Jere Patterson. Bloomington, Ind.: Crossbooks, 2011. 172 pp. (Paperback).
“Working in God’s Diamond” is the first book for Jere Patterson, church consultant and former director of missions for Morgan Baptist Association. As Patterson points out in the introduction, a congregational church is one in which every member is considered a minister, responsible for “using his or her divinely given spiritual gifts under the direction of the Holy Spirit of God.” In this context, says Patterson, the church is expected to move “together in a unified body.”
The problem is that unity is often hard to maintain, which brings on what Patterson described as “flashes” that require the exercise of leadership and authority.
Patterson asserts that the diamond, as the graphical representation of the church’s hierarchical structure, is a more useful explanatory structure than the traditional triangle.
The book is well-written, but the format of a protracted three-way conversation among a retired seminary professor, a pastor of a large church and a pastor of a small church sometimes gets in the way. I often found myself impatient with the descriptions of lunches, letters and days at the lake, wishing the book would simply get to the point.
Even so, the book is a worthwhile read, full of valuable and practical information about lines of authority and lay and pastoral leadership in the congregational church. The theory and practical advice would benefit both lay leaders and professional church staff.
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