In this survey of ministry in the church, Paul Bernier offers a comprehensive, engaging perspective on the development of Christian ministry. He shows how this development came about in response to specific social or cultural needs, and discourages placing blame for practices promulgated in good faith and for the common good. Bernier takes a broad look at both lay and ordained ministry, writing that ministry is ""the service God requires of all the baptized."" He focuses quite sharply, nevertheless, on the role of the ordained minister, past, present, and future, and looks closely at what...