Praying for your Pastor

"...for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance..." (Philippians 1:19, ESV)

In Philippians 1:19, Paul writes that he expects his that his circumstances-- dire though they may seem given his imprisonment-- will result in his deliverance or salvation (the Greek could be translated to as either deliverance or salvation). One of the striking things about this verse is that Paul acknowledges the prayers of the Philippians on his behalf. The people are praying for their pastor and friend! 

What an example worthy of imitation in our churches! If you want to pray for your pastor and would like some suggestions in how you might do so, I'd encourage you to check out the article "How to Pray for Your Pastor: Praying for Your Pastor's Personal Life, Family Life, and Ministry" at Leadership Resources. Consider printing off this article and reading one or two suggestions during your personal or family devotions and incorporating them into your prayers.

Evangelism Bibliography

Tomorrow morning at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church we will begin a three week adult education series on evangelism. Each week's session will be in a panel format. There will be four panelists--I will be one of them--and we will begin to answer questions that have been submitted previously by members of the congregation. The focus point of these three weeks will be on relational evangelism. 

In preparation for this series I prepared a bibliography of materials on evangelism. I thought it would be helpful if I made that available to you. I have copied it below but will be happy to share a pdf file with any who desire it.

Evangelism Bibliography

Primary Recommendations on Evangelism,
Missional Living, and Church Planting

Chester, Tim and Steve Timmis. Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008.

Chester and Timmis are church leaders in the United Kingdom. In the first five chapters, the argument is made that evangelism most effectively takes place when Christians develop authentic community with other believers that is centered around honest gospel conversations and where the individuals invite others to share in the life of the community. In other words, evangelism is not something that is done individually, but corporately. This book will challenge many of your assumptions about church and the nature of evangelism. Popular   

Koukl, Gregory. Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Koukl’s book simplifies the goal of evangelism, “Instead of trying to get to the cross in every encounter, just aim to put a stone in someone’s shoe. Try to give the person something to think about. Be content to plant a seed that might later flourish under God’s sovereign care.” In Tactics, Koukl discusses how you to have conversations with your friends that puts a stone in their shoe. This book is both easy and practical. Popular

Metzger, Will. Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel Wholly By Grace Communicated Truthfully and Lovingly. 4^th edition. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1981.

Will Metzger, a campus minister at the University of Delaware since 1965, has written a book that successfully blends a sound, God-centered theology of evangelism with a practical concern for how Christians of all stripes can be witnesses in the settings in which God has placed them. The most recent editions of this book come with appendices that include evangelism training material (e.g. how to prepare your testimony, how to ask good questions, evaluating gospel presentations) and a study guide for working through the book. This book comes highly recommended. Popular

Stetzer, Ed. Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church that’s Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006.

Ed Stetzer looks at the how and why of congregational evangelism. While Stetzer’s focus is on church planting, there is still much that existing churches can glean as they seek to engage their neighborhoods with the gospel. Stetzer is the president of LifeWay research, the pastor of a church plant, and a contributor to Outreach magazine. Popular

Secondary Recommendations (Those
Recommended By Reliable Sources)

Blackburn, W. Ross. The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012.

From the publisher, “The Lord's commitment to make himself known throughout the nations is the overarching missionary theme of the Bible and the central theological concern of Exodus… From a careful examination of Exodus, Blackburn demonstrates that (1) the Lord humbled Pharaoh so the world would know that only God can save; (2) the Lord gave Israel the law so that its people might display his goodness to the nations, living in a state of order and blessing and (3) the Lord dealt with Israel's idolatry severely, yet mercifully, for his goodness cannot be known if his glory is compromised.” Academic

Dever, Mark. The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007.

Mark Dever has spent a great deal of time thinking and writing about the Church. His short book on evangelism (128 pages) answers seven of the most basic questions about evangelism: why don’t we evangelize? What is the gospel? Who should evangelize? How should we evangelize? What isn’t evangelism? What should we do after evangelism? Why should we evangelize? Popular

Hybels, Bill. Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

Just Walk Across the Room gives simple instructions and encouragement for building relationships in which relational evangelism can occur naturally. Bill Hybels also gives many great examples from his own life of times that his relational evangelism efforts have gone well and times when things didn’t turn out as he had hoped. This is an easy read that is encouraging for Christians who are just starting to think about this “relational evangelism” idea. Popular

Kostenberger, Andreas J. and Peter T. O’Brien. Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.

From the publisher, “According to Andreas Köstenberger and Peter O'Brien, this significant theme [of mission] has rarely been given its due attention in biblical theology. Motivated by their passion to see God's mission carried out in today's world, they offer a comprehensive study of the theme of mission. In Salvation to the Ends of the Earth they explore the entire sweep of biblical history, including the Old Testament, the second-temple period, each New Testament Gospel, Paul and his writings, and the General Epistles and Revelation.” Academic

Packer, J. I. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1961.

A classic book on the theology of evangelism from a Reformed perspective. Academic

Reid, Alvin. Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2009.

From the cover, “Evangelism Handbook is a thorough guide to the daily ministry of sharing Christ. Writer and professor Alvin Reid is particularly concerned about how the Western Church is currently practicing evangelism—its failure to reach the hardcore unchurched and its trend of losing young people faster than it can win them. With a contagious passion for the lost, Reid organizes and presents his research and experience of effective modern evangelism in four clear actionable categories.” These four categories are biblical, spiritual, intentional, and missional. Academic

Stiles, J. Mack. Speaking of Jesus: How to Tell Your Friends the Best News They Will Ever Hear. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995.

From the cover, “Evangelism isn’t about exhibiting superhuman courage or perfecting specialized techniques or exercising extraordinary eloquence. Rater, this book will open your eyes to how ordinary people in commonplace situations can use everyday language to reveal the simple news about Jesus.” Popular

Articles, Websites, and Blogs on Evangelism

“Evangelism.” TheResurgence.com. http://theresurgence.com/categories/evangelism Popular

Gaydos, Tim. “7 Tips for Talking to Your Neighbors about Jesus.” TheResurgence.com. http://theresurgence.com/2012/01/16/7-tips-for-talking-with-your-neighbors-about-jesus

Jensen, Matt. “7 Ways to be a Missionary in College.” TheResurgence.com. http://theresurgence.com/2010/05/11/7-ways-to-be-a-missionary-in-college

“Outreach Magazine.” http://www.outreachmagazine.com/ Popular

Outreach is a bimonthly magazine about church evangelism. This magazine is particularly helpful as an exchange of ideas between churches, leaders, pastors, and laypeople about how the church, groups, and individuals can reach their communities with the gospel message. Much of the content that is available through the magazine can also be retrieved the magazine’s website.

“Evangelism Archives.” Gospel Centered Discipleship: Resources to Make, Mature, and Multiply Disciples of Jesus. http://www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com/category/evangelism/ Popular

McBee, Seth. “The Introverted Evangelist.” Gospel Centered Discipleship.

http://www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com/the-introverted-evangelist/

McBee, Seth. “The Neighborhood Mission Start Up.” Gospel Centered Discipleship.

http://www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com/the-neighborhood-mission-start-up/

Writebol, Jeremy. “Redeeming Fantasy Football.” Gospel Centered Discipleship. http://www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com/redeeming-fantasy-football/

“100 Ways to Engage Your Neighborhood.” Josh Reeves. http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7105292/Posted%20Resources/100%20Ways%20To%20Engage%20Your%20Neigbhorhood.pdf

Audio on Evangelism

Dever, Mark. “A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism.” Capitol Hill Baptist Church. http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/audio/1999/03/a-biblical-understanding-of-evangelism/

If you don’t have time to read any of the books above, then at least take the time to listen to Dr. Mark Dever provide a clear summary of biblical evangelism, reasons why we do not evangelize, and reasons why we should evangelize. Dever says that evangelism is not something we do to unbelievers, nor is it simply sharing your testimony, but it is the loving and winsome presentation of what God has accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinful human beings. Popular

Dever, Mark. “Mark Dever on Evangelism.” AlbertMohler.com. http://www.albertmohler.com/2008/01/18/mark-dever-on-evangelism/

This is a thirty-minute interview of Mark Dever about his book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. The interview begins at the 11:24 mark. Popular

Dever, Mark. “Contact Evangelism: A Leadership Interview with Mack Stiles and Friends.” 9Marks. http://www.9marks.org/media/contact-evangelism

A roundtable discussion on contact evangelism. Popular

Platt, David. “Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death Defying Missions (Session VI).” Together for the Gospel. http://t4g.org/media/2012/05/divine-sovereignty-the-fuel-of-death-defying-missions-2/

David Platt’s sermon is the most intense sermonic call to evangelism and global missions that I have ever listened to. Popular

World Religions and Apologetics

Geisler, Norman. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998.

A comprehensive resource that will serve as a high-level resource for addressing objections to, and arguments for, the Christian faith. Academic

Keller, Tim. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Dutton, 2008.

Newsweek has called Keller, a pastor in Manhattan, the C. S. Lewis of the 21st century. Reason for God is a beautifully written response to some of the most common objections your friends, family, and neighbors might have to Christianity. Keller’s book addresses intellectual challenges to faith in a way that is accessible, winsome, and direct. This book would be helpful to anyone who is unsure of the answers they might give to the doubts and challenges raised by their non-Christian friends. Popular

Nichols, Larry, George Mather, and Alvin J. Schmidt, eds. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions: Revised and Updated Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

A compendium of the historical and theological backgrounds to many of the world’s most noteworthy religions, cults, and sects. This book is particularly helpful resource in that at a number of points it lists the disagreements between Christianity and the particular religious movement that you are researching. Academic

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

This is one of the more familiar popular-level apologetic books. Strobel, a former atheist who worked for The Chicago Tribune, interviews experts in a variety of fields to find answers to questions about the credibility of the biblical story. His other books—The Case for Faith and The Case for a Creator—are also worth reading. Popular

Vain Confidence: A Ministry of Me

“The most important resource that you have in your ministry is you,” said the professor.

Gah! I scanned for anything within arm’s reach that I could use to bludgeon myself into an unconscious state that would erase this last pronouncement from my memory. No such luck.

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I’m the most important resource in my ministry?

Really?

Is the best ministry resource at my disposal a mind and heart that is prone to fits of anger (see my response above) and rotten with self-righteous pride and cynicism? Is my most important resource a personality that acts as a perpetual exhibition of failed love, patience, and generosity? Is that my best resource? Is that the resource that my congregation requires me to make full use of? If so, I’d rather charm snakes. It might be easier. It might be safer.

I am not the most important resource in my ministry.

The Bible makes clear that no man or woman is without sin (except for the Lord Jesus himself). Sin is a war-wager. When we live outside of Christ, having no part in his saving work, sin reigns over us. It is the controlling power, the dominant voice, and the commanding presence. However, even in Christ, having been bought at the cost of his body and blood and forgiven from all our sins, sin still rages against us. The difference between someone who has come under the kindly kingship of Jesus Christ and someone who has not is not that the Christian is sinless but that the power of sin no longer rules over the Christian; instead, he or she is ruled by the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8; Colossians 3). Yet, Christians—pastors, teachers, stay-at-home moms, city employees alike—find themselves fighting against (and sometimes losing to) sexual sin, pride, selfish desires, rage, envy, and other sins. Clearly, even those who are ruled by the Spirit of Christ prove themselves inadequate even to govern themselves. In other words, I can’t help me very well, so how could I possibly be the best resource I have when it comes to helping others? The idea that I am the best tool in my ministerial toolbox is laughable. 

I am not the most important resource in my ministry.

This is not to deny that God gives gifts for serving his church. God, in his mercy, makes us suitable for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). This is the point though: God makes the unwilling willing; the unsuitable suitable; the wicked righteous; the unskilled skilled; the cowardly courageous; the useless useful. Yes, God’s people are given gifts; but that points to the fact that our greatest resource comes from outside ourselves! God, in his mercy, equips us by his Holy Spirit for building up the church and proclaiming the gospel to the world. I have no ministry apart from God the Father’s sovereign plan. I have no ministry apart from God the Son’s saving work.  I have no ministry apart from God the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work. In all things, the Triune God works to equip me—an otherwise self-interested, self-absorbed nitwit—for performing a work that honors him! O what a marvelous thing!

I am not the most important resource in my ministry.

Friends, apart from God giving us the resources for ministry, we are about as useful as a brick to the head. God the Father gives his Spirit to us. He gives us unique gifts for ministry. He renews our minds, giving us the mind of Christ, so that we know the God we proclaim. Our greatest resource is the power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working in us for the good of his people. When you seek the power for obedient ministry, look up, not in. For in this task, as in all others, God must increase, and we must decrease.

A (Rare) Protestant Defense of a Catholic Pope

On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be stepping down as pope on February 28. This, of course, caused quite the stir as papal resignations are few and far between. Many have, and many more will, comment on Pope Benedict—both in terms of his resignation and his legacy as pope. One of the early commentators in the Toronto Star was columnist Rosie DiManno. In terms of the pronounced verdicts on Pope Benedict XVI, DiManno’s opinion is in the critical camp. In her article “Pope Benedict XVI Pushed the Catholic Church Backward”, DiManno says that Pope Benedict XVI did a poor job as pope because, under his leadership, the Roman Catholic Church “regressed into a monk’s cellar of orthodoxy, bluntly conservative and reactionary” and “made [faith] too hard” for moderns. DiManno’s column is worth commenting because it exhibits a fundamental worldview difference that will make all the difference in assessing Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy. 

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DiManno gives several reasons for why Pope Benedict ought to have been given the ol’ heave-ho. The one of particular interest is that Benedict made the Roman Catholic church more theological conservative, “[reversing] every hint of theological liberalism.” To this effect, Benedict continued to “alienate women” (DiManno doesn’t give her reasons for this assertion) and continued to uphold the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on homosexuals in the priesthood. Another reason why Benedict ought to be scolded, according to DiManno, was his behavior on the religious playground. The Bishop of Rome didn’t exhibit a sufficiently ecumenical spirit when he made it possible for Episcopalian clergy to defect from their sinking ship and he didn’t act nice towards the other major monotheistic religions. 

Benedict’s leadership in these areas, according to DiManno, returned the church to the 19^th century and made it too difficult to be a Catholic. DiManno’s point is that Benedict failed to lead the Catholic Church in a manner that will make it successful and relevant in the 21^st century; rather, Benedict’s failed ecumenism, his treatment of women, and upholding the ban on homosexual clergy actually made the Catholic Church even more irrelevant. 

DiManno and Benedict represent opposite understandings of the theological enterprise. DiManno bemoans defeats of liberal theology during Benedict’s papacy. Theological liberalism is religion made by human beings that is about human beings and is for human beings. Theological liberalism is not about God—either what God has done or is doing, neither about who he is or what he commands—but is about the experience located within human beings (I can think of no better work to commend on the subject than J. Gresham Machen’s masterful book, Christianity and Liberalism). DiManno’s problem with Benedict’s papacy is fundamentally an issue of worldview. At the root of DiManno’s worldview, as indicated by her article, is a results-driven, people-centered understanding of Christianity. The Catholic Church ought to accommodate itself to persons who are well intentioned, regardless of what they might believe, so that they can be part of this larger community; besides, most people who claim to be Catholic are “at best cafeteria-tray practitioners, selecting only those tenets deemed digestible.” If no one, DiManno says, is going to sign off on all the doctrines that the Church teaches, why be as rigorous as Benedict was? 

By contrast, Pope Benedict saw theology as a subject that begins with God first. Theology, and the ministry of church leadership, is to seek to be obedient to the God who speaks through his Son and through his divinely inspired Scriptures, the Bible. This is why Benedict upheld his ban on women clergy and maintained the stance that homosexual behavior is wrong—not because he wanted to preserve the Church of a previous century, but because the unchanging, eternal God has spoken. Thisis why Benedict made it possible for Episcopal clergy to become Catholic andwhy some Episcopal clergy did! They were leaving an Episcopal church that had no sense that their doctrine must conform to the apostolic teaching of God’s divinely inspired and inerrant word. Pope Benedict is correct in believing the Church’s doctrine is not to be determined by what makes faith easier, more rigorous, or more popular, but by what God has spoken. This is something that DiManno clearly does not see. 

Also worth noting is what DiManno sees as integral to Catholic identity. She writes, “And I do understand, truly, that the Church can’t ever cave to a sweeping liberalism. There are absolutes it is unable to sacrifice—abortion, an all-male clergy—because then it wouldn’t be the Catholic Church; it would be nothing, it would lose its soul.” Do you understand, Rosie? Really? Truly? Catholics don’t fight against abortion because their identity is at risk. Catholics fight against abortion because abortion is the murder of a human being and they believe, quite rightly, and in accordance with biblical teaching, that God loathes such murderous activity. Catholic theology does not reserve the clerical office for men because they’d lose their identity otherwise. They argue for that position, and with good grounds, because Scripture provides warrant for it. I’m not Roman Catholic, but I know enough about Roman Catholic theology to know they don’t uphold certain beliefs out of fear they might devolve into some lost and confused adolescence without any identity to speak of!
 
There is no mention, nor hint of understanding, in DiManno’s article that Christianity is informed and motivated by divine revelation. Popes do not teach unpopular things because they’ve become a necessary part of their identity. The absence of divine revelation in her framework for understanding religion is again part of the fundamental worldview clash between a theologically liberal understanding of religion and historic Christianity. The recognition that God had spoken clearly in the Scriptures and through the person and work of Jesus Christ is essential to the Christian faith—both Catholic and Protestant—and so long as this is overlooked there will be very different rubrics for assessing the work of Church leaders. Theological liberals and those who think as Rosie DiManno does in her article will judge Pope Benedict’s papal administration by any number of things—his charisma, decisions that brought or didn’t bring Catholic teaching more in line with contemporary thought, etc. Christians, however, have a different criterion that they must judge their leaders by: how well have they guarded the good deposit of the gospel message about Jesus Christ, which was entrusted to them? And in the end, when Christian leaders face the Lord Jesus as judge, that will be all that matters.

Words to the Winners of Souls

Words to the Winners of Souls exhorts seminary students, ministry leaders, and pastors to stay fervent in their faith. Though its page count is small, Horatius Bonar’s book issues a big challenge to the leaders of the church: tend to your heart so that your ministry will produce repentance and spiritual vibrancy in the hearts of those you preach and minister to.

The chief end for the preacher must be salvation for the lost and guidance for the saved. Bonar challenges ministerial purpose, asking, “Has it been the end of my ministry, has it been the desire of my heart to save the lost and guide the saved? Is this my aim in every sermon I preach, in every visit I pay?” (17).

The ministry of preachers who desire the salvation of the lost must be characterized by personal application of the gospel. The minister of the gospel must be devoted to personal transformation. Bonar says, “It is living fellowship with a living Savior which, transforming us into His image, fits us for being able and successful ministers of the gospel. Without this nothing else will avail” (25).  

Horatius Bonar’s work, Words to the Winners of Souls, is worthy reading for seminary students, pastors and preachers, and church leaders.

Words to Winners of Souls by Horatius Bonar

Published: Reprinted 1979 by Baker

Length: 76 pages  

Thesis Statement: "It is living fellowship with a living Savior which, transforming us into His image, fits us for being able and successful ministers of the gospel” (25).

Recommended For: Pastors, preachers, and evangelists

Cheapest Place to Buy: Christianbooks is selling it for $5.49 (US)

How to Stay Christian in Seminary

At the beginning of this year, Desiring God ministries began an excellent series on their website titled, "How to Stay Christian in Seminary". To the layperson this might come as a shock: how to stay Christian in seminary? What do you mean? These are pastors-to-be! These are people who read books about Greek and Hebrew!

A big library or a seminary education is not protection against a heart that grows cold towards the gospel. 

In fact, there is a very real sense in which seminary students might grow indifferent towards the richness of the treasures of God. More than one seminary graduate has decided, over the course of time, to leave the ministry-- some even, to leave the faith. 

Of course, seminary does not necessarily lead to indifference and coldness of heart. Education can just as easily be a means of softening the heart as it can harden it. So, to my seminary friends, I encourage you to read this series of posts of "How to Stay Christian in Seminary" and ask yourself what is seminary doing to your love for Jesus?

To other readers, you may want to read this post to consider how you can pray for seminary students that you know and to find loving questions you can ask them to see how their heart is doing.

Ray Ortlund's post on "Seminary is for Deeper Humility" was a post that I found particularly challenging. He provides this excellent insight: 

The Bible bluntly says to every seminary student, “Who sees anything different in you?  What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).  Seminary students should be the most grateful people on the face of the earth, because what they are receiving is the precious Word of God.  It is not their own, and it is not for self-display.  It belongs to God, and it is for Christ-display and for serving others.

What do you have that you did not receive? That is a question that we would do well to ask ourselves daily. Ortlund provides further words of wisdom that challenge seminary graduate and high school drop-out alike: 

There is no shortcut to the personal significance every one of us rightly longs for.  Significance is not as simple as going to seminary.  It comes at the cost of deepening character.  And there is no way to go deep without humility before God.

For those interested in reading this series, you can follow the links posted below:

Introduction: Seminary: Life or Death? by David Mathis (January 17, 2012)
Know Your Value of Values by Jonathan Parnell (January 17, 2012)

Be Fascinated with Grace by David Mathis (January 24, 2012) 

Love that Jesus Calls the Weak by Jonathan Parnell (February 6, 2012) 

Study the Word For More Than Words by David Mathis (February 13, 2012) 

Pray With Your Books Closed by Jonathan Parnell (February 20, 2012) 

Be a Real Husband and Dad by Jonathan Parnell (March 13, 2012) 

Keep Both Eyes Peeled on Jesus by David Mathis (March 20, 2012) 

Seminary is for Deeper Humility by Ray Ortlund (March 24, 2012)

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.  

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.