Jonathan Edwards for the Church: The Ministry and the Means of Grace is a book published by EP Books and edited by William Schweitzer. The book consists of ten chapters and an appendix, all written by different contributors. Some of those contributors include Nick Batzig, Jon Payne, Jeff Waddington, Doug Sweeney, and more.
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Jonathan Edwards for the Church: The Ministry and the Means of Grace
This book is truly “for the church” as the title suggests. The first part of the book provides advice from Jonathan Edwards (perhaps the greatest theologian in America, ever!) in regards to the Christian ministry. This part consists of six chapters, all of which are written by pastors or theologians that love the church. Gerald McDermott deals with lessons that pastors can learn from Edwards’ ministry today. This chapter is super encouraging! He provides 8 principles for how pastors can endure to the end. This chapter might well be worth the price of the book. Pastors that are discouraged and suffering will profit much from this chapter!
William Schweitzer offers a chapter on ministers as conduits of the means of grace. Again, this is such a great encouraging chapter for ministers who need to keep their eyes on the word and sacraments as the way in which they minister to the church. Some of the other chapters deal with apologetics, missions, and suffering.
The second section of the book deals with the ordinary means of grace, and primarily that of the preached Word. I’m not sure why there wasn’t much discussion about the sacraments and prayer in this section. (I suppose I would consider that the only weakness of the book.) Nick Batzig offered a really interesting chapter on the Christological nature of the Song of Solomon. The book has an appendix that includes a sermon by William Macleod on Psalm 85:6. I found that to be a very fitting way to end a book that dealt with the great revivalist, Jonathan Edwards.
This was a very encouraging book to me, and I suspect that it would be for other ministers as well. Jonathan Edwards has much wisdom to impart to us today, and this book aims to help in that venture. I certainly recommend this book highly! It is a very enjoyable read.
Disclaimer: My thanks to Evangelical Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Matt became a joyful follower of Jesus at the age of 21. He is very grateful to be a husband to Lindsey, and a father to four boys. He is an ordained minister (teaching elder) in the PCA. He previously served as a pastor of biblical counseling and is currently a corporate chaplain in southern Delaware. Matt received his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds an advanced certification in biblical counseling from the Association of Biblical Counselors. In his free time, he loves playing with his boys, traveling with his wife, and reading (and buying!) books.
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