I now have a new favorite book on pastoral ministry, and there is no other book that comes close to it. That book is The Christian Ministry with An Inquiry into the Causes of its Inefficiency by Charles Bridges (1794-1869). This book is published by The Banner of Truth Trust. Let me now explain the reasons for such high praise.
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The Christian Ministry With an Inquiry into the Causes of Its Inefficiency
Why is this book my new favorite book on pastoral ministry?
First, Charles Bridges writes in such a clear and understandable way. You would never know that this book was first published in 1830.
Second, He proves himself to be a very humble, loving, tender pastor who loves Christ’s sheep. This is what makes a pastoral ministry book a great book in my opinion, when the shepherd resembles the Great Shepherd and loves the sheep in the manner that Christ loves them.
Third, this book is such an honest, true-to-life account of pastoral ministry. Bridges deals with the real discouragements and hardships within ministry. However, he doesn’t stop there. He provides excellent, heart-warming encouragement from God’s Word, motivating the pastor to press on in the ministry for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the good of His saints.
Related to this is the way in which Bridges challenges those in pastoral ministry. For instance, Bridges discusses some of the causes for the “lack of success” in ministry that are related to the pastor himself, things such as a lack of personal devotion to the Lord, the fear of man, the influence of spiritual pride, the lack of leading the family in worship of the Lord, conformity to the world, an evil heart, etc. In other words, Bridges is certainly out to encourage those in ministry, but he isn’t afraid to offer needed rebukes with the hope of that leading to repentance.
The three reasons above are balanced very well by Bridges, making it my favorite book on pastoral ministry.
Layout and Content
The Christian Ministry With an Inquiry into the Causes of Its Inefficiency is divided into five parts:
- General View of the Christian Ministry
- General Causes of the Want of Success in the Christian Ministry
- Causes of Ministerial Inefficiency Connected with our Personal Character
- The Public Work of the Christian Ministry
- The Pastoral Work of the Christian Ministry
As you can tell from these five parts, Bridges covers a lot of territory! Perhaps more impressive is that he offers a rather comprehensive treatment of pastoral ministry in under 400 pages.
Some of my favorite aspects of Bridges’ work is his dealing with the following topics:
- The divine origin and institution of the Christian ministry
- The trials and difficulties of the Christian ministry
- Preparation for the Christian ministry
- Divine calling
- Fear of man
- Preparation for the Pulpit (especially preaching law and Gospel)
- Treatment of different cases in pastoral work
This book is wonderful and seriously needs to be read by every single minister of the Gospel as well as anybody considering going into ministry. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Tolle lege, take up and read!
Disclaimer: My thanks to Banner of Truth 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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