Being in Ministry

An experienced pastoral practitioner writes with poetic insight and reflective discipline about the practice of ministry and the life of the priestly person. Doug Purnell is also a professional artist and the book shares many of his drawings as part of the text. His book will touch you deeply. It will not be a gentle read, but it will be ministry shaping. You will think in new ways about ministry and about the role of the priestly person as a result of reading this book. You will be enriched.

""Artist, minister, scholar, and teacher, Douglas Purnell creates an integrated portrait of what an implicated ministry looks like amidst painful and challenging circumstances. He skillfully interweaves image and text in a healing narrative that reveals the heart of ministry in daily living within community.""
--Carmen Nanko-Fernandez
Catholic Theological Union, Chicago

""As if he were painting on one of his canvases, Doug Purnell has created an amazingly detailed landscape that includes his own struggles to reclaim his call to ministry amidst the lived experiences of the people of St. Ives Parish. The reader is invited inside an intimate, fiercely honest reflection on pastoral practice as we listen to a pastor listen to himself for the sake of being in ministry authentically.""
--Herbert Anderson
Pacific Lutheran Theological Union and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley

""Purnell's work is a witness to the fact that he seeks balance in being a person, being a partner, being a parent, being a pastor, and being an artist. He is inspirational and transformational as he explores the inevitable tension between being in ministry and doing ministry. Every pastoral leader who wonders about messages of being 'excellent' in ministry should read this book!""
--Jaco Hamman
Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan


Douglas Purnell is the minister of the St Ives congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia, in suburban Sydney. He has spent almost forty years in ministry including ten years as a professor of Pastoral Theology at United Theological College, Sydney. He is the author of Conversation as Ministry and a professional artist who has had four terms as artist-in-residence at seminaries in the USA.