pastor || writer || speaker
In my ongoing efforts to re-learn pastoral ministry, I am turning to books commended through the ages about what it means to be a pastor. One of those I just recently read was St. John Chrysostom's brief work, Six Books on the Priesthood. I share these comments that I found particularly helpful, from the end of …
Continue reading "John Chrysostom on Preaching to please God and not for human praise"
This post continues my reflections on Eugene Peterson’s book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, which began as an attempt to honor Peterson's influence upon me while also reconsidering the essential aspects of pastoral ministry that Peterson affirms. The book explores what he calls the holy trigonometry of pastoral ministry, built around three angles of ministry: …
A good sermon is one side of a passionate conversation. It has to be heard in that way. There are three parties to it of course but so are there even to the most private thought: the self that yields the thought, the self that acknowledges and in some way responds to the thought, and …
My continued reflections on pastoral ministry, the church, and what it means to be in ministry in North America led me back to Thomas Oden's Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry. I first read this book while still an undergrad at Wheaton College but enrolled with special permission in a graduate level class entitle "Pastoral Ministry," I …
It’s a pleasure to be a regular contributor to The Gospel Life blog. sponsored by the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. My latest post dropped today: "The Pastor and Evangelism: Six Freeing Approaches to Fulfilling Our Evangelistic Calling." Here’s an excerpt, but you can read the entire post here. If we are honest as pastors, …
Matthew Erickson 