offices.