Jethani - Immeasurable: reflections on the soul of ministry in the Age of Church, Inc

Immeasurable is packed with countercultural wisdom that resets our current ministry expectations and paradigms. In his distinct pastoral and provocative way, Skye speaks to the condition of current faith issues with clarity, conviction, and compassion. This is the kind of rootedness, wisdom, and perspective that every kingdom leader needs to grasp. Skyes words are a gift. Its his best book yet.

J.R. Briggs

Founder of Kairos Partnerships; author of Fail: Finding Hope in the Midst of Ministry Failure and coauthor of Ministry Mantras

Skye Jethani has not only been given a unique position to gaze under the hood of American evangelicalism, but also an incisive and prophetic gift to diagnose its ills, and recommend a potent dose of biblical correction. This is strong, needed, and powerful medicine for churches and leaders.

Mark Sayers

Senior Pastor, Red Church, Melbourne, Australia

Author of a number of books including Disappearing Church and Strange Days

Anything Skye Jethani writes, I read. When I heard he was aiming his mind at a book on church leadership, all the happy alerts in my heart went off. You need to read this book.

John Mark Comer

Pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown Church

Author of God Has a Name

I love how Skye Jethani challenges our normal perspective of the modern-day church. He loves the church so much that hes willing to take a deep, honest look into her soul in his new book Immeasurable. As always he challenges us to be the beautiful bride. Get this book!

Dave Gibbons

Founder of xealots.org and newsong.net

Author of Small Cloud Rising

2017 by
SKYE JETHANI

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Portions of chapter 18 are adapted from The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani. Copyright 2009 by Skye Jethani. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Edited by Matthew Boffey

Interior Design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover Design: Faceout Studio

Cover image of penrose triangle copyright 2017 by Vector FX / Shutterstock (278280464). All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jethani, Skye, 1976- author.

Title: Immeasurable : reflections on the soul of ministry in the Age of Church, Inc. / Skye Jethani.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017029077 (print) | LCCN 2017035702 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802496218 | ISBN 9780802416193

Subjects: LCSH: Pastoral theology. | Church work. | Fame--Religious aspects--Christianity. | Clergy--Public opinion.

Classification: LCC BV4011.3 (ebook) | LCC BV4011.3 .J48 2017 (print) | DDC

253--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029077

ISBN: 978-0-8024-1619-3

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There are no measures which can set forth the immeasurable greatness of Jehovah. If we cannot measure we can marvel.

C. H. SPURGEON

ALL PREACHERS should be grateful for time limits. Without them every sermon would eventually drift into contradiction or outright heresy. This tendency was on full display at a gathering of pastors I attended about ten years ago. The preacher that night was a riveting orator, easily capable of keeping the audience engaged for hours, not merely minutes. He deployed this skill to regale us with a 24-point sermon. (Im not exaggerating.)

One of his early points emphasized the Holy Spirits unpredictable and sovereign nature. The wind blows where it wishes, Jesus said to Nicodemus. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

Later in the sermon, somewhere between points 16 and 22, the preacher used a very different analogy. When the gospel is preached, he declared, with his hands animating the metaphor, it is like fighter jets flying in a tight formation. The preacher is the lead F-18, turning and diving and climbing. And right on his wing, following every move, is the Holy Spirit. In the same sermon, within less than an hour, the Spirit had been demoted from an unpredictable whirlwind to the preachers ever-predictable wingman.

The sermon illustrated more than the time-tested wisdom of sticking to just three points. It also revealed the magnetic pull of modern ministers toward control and away from mystery. In our enlightened age of metadata and best practices, we believe that ministrylike everything elsecan be accomplished through proven principles of control.

I call this sub-spiritual, mechanical approach to ministry Church, Inc. It is shorthand for ministry devoid of mystery, for pastors who assume that the exercise of their calling is a matter of skill more than the gravity of their soul. It represents the exchange of the transcendent calling of Christian ministry with mere management of religious institutions and services. If ministry is encountering the heat and light of an uncontrollable sun, Church, Inc. is the tanning salon in the local strip mall.

The attraction of Church, Inc. to religious consumers is easy enough to grasp, but how do we explain its appeal to ministers? It would be easy to blame the popularity of Church, Inc. on the influence of business principles among pastors, but that fails to identify the root cause. To be fair, the church has always adopted the dominant forms and structures of the culture surrounding it. Richard Halverson, the former chaplain of the United States Senate, observed: