Description: If you have picked up this book, chances are you are a committed follower of Christ. Like many searching Christians you are tired of religious busywork and showy piety. You long for authentic worship and meaningful service. You came to Christ with deep expectations of transformation and service, but those passions have been starved by shallow theology and superficial relationships. You are looking for something more. You are ready to sink your mind into what the Bible says about the call of God, the priesthood of all believers, and what it means to live for Christ and his kingdom. The two-volume Living in Tension offers in-depth spiritual direction on the crucial issues shaping a theology of ministry. This is not a book for pastors only. Webster intentionally blurs the distinction between pastor and congregation. This book is for all believers who take God's call to salvation, service, sacrifice, and simplicity seriously. Living in Tension provides need-to-know insights for every congregation. Pastors will find that this passionate and practical theology translates well into their own lives and into the life of the church. Endorsements: ""The alarming rate of dropouts from ministry shows something is seriously wrong in the way we prepare people . . . This book is a needed corrective to this trend because it develops a biblical base for the nature of ministry and helps a believer understand his or her call. Down-to-earth examples and stories of faithful practitioners, whose ministries have stood the test of time, add to the usefulness of this book."" --Ajith Fernando, National Director, Youth for Christ Sri Lanka ""Webster presents a trajectory of cultural understanding and engagement that has characterized his own life and ministry. He invites the people of God to see ministry rooted in Christ and in the fullness of the gospel, with an emphasis on passion not profession, spirituality not scholarship, and contemplation not consumerism."" --Rod J. K. Wilson, President, Regent College ""A theology of ministry that doesn't properly navigate gospel-induced tensions will default to pragmatisms and insularities that obscure the way of Jesus with his church. It will begin and end with us rather than God. Living in Tension is a spiritual formation tool, the ripened fruit of Webster's carefully cultivated reflection on developing resilient saints true to God's gifts and call."" --Cole Huffman, Senior Pastor, First Evangelical Church ""Writing a theology of ministry is far more difficult than it seems, for it must bring worlds together that remain stubbornly separate . . . The task is made all the more difficult because of the subject matter itself, which is as peculiar as the gospel. This is the point Webster makes so thoroughly and insightfully. As a pastor, preacher, and theologian, he has done the work to write this book. It is his masterpiece. It will set the standard for how we understand ministry as learning to live in biblical tensions."" --Gerald L. Sittser, Professor of Theology, Whitworth University ""Now, after a long immersion in pastoral ministry, supplemented with reflective periods of teaching, Webster has mined for us a rich vein of pastoral theology . . . The theme of tension in ministry is the note we need sounded in this 'add water and stir' culture. The layers of resources in these pages will open the reader to a whole world, the depth of which is exactly what the church today desperately needs."" --Jim Singleton, Associate Professor of Pastoral Leadership and Evangelism, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): Doug Webster is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his wife, Virginia, also serve Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York.