About the Author

Douglas Purnell is the minister of the St Ives congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia, in suburban Sydney. He has spent almost forty years in ministry including ten years as a professor of Pastoral Theology at United Theological College, Sydney. He is the author of Conversation as Ministry and a professional artist who has had four terms as artist-in-residence at seminaries in the USA.

Reviews

""Artist, minister, scholar, and teacher, Douglas Purnell creates an integrated portrait of what an implicated ministry looks like amidst painful and challenging circumstances. He skillfully interweaves image and text in a healing narrative that reveals the heart of ministry in daily living within community."" --Carmen Nanko-Fernández Catholic Theological Union, Chicago ""As if he were painting on one of his canvases, Doug Purnell has created an amazingly detailed landscape that includes his own struggles to reclaim his call to ministry amidst the lived experiences of the people of St. Ives Parish. The reader is invited inside an intimate, fiercely honest reflection on pastoral practice as we listen to a pastor listen to himself for the sake of being in ministry authentically."" --Herbert Anderson Pacific Lutheran Theological Union and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley ""Purnell's work is a witness to the fact that he seeks balance in being a person, being a partner, being a parent, being a pastor, and being an artist. He is inspirational and transformational as he explores the inevitable tension between being in ministry and doing ministry. Every pastoral leader who wonders about messages of being 'excellent' in ministry should read this book!"" --Jaco Hamman Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan