Beyond the Pulpit

About the Book

Following 40+ years of Congregational parish ministry, Dr. Arthur A. Rouner, Jr. left his 3,500-member suburban congregation to found an outreach organization with a worldwide focus-i.e., The Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation. In Beyond the Pulpit, Dr. Rouner traces the experiences and influences that led him from a widely acclaimed career in parish ministry to a new chapter in his life work a chapter "beyond the pulpit."

Since 1994, working in partnership with his wife, an African friend and colleague, and a major worldwide NGO, Dr. Rouner pioneered a Ministry of Reconciliation in the African genocide countries of Rwanda and Burundi. A deeply personal account, Beyond the Pulpit explores the painful ending of Dr. Rouner's own parish ministry, while at the same time illuminates how each experience of that ministry was preparing him for his current and most powerful ministry.

Beyond the Pulpit encourages readers to be open to God's Spirit, and challenges them to answer God's call to their lives and work. It is a fascinating, insightful exposé of the Spirit at work within the life and ministry of the author, and an affirmation of how God guides the lives of all who are sensitive and responsive to His leading.

About the Author

Following 40 years of service in parish ministry?at the First Congregational Church of Christ in Williamsburg, Massachusetts; Eliot Church in Newton, Massachusetts; and The Colonial Church of Edina, in Edina, Minnesota?Dr. Arthur A. Rouner, Jr., founded The Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation in 1994.

Based in Edina, Minnesota, the Pilgrim Center is an international outreach ministry dedicated to healing the wounded and broken hearts of individuals and communities.

Initially approached by World Vision in the 1980s to help with African famine relief, Dr. Rouner subsequently expanded his role throughout the continent of Africa, helping to lead efforts for the development of water resources, agriculture, AIDS relief, and orphan assistance. In 1995, World Vision again approached Dr. Rouner, asking him to create and implement a ministry of reconciliation among the grieving survivors of the genocide in the African nations of Rwanda and Burundi. Along with his wife Mary (Molly) Safford Rouner, Dr. Rouner now travels to Africa several times per year, conducting intimate healing retreats with Church, women, and youth leaders.

In Beyond the Pulpit, Dr. Rouner shows how God used his 40 years of parish ministry to prepare him for the critical, deeply personal, and highly sensitive ministry of reconciliation to which he was called after leaving the parish.