One of the longings of young pastors is to spend time with older, seasoned men who have run the race well, and then stand close to the finish line full of zeal and focus. If you are privileged to have this type of interaction you will be greatly refreshed and encouraged.
This is what William Still did for me. Though he is now in heaven and I have never met him, his book The Work of the Pastor is a great blessing to me.
Still was the pastor at Gilcomston South Church of Scotland, Aberdeen for over 50 years! His ministry impact shows today through men like Sinclair Ferguson. Still worked closely with Ferguson in his teenage years until Pastor Stills died in 1997.
I have been told before to read this book annually. It is good advice. The Work of the Pastor is a collection of addresses given to theological students in 1964. In the introduction we read:
The thesis is that the pastor, being the shepherd of the flock, feeds the flock upon God’s Word; the bulk of pastoral work is this therefore through the ministry of the Word. Only the residue of problems and difficulties remaining require to be dealt with thereafter. p. 11
The addresses center on the pastor’s role and how he should go about the role (preaching, prayer, visitation, counseling, discipleship, private devotions, etc). It is by no means exhaustive, but that should not discourage you from picking it up. He hits on so many practical, everyday items that it is pure gold for the pastor of any stage. He is a comrade in the ministry.
An apsect that I especially enjoy is his unvarnished style. It is what you would expect if you were sitting down for a cup of coffee with a passionate Scotsman. He doesn’t pull any punches. It is so very refreshing.
It is to feed the sheep on truth that men are called to churches and congregations, whatever they may think they are called to do.
If you think that you are called to keep a largely worldly organisation, miscalled a church, going, with infinitesimal doses of innocuous sub-Christian drugs or stimulants, then the only help I can give you is to advise you to give up the hope of the ministry and go and be a street scavenger; a far healthier and more godly job, keeping the streets tidy, than cluttering the church with a lot of worldly claptrap in the delusion that you are doing a job for God.
The pastor is called to feed the sheep, even if the sheep do not want to be fed. He is certainly not to become an entertainer of goats. Let goats entertain goats, and let them do it out in goatland. You will certainly not turn goats into sheep by pandering to their goatishness.
Do we really believe that the Word of God, by His Spirit, changes, as well as maddens men? If we do, to be evangelists and pastors, feeders of sheep, we must be men of the Word of God.
I agree with Dr Ferguson’s endorsement: “A great little book by a remarkable missionary to whom I owe an immense personal debt. It pulsates with energy. Every minister should read it once a year–at least!”
Discounted copies are available at Westminster Books or Amazon.com.
