Church leadership and authority have been perennial theological issues facing Protestant churches of the Reformed tradition since the sixteenth century. What is ordination and what occurs when the Church ordains women and men to offices are questions that Reformed churches have attempted to answer for over five hundred years. In Here I Am, Lord, Send Me, Neal Presa combs the rich confessional, constitutional, and theological tradition of the Reformed churches. He critiques previous methods that have tried to answer questions of the meaning of ordination, and then proposes a new methodology that focuses on the ritual and stories of ordination, the shape and content of an assembly's worship. This work provides pathways for deeper and helpful engagement with present church debates and ecumenical discussions on ordination and ecclesiastical authority.

Neal D. Presa is Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship and Vice President of Student Affairs and Vocational Outreach at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Additionally he is Affiliate Associate Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary, Senior Visiting Professor of Pastoral Leadership and Ministry at Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology at the International Theological Seminary (West Covina, CA), and a Fellow of The Center for Pastor Theologians. He served pastorates in New Jersey and California for two decades. He is a past Moderator of the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and past chair of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Foundation. A national and global ecumenist, he is a member of both the Central Committee and Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches, where he leads the Finance Policy Committee.