Is the cross truly the center of your ministry?

Today the cross is sanitized. It adorns churches, dangles from necklaces, gleams from lapels. Yet in the first century the cross was a grotesque and abhorrent image, a symbol of evil, torture, and shame.

Which of these is the cross that calls us to Christian ministry? The one made of shiny precious metals? Or the one fashioned of rough wood and stained with the blood of Christ?

In The Cross and Christian Ministry, D. A. Carson explains what the death of Christ means for ministry and why the focus of ministry must be on what is central, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through his exposition of 1 Corinthians, Carson explores the issues of factionalism, servant-leadership, and shaping "world" Christians in order to present principles for dynamic, cross-centered worship that compel us to share the Good News.

D. A. Carson (PhD, University of Cambridge) is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The God Who Is There and How Long, O Lord? He is one of the founders of The Gospel Coalition and an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world.