Five Years of Ministry

I was ordained to gospel ministry October 30, 2016, five years ago today. In light of this fact, I’d like to offer five items I’ve learned in the course of that time. Before I begin, I have three disclaimers. First, as is to be expected, I have probably learned more in these first five years than I will in the next due to the nature of growth. Second, I fully recognize that some Baptists out there believe that ordination is something that is redone every time you take up ministry in a new church, which would mean that I have only been ordained a matter of a few months when in fact I’ve been conducting Reformed Baptist ministry for five years. Third, some things are solidified by experience that were obviously known intellectually beforehand.

1. The Minister is a Servant of God

That a minister is a servant of God was one of the items I obviously knew before entering the ministry, but it is an item that has become solidified in my thinking as I have served. There is a tendency among members of the church and in our own hearts to view a minister as a servant of the church in the sense of the church being the object of our service. There is truth to this. We ought to be like the Chief Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve. However, when serving in ministry, you quickly realize (at least if you have doctrinal convictions) just how weighty it is to know that you stand before God in terms of faithfulness in the ministry. Should I do “X” ministry thing? It is easy to answer with, “Well, will people be interested in it; will there be turn-out; will it offend people?” To ask “Does this please my Master,” and then seek the answer in Scripture will often cause displeasure or discomfort among some in the church. However, the Lord does care for his servants. Rather than making this a separate point, it is worth noting here that for a minister to be a servant of God means he is regularly on his knees in prayer, regularly before the Word, regularly in meditation. In other words, it should (but can’t) go without saying that a minister is a Christian, and must be a faithful Christian.

2. The Minister Should be in Contact with Other Ministers

It is vital to be in conversation with other ministers, both inside and outside the church. Talk to your fellow elders or you will have a less-than-complete understanding of the state of the congregation. However, be sure to also have ministers outside the church you can speak with. Ministers outside the church will be able to provide insight and comfort that can only come from an “outsider,” and they will be able to draw on their own experiences. Make sure to have men whose ways of reasoning are different than your own, though you will want to make sure he has similar convictions. I have found it to be helpful to be in conversation with those of different denominations and simply different personalities. It’s easier to listen to people who think exactly like you, but we have not been called to do easy things; we have been called to do faithful things.

3. The Minister Must be Driven by Theological Conviction

This is related to the first item, but is worth standing on its own. Everyone has ideas about how a minister ought to 1) preach and 2) conduct the work of ministry. A man not driven by conviction will be driven by convenience (though “convenience” usually looks like “political expediency”). What I’m not saying: do everything you think is right immediately. Obviously there are things that should be done slowly and with care. Not everything is of equal value, and not all things of value will be valued appropriately if they are done the same way. What I am saying: Don’t let that reality serve as an excuse for cowardliness. It will still hurt, but a clear conscience with “dusted off sandals” is better than knowing you have disobeyed the Lord. For instance, if the Lord’s Supper, Baptism, or the ministry of the Word are practiced in ways that are clearly contrary to Scripture, you will need to address that quickly and explicitly. If the Sunday school program could be refined, but it is functioning fine, you can take your time. As an aside on this, there are times when, providentially, something that would have been a “back burner” issue can be addressed quicker than assumed. Don’t press things where it’s not immediately important, but I also think the advice not to change anything within a particular amount of time is both unrealistic and at times unfaithful. In relation to the issue of preaching, remember that we live in an age when people have read Spurgeon’s 50 pages on “Posture, Action, Gesture, etc.” instead of Perkins’ more reserved half-page, or they’ve spent more time asking “is this the next Piper” than “was Scripture opened up faithfully?” or “did everyone ‘get’ something out of that” than “have I beheld God in Christ?” Preach to please God, and his sheep will hear his voice.

4. The Minister Must Love the Saints

Let’s be honest: It is easier to be heartlessly “right” than invested in others agreeing. The minister could get up and say, “This is the way it’s going to be, and if you don’t like it, there’s the door.” However, when the minister loves the people, he wants them to agree with the Lord’s Word. If he believes the Word teaches X, he can not change that out of “love” for the people, but he should also be careful not to be callous in his stand for truth. When going through several serious disagreements that led to my departure from Massachusetts, I sat and listened and prayed before and after conversations and fasted and prayed and wept and asked others to do the same. I included the things mentioned above (theological conviction, communion and counsel from other ministers, including those older and more experienced), but I did so with my heart and soul invested in seeing the people of God come to embrace the beautiful truth of God. It was not a mere “change of job location” but a deep-seated hurt that they had not wanted to follow the Lord. (It’s worth noting that people today often view events like that as mere relational or business-like events; they are deeply spiritual, deeply theological, and God’s eye is upon them).

5. The Minister Must Persevere in Ministry

Unlike some, I do believe there are times when someone who has become a minister should not have, and they should have the freedom to step down. It may be the abilities that were thought to be present actually weren’t, or that the season of life requires resignation (e.g. retirement age, sickness). In such cases, I believe the minister ought to move to another church for the sake of the incoming minister, but the pastor who steps down in this case should not be viewed as sinning. However…, with that caveat in place, ministry is hard, and men ought to persevere. It requires the whole man being invested in the office. It requires time, energy, the mind, the heart, and the body. They say men depart the ministry fairly quickly, and I think I understand why (such as the instances mentioned above), but if you aspire to the office of overseer, you aspire to something that requires perseverance. To stand on conviction in love, and to do the hard things, and to meet with people often and invest in their lives, all while preparing to deliver God’s Word, are all taxing on the body and soul, but perseverance is the call.

Some Books

Every pastor likes books, so here are 5 that I recommend after 5 years.

1. Help for the New Pastor: Practical Advice for Your First Year of Ministry by Charles Wingert—Most books on ministry are more like what I provided in my list above, more principles than practical helps. This book was extremely helpful because it deals with all the normal things it seems nobody else talks about. How often will you do a wedding? Not often, but every “minister’s handbook” talks about it. How often will you be in an elders meeting? Usually at least monthly, yet this may be the only book I’ve seen that actually talks about how it should look. By contrast, I think (almost?) every one of the books I was assigned in pastoral ministry in seminary was useless.
2. Art of Prophesying by William Perkins. This book laid the groundwork for the method of preaching employed by (in my opinion) some of the greatest preachers the church has seen. They have a bad reputation, but I don’t think the current state of the church—with its widespread theological ignorance and largely absent piety—gives it the right to stand in judgment on this matter.
3. The Christian’s Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus à Brakel. Though the whole work is worthy to purchase, the reason I include it on this list is the introductory biography by Dr. W. Fieret which includes a section on à Brakel’s view of the ministry that I found helpful.
4. Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by John Gill. This set used to be a standard resource for Baptist pastors, and it still stands in my mind as the go-to treatment on texts. It is thoroughly engaged in biblical studies (including Jewish and ancient church interpretation) as well as deeply theological (which most modern commentaries aren’t).
5. Ancient Commentary on Scripture edited by Thomas Oden and Reformation Commentary edited by Timothy George. I assume any pastor will have various modern commentaries on books they’re preaching and teaching through, so I don’t feel the need to recommend those. However, these series provide insight into how the church fathers and Reformers looked at the text. We always hear “if you’re interpreting the text in a way that’s never been done before, you’re probably wrong,” but the reality is that most modern commentators (even conservatives) are beholden to 19th and 20th century methods and conclusions in interpretation, which are—by methodological design—theologically skeptical. In what’s been recently called “premodern exegesis,” Christian commentators assume the Bible really does speak about the Trinity and justification and faith and the law and the Person and natures of Christ and the church, and these things are throughout Scripture and serve as controls on our interpretations.