collaborative ministry & perichoresis

5/26/2018 Collaborative Ministry & Perichoresis

1/37

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY

THROUGH EXPLORING PERICHORESIS

by John Fehlen


2/37

Table of Contents

Introduction 5.....................................................................................................................................Problem Statement 6...........................................................................................................................The Trinity and Perichoresis 6............................................................................................................The Trinity 8.......................................................................................................................................Perichoresis......................................................................................................9

Outworking of Trinitarian Thinking and Perichoresis...............................................................12

Missional Clarity............................................................................................................................13

Mutual Community 19.......................................................................................................................Unified Diversity 25...........................................................................................................................Summarizing Findings from this Research for Collaborative Ministry.....................................30

Bibliography..........34


3/37

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY

THROUGH EXPLORING PERICHORESIS


4/37

5

Introduction

One of the most important and equally daunting aspects of being a senior leader in an

organization such as the church is the responsibility of team building. For a church to grow and

meet the ever-present needs of a community it must continually develop, nurture, restructure,

equip, modify, and multiple teams. George Cladis rightfully believes that the most effective

churches today are the one that are developing team-based leadership. Notice the present-tense1

tone to the Cladis comment (are developing) this supports the notion that the work of team

building is never done. It is a progressive, continually adaptive pursuit of collaboration.

Gilbert Bilezikian believes that, Team leadership is not a human invention. Its precedent

has been set in heaven. The Scriptures present an amazing example of collaborative leadership at

the highest level with respect to a church... At the very heart of collaborative ministry is a2

collaborative God; Father, His Son Jesus, and the Spirit of the Lord. Each an uncreated person,

one in essence, equal in power and glory. Harper and Metzger inExploring Ecclesiology3

believe The Triune God created the church to be Gods people and body and bride of Christ in

communion one with another, a people who are also constituted in relation to God, to humanity

at large, and to the whole of creation. The churchs purpose flows forth from its identity, because

the churchs communal identity is purposive. The very design of the Body of Christ is4

collaborativein that it is derived directly from a Triune God.

George Cladis,Leading the Team-Based Church(San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999), 1.1

Gilbert Bilezikian, Community 101(Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 1997), 165.2

Ibid., 18. Taken from the doctrinal statement of the Evangelical Theological Society.3

Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger,Exploring Ecclesiology(Grand Rapids, MI: Brazo Press, 2009), 20.4


5/37

6

By exploring the Trinitarian foundation for collaboration one can make a case that the

very Godhead supports and is undergirded by teamwork, thus collaboration should be a mark of

Gods agency: the Church. I appreciate how William Placher says The doctrine of the Trinity

needs to be reclaimed, not just among theologians but in the faith and life of Christian people...5

This directed reading will move towards that valuable end with the assistance of the Eastern

Orthodox concept ofperichoresis.

Problem Statement

The purpose of the researcher in this directed reading is to examine the Trinitarian

concept ofperichoresisand its implications for collaborative ministry in the local church. More

specifically the following sub-problems will be addressed:

1. to define Eastern Orthodox concept of perichoresis in relation to the doctrine of the

Trinity;

2. to explore Trinitarian theology with regard to missional clarity, mutual community,

unified diversity; and

3. to reflect on how Trinitarian theology can inform collaborative ministry within a local

congregation.

The Trinity and Perichoresis

Trinity: One does not have to look far into the pages of Scripture to discover that God

Almighty intended for life to be lived in a collaborative manner. Three small words in the

opening chapter of Genesis establish the imperative for partnerships: us, our and them.

Genesis 1:26 says, Let usmake man in ourimage, in ourlikeness, and let them... Many

William C. Platcher,Narratives of a Vulnerable God (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 55.5


6/37

7

Christian commentators have seen here a glimpse of a much later formulated doctrine of the

Trinity. Saint Augustine says, When I read that your Spirit moved over the waters, I catch a faint

glimpse of the Trinity which you are, my God. For it was you the Father, who created heaven and

earth in the Beginning of our Wisdom - which is your Wisdom, born of you, equal to you, and

co-eternal with you - that is in your Son...Here, then is the Trinity, my God, Father, Son and Holy

Ghost, the Creator of all creation.6

A parallel can be made between the Trinity and the dual union of man and women (a trio

when united to God as well). Harper and Metzger inExploring Ecclesiologyelaborate on

Genesis 1 to this effect in saying, Just as God is only God as three persons in communion, the

man is only fully human in relation to the woman. The man was never meant to be alone (Gen.

2:18). They echo Bonhoeffers words, Man is not alone, he is in duality and it is in this7

dependence on the other that his creatureliness consists.8

The Trinity is one of the most often used descriptions of God in Christian circles. The

relevance of the doctrine of the Trinity for collaborative ministry is found all through our

writings, songs (God in three persons, blessed Trinity) and creeds. However, the actually word

Trinity appears nowhere within the pages of Scripture, and yet, few would disagree that the

doctrine of the Trinity has become one of the most widely acknowledged Christian teachings.

The English word Trinity comes from the Latin Trinitas which means the number three or

triad. Although the actual word had been used prior, it was Tertullian, a Latin theologian from

St. Augustine, Confessions, Book XIII.5 quoted in David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1-11 (Illinois: Inter-Varsity6

Press, 1990), 39.

Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger,Exploring Ecclesiology(Grand Rapids, MI: Brazo Press, 2009), 22.7

Ibid. Quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Creation and Fall, 36.8


7/37

8

the early third century, that is credited with using the word Trinity in direct conjunction with

an explanation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being one in essence--not one in Person.9

In essence, the Trinity is the experiential fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Thereby the Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

as three persons in one Godhead. This indeed is an enigma. Clark Pinnock agrees that although10

the Trinity is an important belief that must be embraced by anyone who would be orthodox, it is

not a belief one should expect to understand.11

Cladis claims that within the nature of the Trinity is what can be described as perfect

collaboration. This nature is not individualistic but rather is three persons in communion. John12

Webster insist that a doctrine of the church is only as good as the doctrine of God which

underlies it. This principle--which is simply the affirmation of the primacy of the doctrine of the

Trinity for all Christian teaching--means that good dogmatic order requires that no moves be

made in ecclesiology which do not cohere with the churchs confession of the triune God and of

the character of his acts. In other words, the form and function of the local church must13

reflect that of the God to which it is subject.

Albeit from a decidingly Western perspective, Theologian and former Franciscan,

Leonardo Boff makes the faith declaration that the Trinity is God as one nature and three

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/trinity.htm#39

From Encyclopedia Britannica Online10

Clark Pinnock,Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press: 1996), 23.11

Ibid., 14.12

John Webster, The Community of the Word in The Church and the Perfection of God edited by Mark Husband and13

Daniel J. Treier (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 78-79.


8/37

9

Persons. He concurs with such thinkers as Jrgen Moltmann in that trinitarian reflection14

properly begins with the conviction that the eternal God is three persons with divine unity.

Moltmann, inExperiences in Theologypaints a wonderful picture of the Trinity in saying,

Simply to hear the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is to sense that

there must be a marvellous fellowship in the mystery of God. In Trinitarian theology we do not

reduce God to a concept. We tell his eternal history. Drawing from the Cappadoican Fathers15

(Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa), John D. Zizioulas believes the doctrine of

the Trinity is the starting point for theological reflection. He is convinced that the mystery of16

the church is deeply bound...to the very being of God. Bruce Demarest agrees with Zizioulas17

in saying, From eternity past to eternity future, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other

with grace, love, mutual submission, and unity of heart and by honoring their roles practicing

functional submission...18

Pinnocks summary is most helpful when he spoke of the Trinity as a society of persons

connected by a common divinity. There is one God, eternal, uncreated, incomprehensible, and

there is no other. But Gods nature is internally complex and consists of a fellowship of three. It

is the essence of Gods nature to be relational. Over the years, trinitarian relationship has been19

given a name by Eastern Orthodox church fathers:perichoresis.

Stanley Grenz,Rediscovering the Triune God (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2004), 121.14

Jrgen Moltmann,Experiences in Theology (Minn. MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2000), 309.15

Stanley J. Grenz,Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Thought(Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg16

Fortress, 2004), 135.

Ibid.17

Alan Andrews, ed. The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation (Colorado Springs,18

CO: NavPress, 2010), 223.



9/37

10

Perichoresis: Kilian McDonnell insists that in Examining the theologies of the East and

West, an unbiased judge would have to say that the East has been more successful than the West

in giving the Spirit...due equality. Further, the East has been more successful in integrating the

Holy Spirit into the whole theological process... Therefore, it is vital for us to briefly examine20

the Eastern Orthodox concept ofperichoresis. Gregory Nazianzen, in the fourth century, was the

first to give voice to the concept ofperichoresis and made it possible to begin to conceive of a

community without uniformity and a personhood without individualism. Elsewhere it was21

deployed in the work of Maximus the Confessor. It is believed though that both of these early

Christian theologians used the concept to refer to the hypostatic union only, meaning that22

originally the concept ofperichoresiswas fairly limited to the description of Christs humanity

and divinity within one nature. The application broadened to that of each member of the

Godhead. Stanley Burgess addressed in his work The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions,

From the fourth century AD, the time of the three Cappadocian Fathers, Eastern churches have

emphasized the uniqueness of function of three divine hypostases [being or substantive reality].

But they balance this concept of individuality by recognizing the reciprocal being of these

hypostases in each other. No member of the Triune God functions without the involvement of the

other Two.23

Then it was John of Damascus in the mid-seventh century who tookperichoresis and

applied it directly to the doctrine of the Trinity. From his writings we gain the idea of

Kilian, McDonnell, The Other Hand of God (Liturgical Press, 2003), 85-86.20


Oliver D. Crisp,Divinity and Humanity(Cambridge University Press, 2007), 4.22

Stanley M. Burgess, The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1989), 2.23


10/37

11

perichoresisbeing that of co-indwelling, co-inhering, and mutual interpenetration. InDe Fide

Orthodoxaby John of Damascus we discover Each one of the persons contains the unity this

relation to the others no less than by this relation to Himself.24

Over time the Council of Florence (1438-1445) formulated a doctrinal definition for

perichoresis: On account of this unity the Father is wholly in the Son, wholly in the Holy

Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father, wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the

Father, wholly in the Son. No one of them either precedes the others in eternity, or exceeds them

in greatness, or supervenes in power.25

Leonardo Boff seesperichoresisas signifying each Person contains the other two, each

one penetrates the others and is penetrated by them, one lives in the other and vice-versa.26

Moltmann adds, In the doctrine of the Trinity, perichoresismeans the mutual indwelling of the

homogeneous divine Persons, Father, Son and Spirit. Theperichoresisof the divine Persons

describes their unity, their oneness, in a trinitarian sense, not by way of the metaphysical terms

divine substance or absolute subject.27

Stanley Burgess definesperichoresisas multuality of the persons of the Godhead with

one another where each member of the Trinity, although distinct, is valued as a relational equal.28

This is an underlying premise of CladisLeading the Team-Based Church, which is grounded

upon John of Damascus description of the relationship of the persons of the Godhead as

Paul Collins, Trinitarian Theology West and East (Oxford University Press, 2001), 211 in quoting John of Damascus,De24

Fide Orthodoxa, i. 8, 94.

Ibid.25

Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society, trans. Paul Burns (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), 5.26




11/37

12

perichoresis. In Eugene Petersons Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, he beautifully portrays

perichoresis as a giant dance, with the persons of the Father, Son, and Spirit exchanging freely

with one another, with no beginning, no ending, and no stopping--a giant dance of beauty,

freedom, and love. One predominate Trinitarian, perichoretic image is that of the three29

persons of God in constant movement in a circle that implies intimacy, equality, unity yet

distinction.... Stanley Burgess echoes this, There is no confusion in this intermingling,30

because there is perfect order therein. The Three Persons are blended, though not confounded;

distinct, though not divided.31

It is that distinct yet undivided blending that will be given focus in the remainder of the

research. If there is no competition among the persons of God then is it fair to assert that there be

little to no competition among His people, particularly those within the leadership circles of the

local church? Can ministers be trinitarian in their approach to ministry? A collaborative approach

to Christian ministry ought to be possible within the Body of Christ, even within congregations

with highly differentiated and hierarchically orders and structures. The mission of church is not

of the clergy alone. It is a co-operative venture requiring the whole body, joined and held

together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its

work (Ephesians 4:16). Three trinitarian aspects will be explored: missional clarity, mutual

community and unified diversity.

Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (Grand Rapid MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 44.29

George Cladis,Leading the Team-Based Church(San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999),4.30



12/37

13

The Outworking of Trinitarian Thinking and Perichoresis

In surveying the literature, both ancient and modern, a connection develops between

trinitarian thinking andperichoresisto that of missional clarity, mutual community and unified

diversity. The following is an integrative exploration of Trinitarian theology and reflection upon

the implications on collaborative ministry.

Missional Clarity: It is important that a team of people speak into and are held

responsible for the missional direction of the congregation and that they know and understand

their particular roles. Without involving others in missional clarification, the goals, values and

objectives will be the sole responsibility of one person alone. Often it will be one-sided or

incomplete. Imagine the Trinity without one or more of its members. It doesnt seem right.

Understandably then, missional clarity can only be discovered as more and more people

understand their role and function within the larger team and have the freedom to inform the

process. Therefore Pickard contends accordingly that it is clear that one of the most pressing

and fundamental tasks will be to clarify the nature of the relationship between the ministries.32

Pickard is referring to the orders of ministry (i.e.: ordained and non-ordained), however, this

can equally apply to the recognition of particular gifts and expressions within the Body of Christ

and how those gifts and expressions find their place. Roderick T. Leupp said, Just howa

theology of the Holy Trinity can bear fruit in the everyday workings of the church is test case for

the relevance of trinitarian theology. It is not, obviously, the truth of God that is on trial here, but

how well this truth can be realized, incarnatedeven, in the life of the church.33

Stephen Pickard, Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry (Ashgate Publishing32 Company: 2009), 23.Roderick T. Leupp, The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 127-128.33


13/37

14

Larson and LaFasto believe the first and most important characteristic of a goal is

clarity. Welborn & Kasten agree that Organizational effectiveness depends on having a clear34

vision, a passion for execution, and a discipline to communicate that vision and execute activities

over and over again. In this we discover the importance of not only a clear vision but also the35

repetitive communication of said vision. Therefore, practice does not make perfect, it makes

permanent. Missional clarity is achieved through collaboration and meaningful, repetitive

communication. Darrell Guder concurs in his essay on The Church as Missional Community in

the larger work The Community of the Word: Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology when he

wrote, To be authentically evangelical...our ecclesiology must be missional. Such an

ecclesiology will function then theologically as an integrative discipline...for the sake of building

up the body of Christ and equipping it for ministry. Rooted in the trinitarian nature and action of

God, this ecclesiology derives its purpose from Gods mission.36

Shawchuck and Heuser inManaging the Congregation, quote Peter Drucker, when they

pose three questions regarding missional clarity: (1) Who are we? (2) What is our business?

(3) How do we get it done? Collectively a ministry must discover its identity through an37

honest, collaborative assessment. Two honest follow up questions are submitted by Shawchuck

and Heuser, namely, Is this who we want to be? and Who do others say that we are? By

interrogating reality in such a manner, the organization can find missional clarity and then take

Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto, TeamWork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong (Newbury Park, CA: Sage34

Publications, 1989), 28.

Ralph Welborn and Vince Kasten, The Jericho Principle (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2003),8.35

Darrell L. Guder, The Church as Missional Community in The Community of the Word edited by Mark Husbands and36

Daniel J. Treier (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 126.

Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser,Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve People37

(Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996), 89.


14/37

15

intentional steps toward effective implementation. In The Leadership Challenge Kouzes and

Posner agree that collaboration improves performance. They view collaboration as the master

skill that enables teams, partnerships, and other alliances to function effectively. Not only is38

performance improved, but collaboration also creates a climate of trust in which individuals are

willing to ask questions, listen and take advice constructively. With this, each member of the

team retains the role of an expert piece of the puzzle while personally enhancing the overall

missional objectives of the group.

The authors of Team Effectiveness and Decision-Making in Organisationsbelieve

Effective decision making has been an ever-present concern in organizations, but as

organizations move toward greater decentralization, flatter structures (fewer levels of

management), and employee empowerment, the matter of effective decision making has broken

free from being a concern solely of the teams at the top of the pyramid and is now important

throughout the organization. The Trinitarian approach to ministry in the local setting is one of39

decentralization and empowerment. It means breaking down the hierarchal decision-making in

order to achieve the greater good for the organization.

But this begs a question regarding leadership within the organization. What is the role of

the primary leader in a truly collaborative environment? In Trinitarian theology there has been

great debate regarding differing concepts of relationality within the Godhead, especially in

regards to the concept Monarchy. In other words, Is the Father the leader in the Trinity? The

James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. The Leadership Challenge (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002). From http://38

www.businessbookreview.com/books/Leadership/The_Leadership_Challenge_James_M_Kouzes_and_Barry_Z_Posner.html?pmvars=1~0~leadership+challenge~1

Richard A. Guzzo, Eduardo Salas and Associates, Team Effectiveness and Decision-Making in Organisations (San39

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995). 82-83.
http://www.businessbookreview.com/books/leadership/the_leadership_challenge_james_m_kouzes_and_barry_z_posner.html?pmvars=1~0~leadership+challenge~1


15/37

16

obvious and natural inclination is to assume that the Father is the primary source from which the

other members are subjected.

Much work has been done on this front by the Cappadocian tradition, in an effort to bring

understanding to mode of existence. Often in our creeds and songs we recite the members of40

the Godhead in order numerically (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) which adds to the hierarchal confusion. As

well there is a creedal recognition that the Father gave us the Son and the Son gave us the Spirit

as was introduced into the Nicene Creed by the Western Church (filioque). In each of these41

cases, considerable debate has occurred over the economic verses the immanent Trinity.

Malcolm Grundy draws attention to these two different representations of the Trinity. One

representation clearly places the Father in a superior, hierarchical and monarchial position. The

other representation emphasizes unity, harmony, and courtesy, in which no one is dominant and

in which there is no struggle for precedence. For Grundy it is this second image of Trinity which

provides theological grounding for truly collaborative ministry. InPracticing Community,42

Greenwood argues that: It is essential to a social trinitarian understanding of God to realize that

existence is by definition to be in relation. Gods Fatherhood is impossible without the Son...the

understanding of God as a communion of personal relations in which none is ever in a

permanently dominating or dominated role, offers a vision for priesthood that manages to be in

charge without ever being merely separate or superior. Gilbert Bilezikian affirms this as well,43

Paul Collins, Trinitarian Theology West and East (Oxford University Press, 2001), 146.40


Malcolm Grundy, Understanding Congregations(London: Mowbray, 1998), 62-63.42

Robin Greenwood,Practising Community: The task of the local church(London: SPCK, 1996), 71.43


16/37

17

In whatever the Godhead undertakes to do, the three members of the Trinity function

together--never independently of each other. The Father is at the forefront of the work of

creation, but both the Word and the Spirit are present and involved with the Father in

creation. The Son is at the forefront of the work of redemption, but both the Father and

the Spirit are present and involved with the Son in redemption. The Spirit is at the

forefront of the work of sanctification, but both the Father and the Son are present and

involved in the work of sanctification.44This is in alignment with Gregory the Theologians reminder: It is a Monarchy that is

not limited to one Person (Or. 29.2). It is not difficult to translate Monarchy to the leadership

of the local church in which one individual is the singular voice, epicenter of ministry and final

authority. For example, Zizioulas takes on the ecclesiological justification for the order of the

Bishop. In his writings he affirms that the Bishop is the head of a community always and only

because of his relationship to the community. Moltman expresses something similar when he45

says: From time immemorial the unity of the church in hierarchically structured churches has

been based on the monarchy of God the Father, and this is so even today. It is important to

stress that the unity of the church corresponds to the perichoretic unity of the divine Persons,

not to a single Person in the Trinity.46

In New Testament churches there seems to be an indication of one of the leadership team

being the primary leader, a first among equals. We see Peter and the other eleven apostles


John D. Zizioulas,Being As Communion (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1985), 223.45

Jrgen Moltmann,Experiences in Theology(Minn. MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2000), 328.46


17/37

18

(Acts 2:14), then James and the elders (Acts 21:18). This may have emerged from the Old

Testament model of leadership where we have Moses and the elders (Ex.4:29; Num. 11:16),

Joshua and the elders (Josh. 24:1; Jud. 2:7) and also David and the elders of Israel (2 Sam. 5:3; 1

Chron. 15:25). It is possible that the bishop was a singular leader over a church in a locality

with a team of elders assisting in the oversight of that community. Kevin Giles sees the

elders as the community leaders and the bishop as responsible for leadership of an individual

house church. It was not until the time of Ignatius that we see the rise of the monarchical47 48

bishop, where the bishop was the unquestioned leader of the community of a given city, who

presides over a council of elders and is assisted by a group of deacons. Miroslav Volf49

addressed this though in saying, the bishop does not simply stand opposite the

congregation...since he is not apersona privata,but rather a communal entity, a corporate

personality. In this Volf insists that the church leader is not one single subject but rather a50

communion of subjects that are interdependent.

This is an important reminder in light of collaborative ministry and most certainly in light

of Jesus prayer that those who are his would be one. It is from this prayer in John 17 that we

discover a visible unity of the church that corresponds to the collaborative/perichoretic nature of

the Trinity. Moltmann makes the corrolation to the church in saying, The fellowship of the

disciples with each other, for which Jesus prays, is intended to correspondto the reciprocal

indwelling of the Father and the Son in the Spirit...The trinitarian fellowship of God is here the

Kevin Giles,Patterns of Ministry Among the First Christians.North Blackburn, Victoria: Collins Dove, 1989). 38-40.47

Ibid., 24. Eusebius makes Ignatius the third bishop of Antioch in Syria and dates his martyrdom in Rome at 108 AD.48

Ibid., 42.49

Miroslav Volf,After Our LIkeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Grand Rapid, MI: Eerdmans, 1998). 224.50


18/37

19

prototype, the church the reflection. The church, in its collaboration, becomes a mirror of51

Gods unity.

Therefore it is the belief of the researcher that the Godhead is a community of persons

and that the church must guard against individualism. There is a unity in the Trinity and yet each

person has a distinct role and function. Perhaps one could say that each member can be

spotlighted (in a non-ego manner) at different times, like that of a jazz band soloist. On a

collaborative church team, there may be times, seasons and appointments whereby certain

individuals become, in a sense, monarchial. Pannenberg in Systematic Theology speaks to this:

The mutuality and mutual dependence of the persons of the Trinity, not merely as regards

their personal identity but also as regards their deity, do not mean that the monarchy of

the Father is destroyed. On the contrary, through the work of the Son the kingdom or

monarchy of the Father is established in creation, and through the work of the Spirit, who

glorifies the Son as plenipotentiary of the Father, and in so doing glorifies the Father

himself, the kingdom or monarchy of the Father in creation is consummated. 52Cladis further explains that, Ministry teams that are open, available, flexible,

responsive, and representative of the people they lead will do better in the postmodern world

than will leaders at the top of the an old-style hierarchical pyramid. Post-modernism requires

organizations to turn the pyramid upside down so that leaders who were above are now below.

Jrgen Moltmann,Experiences in Theology(Minn. MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2000), 328.51

Paul Collins, Trinitarian Theology West and East (Oxford University Press, 2001), 198.52


19/37

20

And instead of giving orders from above, they give support to the wider constituency from

below. This will be discovered in the following attribute of mutual community.53

Mutual Community: Another descriptor of a Trinitarian ministry that will be addressed

is that of a healthy, functional community. Again, one must refer to the concept ofperichoresis

which is the dance of the each member of the Trinity. The Trinity is not one individual but rather

a community of persons that love and live in harmony. Jrgen Moltmann believesperichoresis54

makes it possible to conceive of a community without uniformity and a personhood without

individualism and Thomas Torrance further explains that we must give consideration to the55

notion ofperichoresisand the help it gives us in deepening and clarifying understanding of the

onto-relations of the three divine Persons to on another in respect of the coordination that obtains

between them and their unity...56

Community within the Trinity has been visually displayed in Rublevs Icon of the

Trinity as an image of the collaborative spirit. Stephen Pickard notes that Each of the57

members of the Trinity is inclined towards the others in a deferential posture of respect and

acknowledgement of shared life; each is constituted as a person by virtue of their relation to the


Shirley Guthrie, Christian Doctrine (Louisville, KY: Westminster Press/John Knox Press, 1994), quoted in George Cladis,54

Leading the Team-Based Church(San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999), 4.

Roderick T. Leupp, The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 70. In quoting55

Jrgen Moltmann,Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology, trans. Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis, MN:Fortress, 2000), 316.

Thomas Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons(Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark LTD,56

1996), 168.

Rublevs Icon of the Trinity, or the Icon of the Old Testament Trinity, was painted by Andrei Rublev around 1410 and now57

hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Based upon an earlier icon, the Hospitality of Abraham, it depicts the three angelswho visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Gen. 18). Rublev changed the subject to focus on the Mystery of the Trinity. A copycan be found on one of the opening pages of this research.


20/37

21

other. He goes on to assert that The perichoretic (lit: dancing around) life of God is the58

deepest foundation for a collaborative ministry. Recognition of this fact has provided the

springboard in contemporary theology of ministry for relational understandings of ministry.59

Shawchuck and Heuser see community as that stage of development in which the whole group

is greater than the sum of its individual parts. The synergy from the group is greater than each

individual need or perspective. This is affirmed from the Trinitarian model in which we find a60

perfect example of true community, whereas each members diversity is valued and released

fully for missional Kingdom advancement.

Roger Haight asserts that, The church is a community that shares on its deepest level a

common vision of the source, the meaning, and the destiny of human existence. No one doubts

that this single common vision becomes refracted in innumerably different ways....but within and

despite the differences lies a conception of ultimate reality. A collective vision based upon61

mutual community can empower a church to be more effective if theology and practice are well

integrated because the interpersonal dimensions are fleshed out in the context of relationships62

that function with trust and acceptance. Confirming this, Placher describes the Trinity as such:

Not three isolated individuals; not one without internal distinction. Each in full selfhood

precisely in community; one most itself in its three-ness. 63

Stephen Pickard, Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry (Ashgate Publishing Company, 2009), 4.58

Ibid.59

Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser,Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve People60

(Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996), 216.

Roger Haight S.J.,Ecclesial Existence: Christian Community in History (New York, NY: Continuum, 2008), 220.61

Norman Cooper, Collaborative Ministry (Mahwah. NJ: Paulist, 1993), 2.62

William C. Placher,Narratives of a Vulnerable God (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 73.63


21/37

22

John Zizioulas writes extensively on the idea of relationship and personhood. InBeing as

Communion, Zizioulas finds

...firm ground for ideas about human personality. Knowing that human beings are created

in God"s image, the conclusions of the early Church about the persons of the Trinity may

be applied to human beings. We too have personal existence. We have individuality,

symbolized by our personal names. We know ourselves and are able to reflect on

ourselves as the subjects of our own unique experience which we hold in our memories.

We are aware of having a destiny and the future of our individuality is supremely

important to each one of us. However, none of these things originate in persons

understood simply as individuals.64Zizioulas and a growing number of theologians influenced by him believe that the origin

of our personal identity lies in relationships. This idea, that personhood, whether human or

divine, is constituted by relationships, has become the standard fare in trinitarian theology.

Examples of these theology writings are Ted Peters God as Trinity: Relationality and

Temporality in the Divine Life, Stanley J. Grenzs The Social God and the Relational Self: A

Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Deiand Miroslav Volfs work:After Our Likeness: The

Church as the Image of the Trinity. In many of writings, most particularly in Volf one discovers

the Trinity to consist in pure relationality. For effective collaborative teamwork to exist in a65

local church this level of selflessness must be evident and the team must wrestle with Harper and

David Heywood, Why Collaborative Ministry? http://www.davidheywood.org/articles/Why%20Collaborative64

%20Ministry.pdf

Miroslav Volf,After Our LIkeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Grand Rapid, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 67.65
http://www.davidheywood.org/articles/why%2520collaborative%2520ministry.pdf


22/37

23

Metzgers important question: So what would the church look like if it became less modalistic

and more trinitarian?66

To meet that challenging question, Harper and Metzger have found that Scripture never

refers to the church as a group of believing individuals or autonomous Christians, but as the body

of believers, the body and bride of Christ. The risen Christ himself is not simply an individual.

He is corporate in that he is one with the church as his body and bride. And so we are not simply

individuals. Witherington further explains that Some Christians no doubt saw themselves in a67

very individualistic light as sufficient to themselves, especially in spiritual matters. Paul is

disputing such notions. God has deliberately made the members of Christs body interdependent

so that all would have concern for the others. The suffering, or otherwise, of one member

affecting all is an obvious illustration. That this is an analogy is evident, since it is not always

true that one believer rejoices at anothers good fortune. That is how the body ought to react,

however,68

A truly shared ministry requires a high level of personal security not to be threatened by

strong lay leaders, to be willing to give up the need to control, and to be willing not to be

involved in everything that goes on in the congregation. As one pastor put it, "I have learned to

trust that God's Spirit is at work in their styles and theologywherever faithful people gather.

When I began to learn this, things shifted. The Holy Spirit did new and innovative things.69

Andrew D. Clarke concurs in his workA Pauline Theology of Church Leadership, when

Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger,Exploring Ecclesiology(Grand Rapids, MI: Brazo Press, 2009). 22.66

Ibid., 42.67

Ben Witherington, Conflict and Community in Corinth (Grand Rapids, MI: 1995),261.68

Donald P. Smith, Shared Ministry http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=11&hid=4&sid=08b3987c-c70f-4c49-69

b1e1-6211b2946c3f%40sessionmgr14
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=11&hid=4&sid=08b3987c-c70f-4c49-b1e1-6211b2946c3f%2540sessionmgr14


23/37

24

referring to James Dunn comment: Pauline communities...authority in the local congregation

was vested in no single individual or group of individuals. Rather, there was a mutuality in which

all members, gifted by the Spirit, were to exercise ministry in the Body of Christ.70

Bruce Demarest connects the imagery of the Trinity to the value of community within the

Body of Christ in claiming that Since God created persons in His image, the loving

communication of three persons within the unity of the Godhead constitutes the basis and model

for the fellowship of Gods people in loving community. The unity of the Godhead (one God)

corresponds to the drive to be close, to belong, and to be connected to a loving community. It ties

in to the desire to overcome rivalry and conquer loneliness. The diversity of the Godhead (three

persons) corresponds to the need to be acknowledged as a unique individual and to have ones

own space. Moltmann agrees that the triune god is a God in community, rich in inner and71

outward relationships...If the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are joined together through

eternal love, then their one-ness is in their concordwith each other. They form their unique,

divine community through their self-giving to one another. Placher drives the point home in72

saying, If we Christians understand the doctrine of the Trinity aright, we will realize that it

implies that God is not about power and self-sufficiency and the assertion of authority but about

mutuality and equality and love. 73

A brief New Testament survey of the Godhead will support mutuality:

James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament (London: SCM Press, 1977), 109-11, quoted in Andrew D.70

ClarkeA Pauline Theology of Church Leadership (New York: T&T Clark, 2008), 14.

Bruce Demarest, The Trinity as Foundation for Spiritual Formation in The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of71

Discipleship and Spiritual Formation, edited by Alan Andrews(Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2010),242.

Jrgen Moltmann,Experiences in Theology (Minn, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2000) 309-310.72

William C. Placher,Narratives of a Vulnerable God (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 55.73


24/37

25

Baptismal formula (Matt. 28:19) undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the

emerging trinitarian view of God.

Baptismal narrative of Jesus himself found in all four Gospels (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark

1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34).

Benedictions (May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the

fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all [2 Corinthians 13:14]).

Various passages with a Trinitarian pattern: (Romans 15:16; 15:30; 2 Corinthians

1:21-22). These are but a few examples that assist in understanding God as triune.74

To conclude the portion on mutual community, Elizabeth Johnson indicates that the

particular kind of relatedness than which nothing greater can be conceived is not one of

hierarchy involving domination/subordination, but rather one of genuine mutuality in which

there is radical equality while distinctions are respected...At the heart of holy mystery is not

monarchy but community; not an absolute ruler, but a threefold koinonia. 75

Unified Diversity: The final descriptor of Trinitarian ministry within The Church is

unified diversity. Ben Witherington III and Laura M. Ice agree with this descriptor in saying, It

is a fundamental assumption...that however much diversity there was in early Christianity, there

was also some significant unity, particularly in the use of God language, and we would do well to

examine closely these shared terms and the concepts they represent. One of the primary terms76

the encompasses diversity and unity is the Body of Christ. Gilbert Bilezikian makes a

Veli-Matti, Karkkainen, The Doctrine of God: A Global Introduction (Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 47.74

Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse (New York: Harper & Row,75

1974), 216, quoted in William C. Placher,Narratives of a Vulnerable God (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994),75.

Ben Witherington III and Laura M. Ice, The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective76

(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), x.


25/37

26

correlation between the Trinity and the Body of Christ in saying, There is diversity within the

very being of God in that the Father, Son and Spirit are different from one another, but there is

also oneness since God is one being. Similarly, God celebrates the diversity that exists among

humans as the expression of his own creative versatility... This can be supported centuries77

prior to Bilezikian with the words of John of Damascus, That which is common and one is

considered in actuality by reason of the co-eternity and identity of substance, operation, and will

and by reason of the agreement in judgement and the identity of power, virtue, and goodness--I

did not saysimilarity,but identity...For there is one essence, one goodness, one virtue, one intent,

one operation, one power--one and the same, not three similar one to another, but one and the

same motion of the three Persons.78

The creative versatility that is seen in mankind is expressed through our spiritual gifts and

abilities within the Body of Christ. In the Body of Christ we discover what Max DePree coined

as leadership jazz. He describes effective organizations as a jazz band in which everyone plays

individually but are utterly dependent upon each other for true success. This kind of

accountability is vital for organizational effectiveness, even though Wayne Cordeiro inDoing

Church as a Teambelieves, The church is notan organization. He contends it is more like an

organism with living parts that must move and work together as a whole, with each individual

part no being able to stand on its own. Corderio says, If I cut off my arm and planted it in the

dirt, that arm would not grow into a new body. It would die! So it is with the body of Christ.79

Cladis emphasizes that collaboration is coming to the table with spiritual gifts to be used in


John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith 1.8, trans. Frederic H. Chase, Jr. (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1958), 186.78

Wayne Corderio,Doing Church as a Team (Honolulu: New Hope Publishing, 1998), 185.79


26/37

27

ministry. When the gifts are freely offered for ministry, God blesses and creates the spiritual

synergy resulting from the team members collaboration. The collaborative team recognizes the

unique gifts of its members and makes those members shine.80

Leadership and ministry ought to be gift based. In other words, leaders should be

appointed because of their evident gifting and ability to perform a particular ministry or task,

remembering that the one sure sign that this giftedness is of God is the character of their lives.

God has designed the church so that those with the spiritual gift of leadership should lead, those

with a teaching gift should teach, those with a mercy gift should show mercy, those with caring

gifts should care, etc. The focus of 1 Corinthians 12 is upon the diversity of function, where all

roles are necessary and simultaneously reflect unity and mutuality rather than equality. This is

the reason that the Apostle Paul can accommodate an ecclesiology of unity while proposing a

diversity of prophets, pastors, teachers, apostles, elders and deacons. The Apostle Paul

frequently reminded his churches (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Ephesians 4:1-16),

the Body of Christ consists of unity in diversity. No one person has all the gifts necessary to

build the Church. All display different facets of the call of Jesus to the Church, and all are called

to love the others into the full realization of that call until, All of us come to the unity of the

faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of

Christ#(Ephesians 4:13).

James D.G. Dunn drives this point home, The body metaphor is and remains the classic

illustration of unity in diversity, that is, a unity which does not emerge out of a regimented

conformity, but a unity which results from the harmony of many different parts working together,

George Cladis,Leading the Team-Based Church(San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999). 14.80


27/37

28

and which depends on the diversity functioning as such. It is the spirit of collaboration that81

connects and inclines every member of the body of Christ towards the other. This is the work of

the perichoretic Spirit. 82

In Book 6 ofDe Trinitate, Augustine speaks of the unity and diversity of the Trinity in

this way: The virtues are in the human soul in a similar way [that is, similar to the way

greatness is in the Father and greatness is in the Son]. Although each of them has a fixed and

clearly defined meaning, yet one can in no way be separated from the others... Moltmann83

seems to support this in saying, the concept of Gods unity cannot in the trinitarian sense be

fitted into the homogeneity of the one divine substance, or into the identity of the absolute

subject either; and least of all into one of the three Persons of the Trinity. It must be perceived in

theperichoresis of the divine Persons. The Trinity cannot be reduced into one member, or be84

represented by the most dominant (i.e.: the Father). It can only be experienced in the fullness of

diversity and unity - thus the perichoretic dance. The very personality of the Godhead itself

requires a plurality of persons within community.

A biblical example of eldership may serve to illustrate plurality within community. To

become more trinitarian there ought to be plurality of leadership personality in order to wrestle to

the point of mutual community. The Scripture indicates that church leadership ought to be

plural, evidenced in that nowhere do we have an endorsement of single, dictatorial leadership

James D.G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity (SCM81

Press Ltd, 1977), 111.

Stephen Pickard, Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry (Ashgate Publishing Company: 2009), 7.82

Augustine, On the Trinity Books 8-15. Edited by Gareth B. Matthews. Translated by Stephen McKenna (Cambridge83

University Press, 2002), xxxiv.

Jrgen, Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1981), 150.84


28/37

29

within the biblical imagery of community. In 3 John 9, Diotrephes is being corrected for

exhibiting a singular, dictatorial form of ministry. The text says, I wrote to the church, but

Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call

attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses

to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church

(3 John 9). This kind of exclusivity does not foster healthy community. Paul, on the other hand

ordained elders in every city. Notice that it was never one elder (Acts 14:23). Just as God is

a Trinity in community, so leadership in the church is to be done in a team environment, where

diversity and the wisdom of a multitude of counsel is the norm.

The New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words affirms a multitude of elders in

regards to community life:

Two things about the early elder system are worth nothing. First, supervision of the life

of the community was placed in the hands of a group of elders, not in the hands of a

single elder. The wisdom of several rather than of one was considered necessary for those

matters that an elder team had to deal with. Second, the elder system settled matters

within the community. The elders were members of the community; their judgments

would flow not only from knowledge of law and custom but also from intimate

knowledge of the persons who might stand before them. This community aspect of the

elder system stands in contrast to modern bureaucracy, which tends to create increasing


29/37

30

distance between individuals and those who decide civil or criminal issues that might

affect them.85

Support for New Testament shared leadership (plurality) can be found in other various

passages including Acts 13:1; 15:35; 1 Corinthians 16:15,16; 1 Thessalonians 5:12,13 and

Hebrews 13:7,17,24. In these passages, the plurality of the Trinity is both active and

interactive and the dynamic presented in Scripture is one of mutuality and accountability.86

Cladis asserts, The holy fellowship of God is for us a model of collaboration. Even though we

do not know how these three persons of the one God are organically related, and though much of

who the Trinity is lies shrouded in mystery, we find in Scripture that God is revealed to us in

Father, Son, and Spirit and this revelation is depicted in loving word pictures of fellowship,

movement, and intimacy.87

Reflective Findings from this Research for Collaborative Ministry

The doctrine of the Trinity is highly practical and has implications for collaborative

ministry and in this closing section I will draw reflective findings for practical application to

collaborative ministry within the local church context. The quote by George Cladis that launched

this paper bears repeating: The most effective churches today are the one that are developing

team-based leadership. The following are four observations that can serve to bolster team-88

based leadership and ministry within the local church.

From New International ENCYCLOPEDIA of BIBLE WORDS, Based on the NIV and the NASB Formerly titled85

Zondervan Expository Dictionary of Bible Words Zondervan Publishing House (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, A Division ofHarper Collins Publishers)



Ibid., 1.88


30/37

31

Collaborative Ministry and Theology: Collaboration is at the very center of the heart

of God and precisely the way Jesus engaged in ministry, therefore, a strong biblical and

theological case can be made for collaborative ministry all throughout Scripture. Various groups

and theological persuasions may differ on interpretation and implementation, yet there is

adequate grounding for alliances and partnerships with Christs Body, the Church. A firmly

developed and articulated theology that is based upon biblical convictions must include

affirmation that ministry belongs to all peoples. The unearthing and systematic development of a

theology for collaborative ministry is a wonderful starting point for teams of any size and

composition. Imagine an off-site working retreat of any length, in which there is a collective

project of examining the biblical depth regarding collaboration. This will only serve to unite

hearts, reinforce partnerships, and ignite possibility for future collaboration.

Collaborative Ministry and Gifts: From the writings of the Apostle Paul it is

abundantly clear that the Church has been given a variety of gifts for the betterment of each

individual part as well as the collective whole. Everyone has a gift and each gift has a place. In

essence, ministry belongsto the Body because the Body is part of the whole. Therefore, for

ministry to be truly collaborative it must be inclusive of the varied gifts it represents and the

recruitment of people ought to be for the utilization of their particular gifts rather than the

development of church programs. The latter may certainly be accomplished in the process and

yet the focus must be upon the elevation of the person rather than the program.

On a church team, its imperative to discover, develop and deploy the uniqueness of each

person, and process how each fits within a larger context. It is my belief that God has blessed us


31/37

32

with everything we need to build the Church effectively, but it is our responsibility to discover

the hidden potential in one another. This can happen a number of ways, but it must happen.

Collaborative Ministry and Leadership: For the ministry to be effective with a wide

variety of gifts being represented and integrated, it requires the call and clarification of the

leadership role. Teams need members as well as leaders for it to achieve collaboration, and

within those teams a truly collaborative approach will require the sharing of power. Having said

that, there is clear support biblically and throughout church history for the valuable role of a

leader. Leaders define missional clarity, foster mutual community and facilitate unified diversity.

In a perichoretic/Trinitarian community of collaboration, the leader may change, like that

of a jazz band instrumental, or ballroom dancer taking the lead at a particular time. This requires

discernment and humility among team members.

Collaborative Ministry and Relationships: Friendship is one key to collaborative

ministry both practically and theoretically. Whereas much of what is spoken of in scholarly and

pulpit forums is concerned with defining who we are in distinctionfrom other members and parts

of the Body of Christ, its important to consider ourselves in relationto one another. The biblical

models of community and brotherly love are indispensable to our relationships - which are the

fundamental frameworks for collaborative ministry.

In the local church it is possible to engage in deepening relationships, even with our

uniqueness. The doctrine of the Trinity supplies an understanding of God being open and

personal, both to interaction within the Godhead and to relationships outside. This is the standard

for Gods people within ministry teams.


32/37

33

Future Study

A suggestion for future study is in regards to idealizations and disappointment. These are

concepts that Pickard expounds upon in Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry

when he says:

The perichoretic (lit.: dancing around) life of God is the deepest foundation for a

collaborative ministry. Recognition of this fact has provided the springboard in

contemporary theology of ministry for so-called relational understandings of ministry.

Such language abounds today and is part and parcel of notions of the interconnectedness

of all ministries and the priority of shared every-member ministry. This is well and

good, at least as far as it goes...The discourse of relationality is underdeveloped in dealing

with issues of conflict and difficulty in ministry and it tends to set up idealizations about

the way ministry ought to work. Disappointment will be close at hand. 89

Pickard is right and his conclusions deserve further study. The body of my research has

been supportive of Trinitarian collaborative ministry, but what about conflict, frustration and

disappointment? Is it enough to have a Pollyanna Cant we all just get along? mindset? This

seems to overlook the realities of broken, sinful people that have a hard time playing well

together. That would certainly be a valid direction for future research.

The Apostle Paul brings his second letter to the Corinthians to a close by offering a

benediction that the Corinthians may receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul goes

Stephen Pickard, Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry (Ashgate Publishing Company: 2009), 4.89


33/37

34

on to add the Father and the Spirit to the benediction, so that he ends up with a remarkable triadic

prayer that includes Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit. It is that Trinitarian prayer that will serve90

as a blessing to the conclusion of this research:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.91

Gordan D. Fee,Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007),90

195.

2 Corinthians 13:1491


34/37

35

Bibliography

Andrews, Alan editor. The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual

Formation. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2010.

Augustine. On the Trinity Books 8-15. Edited by Gareth B. Matthews. Translated by StephenMcKenna. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Boff, Leonardo. Trinity and Society, trans. Paul Burns. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988.

________________.Holy Trinity, Perfect Community, trans. Philip Berryman. Maryknoll, NY:

Orbis, 2000.

Buckley, James J. and David S. Yeago, editors.Knowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit

in the Practices of the Church. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.

Burgess, Stanley M. The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson

Publishers, 1989.

Buxton, Graham. The Trinity, Creation and Pastoral Ministry: Imaging the Perichoretic God.

Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2005.

Cladis, George.Leading the Team-Based Church. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999.

Clendenin, Daniel B.Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective. Grand Rapids,

Mich: Baker Book House, 1994.

Collins, Paul. Trinitarian Theology West and East. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Crisp, Oliver D.Divinity and Humanity. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Cunningham, David S. These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology. Malden,

Mass: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Dunn, James D.G. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament. London: SCM Press Ltd, 1977.

Fee, Gordon D.Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study. Massachusetts:

Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.

Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come. Hendrickson Publishers, 2003.

Greenwood, Robin. Transforming Priesthood: A New Theology of Mission and Ministry.

London: SPCK, 1994.


35/37

36

Grenz, Stanley J. Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Theology.

Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2004.

Hahnenberg, Edward.Ministries: A Relational Approach. New York: Crossroad, 2003.

Haight, Roger, S.J.Ecclesial Existence: Christian Community in History.New York, NY:

Continuum, 2008.

Harper, Brad and Paul Louis Metzger,Exploring Ecclesiology. Grand Rapids, MI: BrazosPress,

2009.

Hollander, Edwin P. Inclusive Leadership: The Essential Leader-Follower Relationship. New

York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group, 2009.

Katzenbach, Jon R. And Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams. Harvard, 1993.

__________________________________. The Discipline of Teams, John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Kouzes, James and Barry Z. Posner. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-

Bass, 2002.

_____________________________. Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge,

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Ladd, George Eldon.A Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Leupp, Roderick T. The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity

Press, 2008.

Lossky, Vladimir. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church.New York: S. Vladimirs

Seminary Press, 1976.

Marshall, Molly T.Joining the Dance: A Theology of the Spirit. Valley Forge, PA.: Judson, 2003.

McDonnell, Kilian. The Other Hand of God: The Holy Spirit as the Universal Touch and Goal.Liturgical Press, 2003.

Moltmann, Jrgen.Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology. Minn. MN:

Augsburg Fortress, 2000.

__________. The Trinity and the Kingdom. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1981.


36/37

37

__________. The Spirit of Life. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minn. MN: Augsburg Fortress

Pub., 1992.

Oden, Patrick.Its a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit.Newberg, OR: Barclay Press, 2007.

Peterson, Eugene. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Grand Rapid MI: Eerdmans, 2005.

Pickard, Stephen. Theological Foundations for Collaborative Ministry. Ashgate Publishing

Company: 2009.

Pinnock, Clark H.Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. Downers Grove, IL:

InterVarsity Press: 1996.

Placher, William C.Narratives of a Vulnerable God. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox

Press, 1994.

Roxburgh, Alan J., and Fred Romanuk. The Missional Leader: Equipping your Church to Reach

a Changing World.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.

Shawchuck, Norman and Roger Heuser.Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems

to Serve People. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996.

Sofield, Loughlan and Carroll Juliano. Collaborative Ministry: Skills and Guidelines. Ave Maria

Press, 1987.

_______________. The Collaborative Leader: Listening to the Wisdom of Gods People. AveMaria Press, 1995.

Schwobel, Christoph, editor. Trinitarian Theology Today: Essays on Diving Being and Act.

Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark LTD, 1995.

Torrance, Thomas F. The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons. Edinburgh,

Scotland: T&T Clark LTD, 1996.

_________________. Trinitarian Perspectives: Toward Doctrinal Agreement. Edinburgh,

Scotland: T&T Clark LTD, 1994.

Treier, Daniel J and David Lauber, ed. Trinitarian Theology for the Church: Scripture,

Community, Worship. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. 2009.

Volf, Miroslav.After Our LIkeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. Grand Rapid, MI:

Eerdmans, 1998.


37/37

38

Ware, Kallistos. The Orthodox Way.New York: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1979.

Welborn, Ralph and Vince Kasten. The Jericho Principle: How Companies use Strategic

Collaboration to find New Sources of Value, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2003.

Yukl, Gary A.Leadership in Organizations.Prentice Hall, 1989

Zabriskis, Stewart C. Total Ministry: Reclaiming the Ministry of All Gods People. Alban

Institute, 1995.

Zizioulas, John D.Being As Communion. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1985.

______________. Communion & Otherness.New York: T&T Clark, 2006.

collaborative ministry & perichoresis

Documents

collaborative ministrythrough

team leadership

teambased leadership

triune god

a2collaborative god

gods people

cladis comment

churchs purpose