Jesus Driven Ministry

Ajith Fernando has been director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka since 1976 and has also been active in church leadership, drug rehabilitation programmes and a worldwide preaching ministry. Of this book Ian Coffey writes, ‘If I could afford to buy only one book on Christian leadership – this would be it’.

Having heard Ajith speak, I started reading this book with a sense of anticipation and was not disappointed. Although mainly written for leaders in any Christian ministry, in a sense I would describe it as a good, solid, Bible based book on the Christian life which would benefit anyone who wanted to move forward in their relationship with God and in the effectiveness of their life and ministry. There are no ‘quick fixes’, plenty of realism about frustrations and problems, and a refreshing focus on the need for integrity of life and witness in all aspects of leadership.

The whole book is based on the model of Jesus’ ministry as revealed in the opening of Mark’s Gospel, and would be a useful tool for systematic study for this aspect alone, perhaps in a small group. Each aspect is copiously illustrated with examples from Ajith’s personal experience and from a wide range of sources, both historically and geographically. The personal anecdotes are in no way offered from a sense of pride, but I did wonder whether he had 48 hours in every day in order to have covered so much ground in his life!

A list of some of the chapter headings will give a good idea of the breadth of this book and its usefulness in a variety of situations: Identifying with people; Empowered by the spirit; Affirmed by God; Retreating from Activity; Affirming the Will of God; Saturated in the Word; Growing in a team…

Simply reading through this book as I have done does not do it justice. As already indicated it would form an excellent study guide for the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, but the book itself would also be worthy of group study and would sit well on your bookshelf for ongoing reference and inspiration.