Pastoral Ministry

The Christ-Shaped Pastor

Mark Johnston
Jun 14, 2016
There is no shortage of handbooks on what it means to be an effective pastor; but none can begin to compare with actually meeting someone who is just that. To have such a man as your pastor, or to cultivate a friendship with someone who embodies the qualities needed for the task, is guaranteed to...

Confession and Pastoral Theology: An Extraordinary Means of Constant Conversion

Grant Van Leuven
Jun 10, 2016
Several people have told me they were first truly converted Christians upon becoming Calvinists. Finally, the Bible made sense when the Spirit enlightened them to see, caress, and smell TULIP’s five lovely petals of God’s sovereign embrace from regeneration to glorification. [1] Thus, as the...

Confession and Pastoral Theology: The Usefulness of Confessional Orthodoxy

Michael Roberts
Jun 3, 2016
Whether formally acknowledged or not, confessional orthodoxy is a matter of importance to every genuine Christian. This is true even for Christians who might tend to be put off or dismissive of the term "confessional" or "confession" on the grounds that it either smacks of a mainline flavor, or,...

Faithfulness and Fruitlessness in Ministry?

Jeremy Walker
Jun 2, 2016
A couple of weeks ago a friend asked a question: "How would you encourage a faithful brother who had been pastoring for several years and has not, in that season, seen a conversion directly from his preaching, though the church is growing and health with saints being built up and believers joining...

Confession and Orthodoxy: A Purifying, Preserving Distillation Process

Grant Van Leuven
Apr 22, 2016
Just as bottles of distilled water offer drink that is free of poisonous chemicals and clogging minerals, so the Church’s confessions provide boiled-down, condensed, purified orthodoxy for healthy Body life systems. For instance, a seminary student being examined on the floor of Presbytery with...

Navigating Dangers and Temptations in Ministry

Joe Thorn
Apr 13, 2016
Throughout my twenty-plus years of following Jesus Christ and serving in His church, I have repeatedly seen pastors disqualify themselves for ministry. The moral failures of such ministers have led to confusion, pain, and even a crisis of faith for many. Of course, there are those who occupy a very...

Invisible Pastors

Mark Johnston
Apr 5, 2016
Any church that includes questions to ministers-elect in their ordination or installation to service will, in some shape or form, ask a question about the candidate’s commitment to the pastoral care of his people. This is very much in keeping with the practice of caring for the needs of God’s...

Old Princeton: Benjamin B. Warfield and Seminary Education Today

Steven McCarthy
Mar 18, 2016
During my first year of seminary, I took a required course titled “Spiritual Development”. Some question the inclusion of such a course in a program of formal theological study. After all, an academic course can not make someone spiritual by itself. What’s more, seminary is best suited to impart...

James Durham on Ministerial Qualifications (1)

Donald John Maclean
Feb 25, 2016
The great Scottish theologian and preacher James Durham (1622-1658) published a monumental Commentarie Upon the Book of Revelation in 1658 extending over 1000 pages. John MacLeod stated that Durham’s work “gives what, in past days, was the accepted Protestant view of that book.” (MacLeod, Some...

Safeguarding a Faithful Ministry

Mark Johnston
Feb 23, 2016
The animal kingdom is full of ‘protected species’. From the Great Crested Newt to the Giant Panda, the White Rhino to the Western Lowland Gorilla, it is a criminal offence to interfere with them or kill them. Sadly there is no such protective status for the species minister gospelensis – minister...