Collaboration: Uniting Our Gifts in Ministry

Despite the focus on collaborative ministry in several church documents and pastoral letters in recent years, two frequently asked questions still persist: "What is it?" and "How do we make it work?" In Collaboration: Uniting Our Gifts in Ministry, authors Loughlan Sofield, S.T., and Carroll Juliano, S.H.C.J., provide answers to these questions based on their work of over twenty years with thousands of Christians who are actively working to give birth to a ministry that calls on all Christians to share their baptismal gifts. Collaboration offers a comprehensive model and a wealth of practical strategies to help ministers navigate their way through the sometimes messy, sometimes painful issues they confront. Chronicling the many developments in the church's life and practice since the issue of collaborative ministry first came into focus, they identify some of the myths and obstacles that hinder effective collaborative ministry and offer concrete examples of why and how collaboration is working. Their careful use of a full range of contemporary ecclesial documents helps readers concretize a sometimes nebulous understanding of collaborative ministry. And they show that effective collaboration requires both a collaborative spirituality and the specific skills such as group leadership, dealing with conflict, and learning to confront. Reminding us that "a non-collaborative church is a church of maintenance rather than a church of mission," the authors provide an invaluable resource to enliven the church's mission and to make the vision of collaborative ministry proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council a reality.