Duke Divinity School Professor William H. Willimon has revised his popular text, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, which has been in use by dozens of seminaries and by thousands of new pastors entering ministry since being originally published in 2002.

Abingdon Press published the revised edition earlier this month, as well as a companion reader, Pastor: A Reader for Ordained Ministry. The revised book focuses more on the pastor as a leader of mission, the explosion of literature in ministry, especially in the areas of leadership, mission, and church planting, and takes into account new insights. 

Willimon, professor of the practice of Christian ministry and the former dean of Duke Chapel, revised the book guided by student reactions in his course, “Introduction to Ordained Leadership,” by a decade of research in pastoral ministry, and his experience while a United Methodist bishop overseeing the work of 600 clergy.