Letters to a young pastor [Paperback]
By Calvin Miller
David C. Cook Publication
ISBN-13: 978-0781405775
$ 14.99, 256 pages (including front and back)
Those who aspire to professional ministry have the same dreams as people entering various careers. After sufficient academic preparation, each young minister has an idealistic view of the world and enters his first parish in hopes of translating biblical realities to an enthusiastic congregation. Idealism quickly fades, however, when this same minister realizes that ministry can be hard work. Parishioners complain frequently, there never seems to be enough time, and there is always one more meeting to attend. For some, the path of least resistance is to leave the ministry and seek their “calling” elsewhere.
Most vocations don’t live up to the expectations placed on them – there’s always the difficult coworker, the ruthless boss, or the maniacal workload that saps your vitality. In desperate times, it is as refreshing as a glass of cold water on a barren summer day to know that someone, anyone, understands the struggles you face.
Calvin Miller, a prolific writer and seminary professor, understands the infidels of the ministry. Choosing to share twenty-five years of experience in a very personal way, Miller has written a collection of letters to a young minister that he has classified into one of five categories:
- Letters on how to locate your life
- Growth of a great worldview on a shrinking planet
- Never cast a vision into an empty sanctuary
- Sermons: great introductions and conclusions kept as close together as possible
- Come to my Heart, Lord Jesus … please
On those days when the young pastor feels he is ready to drop everything, he can instead turn to Miller’s letter: Never quit until Tuesday and receive motivation to continue at least for the rest of the weekend.
In an attempt to undermine the implicit acceptance of the interpretive plurality that exists in the emerging movement, Miller reminds pastors that the wake-up call to ministry is clearly specified in Jude 3. In this passage, the author tells his readers: “Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, now I feel compelled to write to encourage you to fervently contend for the faith that was once and for all entrusted to the saints” (NET Bible). The faith that was entrusted to the saints strikes the modern emphasis of an emerging theology and recalls the entire primacy of Scripture over the work of the minister. In those moments when the work of the ministry or modernist trends invade this reality, pastors should remember: “The biblical exposition is the work of the kingdom.”
As I read this collection of letters, I was struck by Miller’s transparency in writing about personal struggles in ministry. His writing is starkly earthy and underlined by wit and sarcastic sarcasm. In many places, I laughed out loud at the illustration I was doing, but in each case, the truth behind the jokes was spot on.
As lead teacher, Miller incorporates practical recommendations for those in ministry: including how to avoid misconduct with the opposite sex; stay connected to the arts; and what to do when you can’t seem to find Christ on any given day.
After a few decades of professional ministry, Miller noticed that the vocation had changed quite a bit. However, in the ecclesiastical search two things always remained constant: God is love, Y people are broken. Anyone who has accepted the call to minister soon realizes that the latter quickly causes them to forget the former.
In the midst of difficult times Letters to a young pastor, provides information and motivation to get ahead.
Reviewed by Steven King, MBA, MEd