Gary Millar, Both/And Ministry: Living and Leading Like Jesus. Good Book Company, 2025.
We all bring to the Christian life our natural bents and dispositions. We might naturally be a people pleaser and therefore we avoid confrontation at all cost. We might be wired for hard work and discipline while not being so good at resting. We might innately love organisation and strategy but we’re not so great with people. When we begin to follow Christ, however, we discover that he will not allow us to only pursue our default setting. He calls us to a both/and life.
That’s the thesis of Gary Millar’s short, readable, challenging and engaging book. He observes that the Christian life wouldn’t be so hard if we could just lean into one side of the many tensions that exist. But repeatedly God calls us to both/and: to be both patient and urgent; both utterly dependent on God and working hard to get results; both straight with people and tender; both willing to speak up and quick to listen; to think both theologically and practically. Millar covers over thirty both/ands of Christian life, community, ministry and leadership.
Millar astutely observes that in most cases of ministry and leadership failure, there was a lack of both/and. Great giftedness was valued over true godliness. But it’s not enough to be a gifted preacher or leader. We must also be gracious, humble, teachable and submissive to others.
Millar grounds this paradigm in God himself. We have a both/and God, both/and theology, and have experienced both/and salvation. For example, God is both transcendent and immanent, a God of glory and of grace. Jesus Christ is both God and man. We are both chosen by God and must respond to the call of the gospel. On that theological basis, Millar addresses in subsequent chapters the both/ands of Chrisitan identity, relationships, ministry, leadership, and community.
Embedded in the book is an underlying both/and: his approach is both deeply rooted in the gospel and the life of Christ, and it is stingingly perceptive and challenging. If it had been only one or the other it would have either excused us or condemned us. But instead, Millar constantly drives us not only to the both/and life of Jesus himself but to the life changing power of the gospel. It is a book full of hope, promising the attainability and joy of the both/and life. At the same time, he urges the examined life, ending each chapter with a short diagnostic tool to assess which side of each both/and we lean toward, and pressing us toward gospel change.
The result is a short book, just 150 pages, that is a like primer on sanctification specifically applied to gospel ministry. True to form, Millar achieves this with plenty of humour, pointed personal disclosure, and engaging warmth, all combined with theological insight and gospel clarity. Another both/and.
Whether for personal reflection, team discussion, or training others in the basics of Christian living and godly character, this book should be read and taken to heart.