Faster Unto Thee

Book Review - Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson

    Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson, is a book that every pastor should read. Pastors who faithfully plod through the grind of daily ministry and never see more than modest growth in their churches will find encouragement from the example of a minister who was faithful in a tough ministry context. Pastors who have led their churches to significant growth will also gain new respect for those who do not but yet are faithful workers in the kingdom.

            The book is written by New Testament scholar D.A. Carson and is about the life and ministry of his father, Tom Carson. Conveying a son's love and respect for his father, the book explains the difficulty of Tom's ministry in Quebec from the late 40's through the early 90's. Quebec was a brutal mission field for Protestants during the early decades of Tom's ministry, as the Roman Catholic presence was oppressive and even dangerous to Protestant efforts to spread the gospel. Despite the challenges of a pitifully small salary, extremely slow gains in evangelism, betrayal by denominational leaders, the pressures of working in a culture different than his own, and many more challenges, Tom pressed on faithfully in service to the Lord to the end of his life. The book begins with an overview of Canadian history to give a historical context to Tom's ministry, then moves into his call and ministry training. From there it surveys his ministry in Drummondville, then it moves to his work in civil service while continuing pastoral ministry. Finally, the book describes Tom's care of his wife in her Alzheimer's years and his life after his wife's death. The book helps one see faithfulness amidst many different types of struggles over many years.

            The entire book is an interesting read, but perhaps the most insightful portions of the book explain Tom's struggle between his high ministerial standards and his own performance. Frequently in his journals Tom berates himself for his lack of faithfulness to the Lord in terms of evangelistic zeal, work ethic, devotional life, and more. The journals reflect times of deep spiritual depression and struggle in ministry. But while he condemned himself for his lack of perfection, his family and church saw him as a model Christian and family man, and the impact of his ministry was profound, even if it did not result in a large congregation. If you are a pastor and can relate to strong feelings of inadequacy and have contemplated leaving the ministry, this book will help you see that you are not alone. The solution is not a lesser standard, as author Carson, points out, but a stronger acceptance of God's grace: "I cannot allow that to drive me to despair; rather, it must drive me to a greater grasp of the simple and profound truth that we preach and visit and serve under the gospel of grace, and God accepts us because of his Son" (page 92). If you have a family member or close friend who often battles strong feelings of inadequacy in ministry, this book will help you understand that pastors who love God deeply and long to make a difference for him often feel this way, and that there is no simple means to get over it. That being said, if you are not a pastor yourself, you may gain some insight into the interior life of a godly pastor but you will always be an outsider to the experience yourself.

            Aside from understanding what it means to labor faithfully in a tough field that yields little fruit, what can be learned from this book? One thing stands out: God requires faithful labor for him from some servants who will not enjoy satisfying numerical growth. For such laborers, their satisfaction for a job well-done must be delayed until Heaven, while other ministers enjoy some of their reward presently. Can a minister find satisfaction in the Lord alone with little ministry fruit to show, while others labor in more fruitful fields? The answer is yes, and it is for those "ordinary pastors" that D.A. Carson tells his father's story of faithfulness.

        Idealistic seminary students should read this book to gain a realistic view of what ministry can be like. Pastors who are discouraged should read this book to be renewed in the commitment to ministry, and those just curious about what a makes a godly pastor tick will find insight in this volume.

    One more thing. Back in December of 2008 I posted an entry about D.A. Carson's interview with Mark Driscoll about this book. A link to that post and the video is here. Also, you can read a pdf of the book for free here.

 

Critiquing Your Sermons

Bishop Donald Bastian has a helpful series of 6 posts on critiquing your own sermons starting here at his blog, Just Call Me Pastor. All the posts were helpful to me, and, I am sure, will be helpful both to the long-time preacher and the beginning one. Here are the titles of the six entries:

Part 1: Is My Sermon Biblical?

Part 2: Does My Sermon Have Unity? That Is, Does It Say One Thing?

Part 3: Does My Sermon Speak Concretely?

Part 4: Is My Sermon Relevant?

Part 5: Can My Sermon Be Preached With Unction?

Part 6: Does My Sermon Have Bite?

Of Worms and Isaiah

I've been reading Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson, a wonderful book about his father's life and ministry in Canada. The book is refreshing to this ordinary pastor as I can relate to the mentality of its subject and its emphasis on how to become a more faithful pastor, not necessarily a more successful one as is held in much of contemporary church thinking. While the book is refreshing, it is also very sobering as it

makes the reader realizes that service in small, obscure churches with only modest growth may be the only life for many pastors, no matter how hard they pray, work, and serve. The book reveals the very bleak side of pastoral ministry in a tough field in a tough time in Canada and how such ministry can break the spirit, health, and finances of a man. Responding to the call of God is never easy, but it has it particularly rough edges when gains in ministry are always small. The call and duty presses one to stay with the work, while the work makes one miserable at the same time. Being caught between a rock and a hard place is a gross understatement of such a ministry. Of course, the book also includes much of God's grace and successes in ministry as well.

I will review more the book later, but for now an entry that is both humorous and sobering at the same time.

The author recalls this incident with his father, found on page 74:

One Saturday we were both weeding a flower bed. I was in the first year of high school, I think, and going through my first poetry-writing phase. I wrote for my own amusement but sometimes printed the results in the school newspaper. Observing the worms as I was hoeing, I thought it would be fun write a poem in the first person from a worm's point of view. I composed it in my head on the spot: a worm approaching the warmth of the sun, squeezing through particles of dirt, etc. My last two lines were, "I saw the spade flash in the sun:/Woe is me! I am undone." I thought it was hilarious and could hardly wait to print it at school. I interrupted my weeding long enough to recite it proudly to my father. He kept on weeding, said nothing for a minute or two, and then quietly asked, "Are you quite sure you want to print a poem that applies to a worm the deepest reflections of the prophet Isaiah when he was afforded a vision of the transcendent God in all his glory?"

"It's just a joke," I protested. But I never printed the poem.

Good boy. Oh, that we had reverence for God and his Word like that today!

Givers and Takers

It has been said that there are two basic kinds of people in this world, givers and takers. Takers hoard, volunteer little or none of their time to church or community, are always reluctant or decline when asked to help with something, use up supplies without a second thought, and more. Givers, on the other hand, are marked by generosity in offering up their time, money, and hearts. When asked to help with a project, they quickly say yes, but if they cannot, they find a way to support the project otherwise. They offer their funds for worthy causes, and don't mind picking up the neighborhood kids for a church program. They have giving spirits, and they know what the takers do not: that great joy and contentment comes from self-denial. They know that if they give up their lives they will find life. The takers believe the opposite.

Our church has a new bread ministry in which we give away free bread that we pickup from the local Panera Bread restaurant. You see, each day Panera Bread donates their unsold bread to approved charities. We are signed up to pick up bread on Thursday nights at closing time and then we give it away to the community on Friday mornings at the church. It is wonderful to give quality bread away for free to a community that is hurting deeply as our local Delphi and Chrysler employers continue to shrink to near nothingness. Last night we picked up over $800 worth of bread from Panera.

But to do a ministry like this, you need givers. Someone has to sacrifice an evening to pick up the bread, as the pickup time is 8:40 p.m. Then it has to be hauled back to the church, sorted, put in bags, etc. Then someone needs to be at the church the next morning to oversee distribution. As I have sought out volunteers for this, the two types of people, even among Christians, stand out. The givers are eager to help, will rearrange their personal schedules, give up an evening at home, and more to pitch in, because, as they say, "this is a great ministry!" They see the value of the ministry and their giving hearts naturally join in. The takers cannot be burdened with helping, but they sure want some free bread.

Are you a giver or taker? Do you seek to help, sacrificing time, energy, comfort, and money for good causes? Or do you put yourself first, hold back, avoid pitching in, and keep to yourself?