THE CALL TO JOY AND PAIN
Embracing suffering in your ministry
By Ajith Fernando. IVP. 174 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-249-3
This book is a series of 30 meditations based on Paul’s teaching about his ministry in Colossians 1.24-29, written by the Sri Lankan director of Youth for Christ. The writer takes the different phrases and explains and applies them, referring to his own experience and examples from others lives as he does so.
The meditations are in four sections: he shows that pain and joy are inextricably linked in the teaching of the Bible; that God uses suffering for our growth, in our relationship with Christ and in becoming like him; that God uses suffering for the growth of the church, both in its witness to the world and in building up its members; that God gives leaders responsibility to serve others, which is costly and painful but for which God gives grace to serve with joy.
