What does it mean to be equipped for ministry? The contributors to this provocative volume maintain that unless churches radically rethink their answers to this question they will fail to adequately train the next generation of leaders to serve God's purposes. Too often bright-eyed young 'candidates' are thrown torrents of paperwork, examinations, courses, interviews, assessments, and 40- year plans before being deemed fit to minister. Many feel a call to serve God but can't commit to the required hoop-jumping which is, in some instances, outdated and unbiblical. The Call and the Commission draws together pastors, scholars, theological educators, and youth workers in seeking to answer the question of how we can better train the next generation of church leadership. The church today needs young leaders more than ever before. But rather than trying to make them fit the models of a previous age, the church needs to listen to the call given to each individual. Only by doing so can we fulfil our collective commission.

Rob Frost, was founder of Share Jesus International, and died in 2007. He set up the mission agency in 1986 for the sole purpose of sharing Jesus in many different contexts and countries. He was in great demand as a preacher, the International Director of the International Leadership Institute based in Atlanta and the author of over 25 books including The Evangelism Book, Essence, Here and Now and Cover to Cover volumes on Advent, The Prodigal Son and the Way of the Cross. He presented Premier Radio's flagship current affairs programme called Frost on Sunday and his weekly TV show on the God Channel is broadcast under the title the Frost Debate. He lectured in mission and evangelism at London School of Theology and was a regular teacher at theological institutions throughout the UK. David Wilkinson (Ph.D., Durham University in theoretical Astrophysics; Ph.D in Theology) is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Principal of St John's College, Durham. He is author of God, the Big Bang and Stephen Hawking, The Message of Creation (Bible Speaks Today Themes), Holiness of Heart, The Power of Force: The Spirituality of the Star Wars Films and Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe. - Editorial Review. Joanne Cox is a youngMethodist leader in Yorkshire, and doing doctoral studies at Durham University, she is a contributor to The Call and the Commission: Equipping a New Generation of Leaders for a New World. -Editorial Review.