Beyond Busyness: Time Wisdom for Ministry

“a gift to any busy minister”
 – Dr Tim Ling

“Who says this is just for vicars and ministers? Beyond Busyness is a great book for anyone who feels too busy!”
 – dr Margaret Masson

Beyond Busyness is a practical and effective step towards connecting up the limitations of time with the demands and realities of ministry. It helps ministers to take positive steps in developing a time wisdom which will help them navigate the very considerable pressures that many currently face. 

Download a Sample Chapter! PDF, 0.6Mb

Bulk Discounts

If you are buying on behalf of a training college, seminary or diocese – or anyone else for that matter! – you can get up to 20% off the list price. Use the following voucher codes when ordering:

• For 10% off 10 or more copies, use voucher code “BBTEN”
• For 20% off 20 or more copies, use voucher code “BBTWENTY”

Launch Video featuring Justin Welby

What People are Saying...

Beyond Busyness abounds with practical wisdom for those engaged in Christian Ministry. At a time when busyness, anxiety and stress characterise the lives of many of the Church’s ministers, Stephen Cherry has written a much-needed book. It very effectively challenges ministers to reflect on how they approach and use the gift of time. Each of the short 28 sessions offers considerable insight into the nature of time and encourages ministers to confront their current habits and develop new life-giving practices through which their ministry can thrive and they can flourish. Every minister should spend time not only reading Beyond Busyness but integrating its wisdom into their lives.

Dr Jocelyn Bryan
Director of Postgraduate Studies, St John’s College, Durham University

Stephen Cherry uses his own experience of getting the best from a busy life to create this accessible and challenging book. Enriched with quotation and story which build collective wisdom, it takes us into a new way of understanding how to control our time in a way which will enable personal and spiritual development.
Canon Malcolm Grundy
Founding Director of the Foundation for Church Leadership

The demands of ministry are complex. Recent research on clergy experiences of ministry has underlined the reality that there is no such thing as a “normal week”. Whilst time management can be very helpful it also holds the danger of enabling us to become more efficient in our busyness. What is required is the practice of time wisdom. Stephen has done us all a service by sharing his wisdom, by encouraging us not simply to reflect on our busyness but to also have a go at changing our lives. His questions and challenges are a gift to any busy minister.

Dr Tim Ling
National Adviser for Continuing Ministerial Development, Church of England

Who says this is just for vicars and ministers? I really liked this book and its friendly, modest, playful approach to Time Wisdom. Beyond Busyness is a great book for anyone who feels too busy!

Dr Margaret Masson
Vice-Principal and Senior Tutor, St Chad's College, Durham

About the Author

Stephen Cherry is Dean of King’s College, Cambridge. Formerly he was a Canon of Durham Cathedral and has extensive experience in parish ministry and college chaplaincy, having been Chaplain of King’s College, Cambridge for five years and Rector of All Saints with Holy Trinity in Loughborough for twelve. His post at Durham combined cathedral ministry with the leadership of the Diocesan Resource Team, and he was also responsible for Continuing Ministerial Development.

Stephen is the best-selling author of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2011 Lent book Barefoot Disciple and Healing Agony, both published by Continuum.

Stephen is a graduate of Durham and Cambridge Universities with degrees in Psychology and Theology. His PhD from King’s College, London was a theological study of forgiveness which drew on psychology, ethics and literature.