On Being a Pastor: Understanding Our Calling and Work - Softcover

Prime, Derek; Begg, Alistair

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802431224 ISBN 13: 9780802431226

Verlag: Moody Publishers, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The ministry of pastors is not simply a job; it’s a vocation and a lifestyle.

A pastor’s responsibilities are unique, demanding that he not only nurture his own spiritual life but also the lives of those in his care. What a challenge this can be!

Derek Prime and Alistair Begg provide practical advice for both the spiritual and practical aspects of pastoral ministry. They delve deep into topics such as prayer, devotional habits, preaching, studying, and specific ministry duties. The result is an essential tool for those in pastoral ministry.

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DEREK PRIME was born and brought up in London, where he received his secondary education at Westminster City School. National Service immediately followed for eighteen months, during which time he was attached as an army teacher to the Royal Scots Greys in Germany. Upon demobilisation he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied history and then theology. For the next three years he taught at a London Grammar School, prior to his ordination to become pastor of Lansdowne Evangelical Free Church in West Norwood in south London. After twelve years at Lansdowne he was called to Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh where he was pastor for eighteen years. He then devoted himself to writing and an itinerant ministry. During this time, sadly, within a few years of one another, both his younger daughter and his wife died of cancer. However, he was greatly blessed in having his other daughter and older son in Edinburgh and second son in London, giving him the joy of eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, an ever-growing family!

ALISTAIR BEGG (Trent University; London School of Theology; Westminster Seminary) was born in Scotland and spent the first 30 years of life in the United Kingdom. Since September of 1983, he has been the senior pastor at Parkside Church in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. He is the daily speaker on the national radio program Truth For Life which stems from his weekly Bible teaching at Parkside, and is the author of Made for His Pleasure, Lasting Love, and What Angels Wish They Knew. He and his wife, Susan, have three grown children.

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The ministry of pastors is not simply a job; it’s a vocation.

A pastor’s responsibilities are unique, demanding that he not only nurture his own spiritual life but also the lives of those in his care. What a challenge this can be!

Derek Prime and Alistair Begg provide practical advice for both the spiritual and practical aspects of pastoral ministry. They delve deep into topics such as prayer, devotional habits, preaching, studying, and specific ministry duties. The result is an essential tool for those in pastoral ministry.

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On Being a Pastor

Understanding Our Calling and Work

By Derek Prime, Alistair Begg, Cheryl Dunlop

Moody Publishers

Copyright © 2004 Derek Prime and Alistair Begg
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8024-3122-6

Contents

FOREWORD, 
AUTHORS' NOTE, 
INTRODUCTION, 
1. THE CALL AND THE CALLING, 
2. LIFE AND CHARACTER, 
3. GOALS AND PRIORITIES, 
4. PRAYER, 
5. DEVOTIONAL LIFE, 
6. STUDY, 
7. PREACHING, 
8. PASTORAL CARE, 
9. PASTORAL CARE—THE PRACTICALITIES, 
10. THE CONDUCT OF WORSHIP, 
11. THE RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD, 
12. DELEGATION, 
13. FAMILY AND LEISURE, 
14. PERILS TEMPERED BY PRIVILEGES, 
NOTES, 

CHAPTER 1

THE CALL AND THE CALLING

DEFINING OUR TERMS

The ministry of undershepherds and teachers is not simply a job. Rather it is a vocation, the answering of a specific call from God. It is the highest calling in Christian service. As a young man, F. B. Meyer shared his call to the ministry in a letter to a friend:

For friendship's sake I do not like to conceal from you, or in fact from any one else, the decision to which I have come. So to be frank, I have decided my future course, and am going, with help from above, to be a minister of the Gospel. Now I can imagine your astonishment, but it is a fact. I need only add that it appears to me to be the noblest aim in life to live entirely devoted to the one object of bringing others to know Him who has accomplished so much for us. When weighed against the hereafter, earth and its careers sink into insignificance.

Six months after his conversion, John Stott, still only seventeen, "was sure of his future calling to the ordained ministry of the Church of England." When he was completing his university course, his parents were unhappy at his pursuing his call. In a letter to his father, he gave the reasons for his decision, the first of which was, "Obedience to my call. Whatever you may think of it, I have had a definite and irresistible call from God to serve Him in the Church. During the last three years I have become increasingly conscious of this call, and my life now could be summed up in the words 'separated unto the gospel of God.' There is no higher service; I ask no other." To make such claims about God's call we must define our terms. By call we mean the unmistakable conviction an individual possesses that God wants him to do a specific task.

The task in view is that defined by the New Testament as being a pastor and teacher. God calls men to shepherd God's flock and to care for its well-being, to show God's people by example and instruction how they should live lives worthy of God their Savior. Sometimes pastors and teachers may be described as elders, bishops, or overseers, but whatever their description and title, an essential qualification is that they should be "able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2).

They are all called to take their share in the direction of the affairs of the local church, but not all are called to give the whole of their time to the work of shepherding and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17). We have both in view, but our particular focus is upon those set apart to give the whole of their time to this calling. However we view a pastor, or minister, or leader among leaders, within a Christian fellowship, we should think of him in terms of the New Testament elder, and as an elder among elders. We are thinking not so much of an office that may be held but of the exercise of a spiritual gift. The church has often tended to be office-oriented instead of gift-oriented, and the right balance needs to be struck.

THE IRRESISTIBLE NATURE OF THE CALL

Advice frequently given is, "If you can avoid entering the ministry, do so! If you can do something else, do it!" This is sound counsel. If it is right for a man to give himself completely to the ministry of the gospel, he will feel that it is the only thing he can do. John Ryle, a nineteenth-century bishop of Liverpool, had no early sense of call, and when he shared his decision to enter the ministry it came as a complete surprise to everyone. His explanation was, "I felt shut up to do it and saw no other course of life open to me." And thus it has ever been.

Such advice makes good sense about any employment. Where possible we should enjoy what we do in life and engage in it with enthusiasm. Few make any impact for good upon others if they work halfheartedly. The ministry demands much of a man and his family. Before entering upon it, therefore, he needs to count the cost. Our Lord's words about the importance of a man not looking back once he has put his hand to the plow have particular relevance to pastors and teachers. Many have begun and then, sadly, stopped.

More important still, behind this advice there is the basic truth that God always gives a clear call to those whom He has chosen for the ministry, so that when that call comes they can do nothing other than respond to it. They will not be able to say no to it. It follows that if someone thinks he may be called to the ministry but is not absolutely certain, then he should wait until he is sure. God does not give uncertain calls. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expressed it, "It was God's hand that laid hold of me, and drew me out, and separated me to this work."

In focusing upon the call of pastors and teachers, we are not suggesting that God's call does not come equally to others for different tasks. Nevertheless, the call to shepherd God's people and to teach them His Word is a special calling because of its strategic and unique importance for the spiritual wellbeing of Christ's flock.

The Call in the Context of God's Calling of All Christians

The words call and calling are used in a number of ways in the New Testament, and the call to the ministry is not the first call from God an individual receives. First Corinthians 1:1–9 provides a typical example. The primary call is to fellowship with God's Son Jesus Christ (verse 9)—a call to union with Christ and all its glorious benefits. The second call is to holiness (verse 2). Calling and justification bring the inevitable consequence and privilege of sanctification. The third call is to service, and frequently to specific service. In Paul's case, his primary service was to be an apostle (verse 1). God's call to be a shepherd and teacher is a specific call.

Old Testament Examples

The prophets' experience exemplifies the manner in which God works in commissioning His servants. The Old Testament prophets found God's call irresistible, much as sometimes they shrank from its implications. The call came in a variety of ways and circumstances, but it was essentially the same. For Moses it came forty years after his failure to wait God's time as he foolishly took matters into his own hands by physically defending a fellow Hebrew. At the time of his call he was carrying out his daily occupation of caring for sheep in the desert (Exodus 3). He was immediately aware of God's holiness (verse 5), and he was so overwhelmed at the implications of God's call that he asked, "Who am I, that I should go ...?" (verse 11).

Isaiah's call came when he visited the temple during a period of national crisis (Isaiah 6:1). He, too, was acutely conscious of God's inexpressible holiness. But in hearing God ask, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" he could do no other than say, "Here am I. Send me!" (verse 8). Jeremiah was told that before he was formed in the womb God both knew him and set him apart for the work of a...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Moody Publishers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0802431224
• ISBN 13: 9780802431226
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 295
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar