Needless to say, ministry is not easy, and it can be discouraging for the young pastor just starting out despite the many years of training at Bible college or seminary. You know how to prepare a sermon, but where should you start? You know you need to visit people, but how do you balance this with the much-needed office time to prepare for Sunday? Starting out in ministry can almost be like sitting down with a jigsaw puzzle right out of the box. You have all the pieces but now you have to put them all together.
As I’ve been “getting my feet wet” in these first couple of months of ministry, I’ve read almost anything I could get my hands on that deals with starting off well in ministry. One book I found especially helpful was Help for the New Pastor: Practical Advice for Your First Year of Ministry (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2018), 191 pp. The book is made up of eighteen chapters consisting of no more than fifteen pages. Each are practical yet thoughtful.
Summary and Analysis
Wingard begins the book discussing one’s call to ministry and how to go about preparing for ministry. I was tempted to skip over these chapters since I’ve already begun pastoring and feel confident in both my internal and external call to ministry, but these opening chapters were still beneficial for one main reason: it never hurts for one to take the time to dwell on the weight of one’s call to pastoral ministry. The call is not something that we should take lightly, but as we get into a routine, and after the initial excitement of beginning to pastor fades, we can easily lose sight of how great a responsibility it is to shepherd God’s people. Wingard does a great job of helping the new pastor keep this in proper perspective.
The next several chapters deal with various aspects of the church service itself. He talks about preparing and delivering sermons and leading the congregation in worship and the ordinances. Sermon preparation makes up a large part of a pastor’s schedule every week. In your training before you begin ministry, you learn much about what makes up a good sermon. You learn how to do good exegesis, how to interpret the text, and how to apply it. You have all the tools necessary to build an excellent sermon, but learning how to do these things efficiently week-by-week is not always the easiest task. Recognizing that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach, Wingard provides the new pastor with useful advice for establishing a good routine for sermon preparation.
The last half of the book deals with pastoral duties outside of the weekly times of worship. Wingard advises new pastors on matters such as home visitation, hospital visitation, administration, and pastoral counseling. One thing that’s clear from this book is that the bulk of ministry is done outside of the office. Preaching is clearly important and should be a high priority for pastors, but shepherding involves much more.
As Wingard puts it: “Biblical pastors are shepherds. They know their sheep by name. They know their needs and, using the resources of God’s Word, are ready to meet those needs with the compassionate skill that a true shepherd has for his sheep” (95). As a new pastor myself, I’ve found this section of Wingard’s book particularly helpful. I tend to be shy when I first meet new people, so getting to know people by name and beginning to make home visits has been a challenge. But Wingard gives much practical advice on how to make the most out of visiting your church members. He emphasizes that the purpose of a home visit is to assist church members in living disciplined Christian lives (96) and even provides a list of questions that can help facilitate a productive home visit (98).
Many of the topics Wingard discusses in Help for the New Pastor are best learned by experience. Nothing can replace the value of just getting started and learning as you go. And while these types of books can do only so much, I think Wingard’s book helps new pastors get started on the right foot. I appreciate the fact that he does not write in a way that suggests you have to follow a very specific method of pastoring to have a fruitful ministry. He keeps the focus on the principles found in Scripture that describe pastoral ministry. There’s a strong emphasis on being disciplined to prioritize the preaching of God’s Word and to be a faithful shepherd to the people to whom God has appointed you.
Recommendation
So, who would benefit from reading Help for the New Pastor? This book has somewhat of a niche audience as the title suggests. Obviously, it is intended for those just starting out in ministry. There is an abundance of helpful advice that any new pastor will find himself referring to, even after he has finished the book.
In my opinion, this book should be put in the hands of any young man who has answered the call to preach as soon as possible. It may be helpful for them to go through this book with their pastor to discuss God’s call on their life. Chapter 2, which is titled “Preparing for Pulpit Ministry,” would be especially helpful for an aspiring pastor before or during his education since it contains much guidance on education and learning from other pastors.
And finally, I think this book could be helpful for the seasoned pastor, as well. Pastors who already have years of experience may have their routines established and not need much assistance in this area. But Wingard’s book may be useful to them as they evaluate how they are doing in their ministry and consider ways they could improve.
Pastoring is a great responsibility; caring for the souls of a congregation is no small task. As pastors, we should humbly learn from books like Help for the New Pastor as we strive to faithfully shepherd God’s flock.
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