Bishop: The Art of Questioning Authority by an Authority in Question

by William H. Willimon

As a church leader, it’s easy to make the wrong move and find yourself in a bad position.

“What to teach; How to teach; What to do,” were the three questions Wesley employed at his first conferences. In sixty previous books Will Willimon has worked the first two. This book is of the “What to do?” genre.

Many believe the long decline of The United Methodist Church is a crisis of effective leadership. Willimon takes this problem on. As an improbable bishop, for the last eight years he has laid hands on heads, made ordinands promise to go where he sends them, overseen their ministries, and acted as if this were normal. Here is his account of what he has learned and – more important – what The United Methodist Church must do to have a future as a viable movement of the Holy Spirit.

Genres: Ecclesiology, Theology

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School, Duke University. He served eight years as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he led the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For twenty years prior to the episcopacy, he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Zach Waldis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Willimon is in rare form here, chronicling his time as bishop in North Alabama. It's been a while since I've read any of his voluminous writings, so it took me a bit to get used to his abrasive style. He is brutally honest about the dysfunction in the United Methodist church and presents his own ideas as the solution to all of the problems we face. Sometimes the rhetoric reaches annoying proportions; "If I were declared King of the United Methodist Church (which may happen any day), I would junk the Discipline's boring page of rules and regulations for ordination......" etc. He seems to think that a business model is the way to go and offers some good, practical advise in a less than irenic tone.

Willimom is basically right, however, about the changes needed for our denomination. It didn't make me feel all warm inside when he excoriated our tribe , but he is absolutely right about the changes we need to make as a denomination. I just hope I would make the cut if he were my bishop (!) (he discusses advancing young, talented clergy and "trimming the fat", a reality any Methodist knows needs to change).

I was also glad to hear him critique his friend Stanley Hauerwas, with whom he wrote the highly influential "Resident Aliens" Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony He says that "Being a bishop has made me wonder if I embraced too unreservedly Hauerwas's communitarian, positive ecclesiology....Stanley spends more time in academia than in the church. Both the expectations of Jesus and the empirical reality of the church challenge any effort to heap unreserved praise upon the church". Spoken like a true pastor. Over all, a book of hard truths worth reading.

[Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book, and I'm glad I read it. He has some valuable insights about the need for visionary leadership at all levels of the church. But I feel like this book, like many of his other books, is greatly cathartic and I can't always tell which part is written by him venting and which part is written by him impassioned.

[Darcy Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and snarky, but written with a heart for the good of God's church. William Willimon is by turns angry, funny, and reassuring in his assessment of the episcopacy and the future of the United Methodist Church. Worth the read, for certain.

[Daniel Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Willimon makes some good points about creative leadership and the need for some reorganization; however his statements on clergy self care, clergy couples, families of clergy, and the challenges of appointments with women and POC, which he states all points to a narcissism in our clergy, point to his own narcissism and blind spots.

[Jeff Bobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a United Methodist pastor you will want to read this book. Well, unless you think what we have been doing is working and we are doing everything the way it should be then you will hate this book.

While there is many things in this volume that I don't agree with or think is good thinking it made me aware of some things that make more sence to me now. It is time we start thinking in new ways at every level of the church and much of what is here will challenge your thinking. That can never be a bad thing can it?

Would love to discuss this with those that are interested in seeing the church change.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

United Methodists who think (that will reduce the number, won't it?) should read this book. It's a witty but good narrative of the efforts Willimon made to change the church during his eight years as a bishop. He points to other bishops who are joining in those efforts; will inertia defeat all of them, or is there hope?

[Richard Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gutsy, witty, honest, with many good insights into paths to vibrancy for the United Methodist Church.

[Jjaekley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is classic Willimon, thoughtful, provocative, and laced with stories from his rich experience as a pastor, professor, and now Bishop.

[Ron Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book. At times provocative at times funny. It is a thought provoking read. As always he challenges the status quo.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Willimon - breathlessly narratival critique laced with incisive observations about what it means for a dying church to get in step with the risen Christ.