Perkins: The Minister and His Calling

William Perkins was a popular Puritan preacher in 16th century England. Perkins served as lecturer at Great St. Andrew’s Church, Cambridge, where he preached, lectured, extended pastoral care, mentored students, and served as the dean of Christ's College. Perkins influenced many English Puritans, "Perkins as rhetorician, expositor, theologian, and pastor became the principle architect of the Puritan movement" (Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, Meet the the Puritans). Despite Perkins' ministry at Cambridge, his ministry could not be categorized as abstract and heady, "Perkins had exceptional gifts for preaching and an uncanny ability to reach common people with plain preaching and theology" (Beeke and Pederson). 

I recently read Perkins' books The Art of Prophesying and The Calling of the Ministry, a Puritan preaching manual, and deeply enjoyed Perkins' wisdom on the role of the pastor and the call to ministry. Instead of reviewing the book, I thought that I would spend two posts sharing some of the insights I took away from Perkins' gem:

1. Ministers are like ambassadors, they may receive gifts from the world (e.g. salary or approval of a congregation) but they do their duty on behalf of the King who sent them. They will receive their real reward from him (182).
2. The ministry should only be entered into at the calling of God. Ministers are called by God. They serve Him on his terms and at his calling. The ministry is not something to be entered on a whim (179). 
3. For those who are studying, we must prepare ourselves so that we are ready for the moment when God calls us and we can proceed without delay (177). 
4. God goes with those he sends. God equips, guides, strengthens, empowers, defends, and protects his true servants (191). 
5. God's call is discerned through the following means: Scripture, conscience, and the Church. Through Scripture, God shows the "dignity and excellency" of the ministry. Our conscience determines whether we are willing and the Church ought to determine whether we are able. The call to ministry is determined within the context of Christian community (188-189). 
6. Linger not on "speculative studies" at the expense of your ministerial calling (186). 
7. The cure to doubts about one's ability to endure the ministry's challenges is to further reflect on God's forgiveness (184). 
8. Ministers are God's ambassadors and as such they must not offer their own speculations or ideas, but only the message they have received (183). 

Perkins, William. The Art of Prophesying. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1996.