20 Must-Reads on Pastoral Ministry
Editor’s Note: In this article, we share with you the first ten books in our look at 20 Must Reads on Pastoring. We invite you to join us in discovering the second half of our list in two weeks.
“You’ve got to read this book!”
How many times has someone said this to you?
My library is testimony to the fact that I have heard it often over the years.
You took their advice, you read the book a friend said you just had to read. Sometimes it was a book that not only had something to say, but something that needed to be said. Sometimes it was something you really needed to read and receive.
Sadly, other recommendations satisfied this description offered by American satirist Ambrose Bierce:
“The covers of this book are too far apart.”
As a pastoral coach, I come across all kinds of books on pastoral ministry.
Many are marketed as “Must-reads.” Built on market buzz, they burn brightly for a moment like a rocket across the sky only to fall quietly into the sea of books that self-identify as works on “pastoral ministry,” but are in fact, how-to guides on church growth and leadership. They are written by CEOs in shepherd’s clothing, selling tools to be applied but ignoring the qualities that make a pastor a pastor: character, call, humility, a servant’s heart, strong spiritual life and subsequent confidence in Christ.
These kinds of “must reads” produce little life because they possess little life. They are focused on method: how to grow your ministry, church, influence, numbers, budget, market share, etc. They are books filled with tools on how to address and change externals – the “-ing” of pastoring. But they offer little on pastoral ministry because they ignore the “pastor-“ of pastoring: the heart and soul of the person God has created and called to be a pastor. “Pastor-“ books are few and far between, harder and harder to find in the fireworks and fanfare of the latest and greatest book on the “-ing” of pastoring.
It’s time we put the focus back on the “pastor-“ in pastoring, the being of pastoring, because it is from being that doing flows. Here are the first 10 of 20 books, in alphabetical order, to help you do just that.
Be sure to join us again in two weeks for Part 2, including a special bonus book we can, with almost 100% certainty, promise you have never read, heard of, OR would even pick up to look at if we had not recommended it.
1. A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
A study in humility, entrusting ourselves fully to God as His called ones. Three Kings reminds us that we are, first and last, servants of God. Living in this identity qualifies us to lead God’s people: in it, we know who He is, and so, know who we are; we know what is ours to do and what we are to leave in His hands. Living in this identity forms our character and so qualifies us to be called what we are, not just in name but in heart, pastors, undershepherds of Jesus. Be prepared to learn what it means to be broken, and so, ready to be used by God to His glory.
2. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper
The publisher says it perfectly:
“John Piper pleads with fellow pastors to abandon the secularization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.
We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and the heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness, there is no professional panting after God.”
3. Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp
When asked for a first book to read on the heart of pastoral ministry, this is my recommendation. Two reasons. First, because it puts first things first, emphasizing being over doing. The author reminds us that what we are able to do in ministry flows from who we are in Christ. To this end, he offers helps on how to see our souls grow in health. Second, Tripp finds a way to beautifully put into words what a pastor’s heart knows and feels but has never been able to describe: “Yes, that’s it! That’s how it looks, feels, or seems to be. A warning: Tripp takes time to diagnose the weaknesses that so pervasively fill the pastorate today, chastising us and offering us a prescriptive path back to health. As a pastor of pastors, I can not more strongly recommend his instruction.
4. Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando
We enter the ministry with high hopes and the best of intentions: God is going to use us to reach a city, a nation, or the world with the gospel. But then we meet, or better said, crash into reality. The world fights us with rejection. The church fights us by emphasizing production – bigger churches, numbers, and accolades. Burn out or rust out consume many promising young pastors: what could have been becomes the epitaph of too many. The author offers a new approach to ministry, not new in the sense of having just been invented, but in the sense of having been rediscovered after being long forgotten or neglected. Fernando writes that pastors burn out, shut down, or become bitter because they have ignored the essential element of ministry: the health and well-being of the minister’s soul. Where many pastors focused on techniques, tools, and methods, Fernando calls us back to character, quietness of heart, and Christlike living.
5. Jesus the Pastor by John Frye
The author invites pastors to accept the invitation of Jesus to follow him, not only in salvation but in being, becoming, and doing the work of a pastor. Frey effectively makes the reader a 13th disciple, walking with Jesus in a mentor–mentoree relationship. Jesus becomes the focus for all of life: character, motivations, leadership, everything. The reader is reminded that the source of our life in ministry is the same as that of our life in salvation: Jesus. Not the business world, management skills, leadership techniques, or any other mentor. As undershepherds of Jesus, we live a life of continually coming to Him to learn of Him as Savior and Shepherd so that we might then go for Him to shepherd His people. A gem.
6. Liberating Ministry From the Success Syndrome by Kent and Barbara Hughes
The title says it all. The question, though, is, do we really want to be liberated from the success syndrome? We answer in the affirmative, “Oh God, please help me serve you purely and for your pleasure alone.” Until the next denominational meeting when pastors are paraded across the platform to receive the latest round of trophies for the numbers they have produced. As we watch and listen, our hearts turn again to the dark places of the success syndrome, what failures we are, or what successes we could be if only . . . if only. If you have ever felt this way, Liberating Ministry is the book for you. And if you haven’t ever felt this way, Liberating is still for you in that it will help you guard your heart against wrong motivations in pastoral ministry, motivations that lead you away from doing all for His glory.
7. Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson
Do you want to know what makes up the heart of a pastor, a true undershepherd of Jesus? Here’s your read. From the pew, pastoring looks like platform performance. In the shoes, pastoring feels like service, day-in and day-out doing the work. Pastoring is so much more than alliterative memes, sound bytes, and screen-sized sermons. Pastoring is ordinary men and women serving and sacrificing and – here’s the point – doing so with joy and satisfaction. If you aren’t there yet, if you still desire a large platform for your voice, if you want a following and fandom, this is the book for you. If you know only hard work, service, and sacrifice in your small corner of the world, this book is also for you. An English-speaking couple move into the Francophone region of Canada, do the bone-crunching work of learning French in their adult years, planting small churches, and faithfully pastoring them. Sound boring to you? You still either have stars in your eyes about what pastoring is, or you desire celebrity. Either way, read this book and understand what it is, a pastor’s heart. Of particular note, this book is touching in that it is the story of Tom and Elizabeth Carson, written by their son, renowned theologian D.A. Carson.
8. Mondays With My Old Pastor by José Luis Navajo
Imagine sitting down every week with someone who has pastored for four or five decades. Imagine being able to ask that pastor any question or confess any sin. Imagine that pastor is your pastor as you shepherd others. Written in narrative style, this book is precisely what the title implies: the story of a young pastor visiting with his old pastor every Monday over the years, asking questions, probing, and even respectfully protesting. Every meeting leaves the young pastors with more answers. And more questions, but always of a more profound and mature nature. The wisdom, compassion, sorrow, and joy shared are beyond description or measure. This is a cup of coffee by the fireside book, one to be savored slowly.
9. On Pastoring by H.B. Charles
This wisdom collection is a book written in a pastor’s study. With meetings, services, budgets, and needs everywhere, this pastor is moved in his heart by the mission and people of God but unmoved in his convictions to trust and faithfully serve God alone. Just so, he writes of giving priority to strengthening his soul and remaining first a servant of God. The chapters are short, but you won’t scan them or read them quickly. They’re brief enough to be focused but packed with great insights that call for reflection. Look at these words the publishers chose to describe the content of this tome: cultivating, prioritizing, guarding, and balancing. You’ll refer to this one, again and again, so keep it close by.
10. Ordering Your Private Word by Gordon MacDonald
Yes, any follower of Jesus will profit greatly from reading Ordering Your Private World. However, this read has unique relevance and application in the pastor’s life. Many struggle in ministry because they don’t give attention to their first ministry: the health of their souls. If their inner lives could be depicted as the furnishings of a house, the house would be lightly appointed and in great disarray, more (ware)house than home. With their souls so lightly tended and heavily disordered, is it any wonder their ministries express this disorder in crammed schedules, lack of rest, stress, lifeless relationships, and the general endless cycle of living only to keep up with the demands of life and ministry? McDonald calls us home to our hearts, helping us order our inner lives so God may then fill us with His fullness and then that we may have spiritual riches to give to others. Pastor, if you choose only one book from this list, make it this one.
FINAL WORD
When it comes to pastoral ministry, the real test of a book is not how many people read it when it first comes out and its star is rising. The real test is not how many people respond to a just published work, “You have just got to read this book.” The real test of a book is how many people say this of it 10, 25, or 50 years later. Here are 21 books that will, or already have, passed that test. May they serve you well, Pastor, as you endeavor to love Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and ministry.
Join us in two weeks for Part 2, including the special bonus book at the end of the list.
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