The Role of the PastorI must say that I learned a lot from this course, both through the readings and through the class discussions. Honestly, I don't have anything I totally disagree with either. I found all of this information to be very valuable to me and this course was extremely helpful in helping me better understand the current paradigm shift the Church is going through. There are three avenues in particular that have helped me better understand post-modern change in the Church and my role as a minister in this changing paradigm. The first thing to remember is to understand that there is a tendency to focus more on the life of the congregation of the Church, with more attention on the laity and their formation. Secondly, it is about how to plan, as a church and pastors, to adapt to this shift towards congregational living and how to be better prepared as a postmodern church to be relevant in this time of change . Finally, I received a better way to explain the meaning of what truth is in this post-modern era. I agree with Kitchens, Mead and Roxburgh who all say in their own way that a change in ministry we need to focus more on. is the congregational life of the Church. However, I think Mead explains it best when he says that the future church needs to be more intentional in the spiritual formation of its laity (Mead, location 919). According to Mead, the Church is becoming a more missional institution that cares for the needs of the community. Therefore, it is often the laity who will be on the front lines and will need the ability to serve people on their own, without assistance from the clergy. To do this, they will need more targeted and intensive training to manage...... middle of paper ......t. Now I realize that the entire universal Church is going through a change and that God is doing something new. It appears right now, in this postmodern age, that God is showing us that He cares more about transforming lives and making His people whole. I agree, as we said in class, that we are moving from orthodoxy to orthopraxy and I for one think that is a good thing. Now, perhaps we can move closer to what God has called the Church to be, that is, to be living vessels of His light and love in the world. BibliographyMead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinvents the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier. The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file. Roxburgh, Alan J. Missionary Mapmaking Skills for Leading in Times of Transition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Kindle eBook file.