Perkins: The Minister and His God

In The Call to Ministry, William Perkins provides further insights into the primacy of a pastor's relationship to God. Effective ministry overflows out of lives transformed by the gospel of a gracious God. No man can pastor effectively who has not had his soul lanced deeply by repentance and comes to have an immediate sense of God's full and complete forgiveness (so said Thomas Watson in The Doctrine of Repentance, another Puritan classic). Here are a couple more bits of wisdom from Perkins:

1. If pastors/ministers are to encourage and see change in others, they must first encourage and see it in themselves ("If ministers are to see any fruit from their ministry, they must first sanctify themselves and cleanse their hearts by repentance before they presume to stand up to rebuke sin in others" (151).   
2. "It is the minister to whose conscience God has pronounced the pardon of his own sins who most powerfully pronounces the pardon of sins to others" (174). 
3. Before ministers are filled by God, they must be emptied by him. "We must develop a conscious sense of the lack of [the excellent graces] in ourselves. For God does not normally bestow gifts on any except those who in humility and lowliness confess to him and acknowledge in themselves the need of them" (159). 
4. Sometimes a minister must have a fiery tongue (169). Sin must be spoken of in an appropriate manner. 
5. It is the minister's task to learn how to properly apply the doctrine to the lives of its hearers in a way that is appropriate in their context (170-171). It is wrong to beat down the congregation with the Law when "their hearers are sufficiently humbled and need instead to be raised up by the comfort of the gospel". Others burden their congregation with overly academic, novel concerns. Others apply comfort too quickly.

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

The Art of Prophesying with The Call to Ministry by William Perkins

Published: 1996 by Banner of Truth Trust

Length: 191 pages  

Purpose Statement: "The pages which follow have been written for faithful ministers of the gospel and for all who are concerned about and pursue the knowledge of holy learning" (Preface).

Difficulty (out of 5): Three

Rating (out of 10): Seven

Recommended For: Pastors, preachers, and those considering pastoral ministry

Cheapest Place to Buy: Monergism Books is selling it for $5.60 (US); its available for Kindle on Amazon for $2.99; and The Art of Prophesying (not The Call to Ministry where most of the above quotes are from) is available free online at Monergism's website.