5 Formative Presuppositions of Pastoral Theology

🧵 about the presuppositions that formed Al Martin's course in Pastoral Theology

"A presupposition can be a specific expression of a biblical reality rooted in the witness of the Word of God which we are determined will act like a grid as we take up a subject and then attempt to present it to others."

1) The primacy of preaching among the public duties of the ministry

"The simple reason for this is that in the wisdom and purpose of God, the primary means ordained by Him for gathering out His elect and edifying His people is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God."

"The great appointed means of spreading the good tidings of salvation through Christ is preaching - words spoken whether to the individual, or to the assembly. And this, nothing can supersede." (Broadus)

[Comment: Yet in elevating the importance of preaching, we must not downplay the importance of other duties in ministry such as prayer and pastoral care that are need for a well-balanced ministry]

2) The vital place of biblical church order as the supportive context of effective preaching

"All of the practical issues with which Paul deals in the pastoral epistles, and in his other letters, of course, are about proper behaviour in the house of God which is the support of the truth, particularly the preaching of the truth."

"Under the blessing of God, when preaching is what it ought to be in content, form, spiritual energy, and comprehensiveness, then a vigorous, healthy, biblically ordered church will become both its fruit and its validation."

[Comment: Studying ecclesiology should be a key and necessary part of every pastor/elder training course]

3) The conviction that a life of vital godliness is the indispensable prerequisite for all ministerial efficiency

"There is no aspect of pastoral duty which does to have its root in the state of the pastor's own inner life before God."

"It is only the man who has a large, varied and original life with God who can go on speaking about the things of God with fresh intent; but a thousand things happen to interfere with such a prayerful and meditative life." (James Stalker)

"It was said of an old divine, "He fed you with his doctrine, and edified you by his example. He wooed for Christ in his preaching, and he allured you to Christ by his walking." It would be a cause of great praise to God if we go to our graves and have people say this about us!"

4) There is a constant and delicate confluence and interaction of the divine and the human elements in every aspect of the work of the ministry

"It is clear that our Lord Jesus commits Himself to abide in us, while at the same time He directs us consciously to abide in Him."

By "nature, temperament, previous and present relationships and influences" we will lean either "toward a kind of overly mystical approach" to ministry or "be overly practical... and neglect the conscious and constant awareness of our utter dependence upon the workings of God."

"He does not work without us or against us, but with us and in us, so that His working comes to light in the blessing upon my working, and my working is blessed as He works in me to will and to work for His good pleasure."

5) The necessity of subjecting this field of Christian endeavour to specific critical analysis and structured presentation

"It is true that much can be learned by example if we have an observant eye, but I am presupposing that this subject of pastoral theology ought not to be left to any less-focused analysis and structured presentation than any other theological discipline."

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/nigZbYT

5 Formative Presuppositions of Pastoral Theology

The Sword and the Trowel • November, 1865

🧵 of highlights

In this final issue of The Sword and the Trowel in 1865 a lot of different topics are covered.

Spurgeon was unwell at the time of the deadline, so in his words, he pens “a few sentences upon certain matters” of which most could have been topics for whole articles.

First of note are some comments about what the religious condition of London was at the time based on some statistics courtesy of the Nonconformist newspaper.

He noted what he called “a deficiency of accommodation in places of worship” – meaning that if every soul in London wanted to attend, there would be no room in a place of worship for almost a million of them.

“The need is beyond all measure unspeakably vast, if we only calculate the provision made for hearing the true gospel of the Blessed God.”

London’s population was increasing at a rate that would be hard to keep up with. Quoting The Nonconformist: “to keep pace with the annual increase of its population it would require some fifty new churches of very large capacity to be erected every year.”

If the gospel need of London (let alone the nation) was great in Spurgeon’s day, the need is even greater today. The number of churches needing to be planted or revitalised and pastors needing to be trained up “is beyond all measure unspeakably vast.”

Spurgeon sought to play his part by means of the College and Chapel building scheme, but “help from heaven we crave, and help from heaven’s friends we expect.”

Next, we get another complaint from Spurgeon about the Church of England. This time over what he calls “the buying, selling, and bartering of the souls of men” by which he means, clergy willing to sell or swap their parishes.

Not satisfied with targeting errors in The Church of England, he also takes to task Dr David Livingstone after reading an early copy of his new book of travels.

Though incredibly thankful to God for Livingstone’s past success, two things have caused concern.

The first is “the way in which he awards unmitigated honours to the Jesuit missionaries, whose establishments have happily crumbled into ruins all along the African coast.”

The second is for not treating the Lord’s Day as a day of rest.  “So long away from the land of Sabbaths, we excuse such language from a traveller, but we regret it from a missionary.”

It is interesting to note what the big issues facing the church were at the time – Lord’s Day observance, ministers in it for the money.

Something more positive, Spurgeon writes warmly about a meeting that took place for Baptist ministers of London.

“The whole day, holy love and perfect concord reigned among us. The utmost liberty of discussion was by loving hearts made consistent with the tenderest unity of soul. Important questions were raised and settled, and differences were overcome by mutual concessions and agreements”

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/KH0TYeD

The Sword and the Trowel • November, 1865

Choosing Books to Read

🧵 about how I think about what books to read

When it comes to choosing what books to read I have two categories in mind, and will usually have a book on the go in each of them.

[This is in addition to the Bible (obviously!), commentaries I read for sermons, books on particular topics I'm teaching on at the evening service or EQUIP group, and on 1689BCF for elders' meetings]

The two categories are:

1) Books for my soul
2) Books for my role

Books for my soul - I'm looking for books that will do my heart good, that are devotional in nature, that speak of the glory of Christ and the goodness of God.

Books for my role - I'm looking to read at least one book each year from these broad categories:

a) Theology
b) Pastoring
c) Preaching
d) Prayer
e) Church
f) Leadership
g) Discipleship

If I come across a book (new or old) that captures my interest or think would be helpful to read, I will add it to the relevant reading list I keep in Notion, and then forget about it until I'm looking for a book to start reading.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/cB6pE5J

Choosing Books to Read

Rejoice and Tremble • Mike Reeves

https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/products/26639/rejoice-and-tremble

🧵 of highlights

"The gospel both frees us from fear and gives us fear. It frees us from our crippling fears, giving us instead a most delightful, happy, and wonderful fear."

"Our moral confusion today and our general state of heightened anxiety are both the fallout of a cultural loss of God as the proper object of human fear."

"Without a kind and fatherly God’s providential care, we are left utterly uncertain about the shifting sands of both morality and reality."

"We fear because we love: we love ourselves and so fear bad things happening to us; we love our families, our friends, our things and so fear losing them."

"Sinful fear drives you away from God. This is the fear of the unbeliever who hates God, who remains a rebel at heart, who fears being exposed as a sinner and so runs from God."

"When people, through misunderstanding, become simply afraid of God, they will never entrust themselves to him but must turn elsewhere for their security."

"It is the devil’s work to promote a fear of God that makes people afraid of God such that they want to flee from God. The Spirit’s work is the exact opposite: to produce in us a wonderful fear that wins and draws us to God."

"The Spirit can cause a fear in those he is convicting of sin, a fear that drives them to Christ for refuge… that fear is then relieved by grace: it is no longer appropriate for a believer once he or she has trusted in Christ."

"True fear of God is true love for God defined: it is the right response to God’s full-orbed revelation of himself in all his grace and glory."

"The fruit of the Spirit is precisely that character which grows out of a God-fearing heart."

“The knowledge of God set forth for us in Scripture… invites us first to fear God, then to trust in him. The order is inescapable, for only a God-fearing heart will ever be a God-trusting heart.”

"It is right that trembling fear should be the right reaction to the Creator."

"Our wonder at the Creator’s magnificence - and our enjoyment of it - increases when we know it as the perfect magnificence of the kindest Saviour."

"Safe in the knowledge that the awesome Creator is our tender Redeemer, Christians can delight themselves in the overwhelming majesty of the Creator."

"Without that knowledge of the Son as our Redeemer and the Father as our Father in Christ, we simply do not properly know God."

"If there is any fear of separation from God in believers, it is not the fear of being ultimately separated; it is the fear that our sins might part us from the warmth of enjoyed communion with God."

"The cross, by the forgiveness it brings, liberates us from sinful fear. But, far more than that, it also cultivates the most exquisitely fearful adoration of the Redeemer."

"The fear of God should be a key goal of all our teaching. And that must shape both the content and the intent of our teaching."

"As for content, the people need the word of God if they are to grow in this fear... Through the Scriptures they need to be given the knowledge of God the Creator, but also brought beyond that to a cross-centred knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ."

"As for the intent of our ministry, we must, like Moses, teach with the specific aim that the people might fear the Lord."

"God shares knowledge of himself in order that we might be affected. Just as all theology should be doxological, so all preaching should foster sincere worship."

"In the fear of the Lord is found a true knowledge of God, as Creator and Redeemer, as majestic and as merciful."

"We who love theology need to remember that there is no true knowledge of God where there is no right fear of him."

"The fear of the Lord makes believers both knowledgeable and wise... in essential matters - in knowing God, ourselves, and the nature and story of the universe - the fear of the Lord makes believers more knowledgeable than the greatest geniuses, and wiser than the wisest sages."

"Where the final appearing of the Lord in glory fills believers with an unprecedented joyful fear of the Redeemer, it fills unbelievers with a new level of dread at their Judge."

"All fears are a foretaste. The sinful fears and dreads of unbelievers are the firstfruits of hell; the filial fears of Christians are the firstfruits of heaven."

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/w7rU1ZK

Rejoice and Tremble • Mike Reeves

Eric Jacobsen has written a book that seeks to address the loneliness crisis and the importance of belonging called Three Pieces of Glass.

🧵 about the three pieces of glass and how they have each contributed to loneliness, and how they have impacted the church

The three pieces of glass are:
1) The Car Windscreen
2) The TV
3) The Smartphone

The impact of each piece of glass is that though they make life easier, they stop human interaction.

The car has meant that people no longer walk to places or take public transport.  It actually goes further than this, changing the configuration of living spaces (houses have garages and driveways), as well as the distance we live from the places we work and shop.

The TV has meant that we get to know people (TV friends) who make no demands on us and with whom communication is only one way (from them to us).

The smartphone has meant that those places where the possibility of engaging with others remained, like queues in shops, school picks up, are now occupied by scrolling through social media feeds.

The result is that our human interactions have shifted from face to face to virtual, from in-front of you to anywhere in the world.

Each of the three pieces of glass have had an impact on the church.

The car means that church members no longer live or need to live in the community the church is based.

The TV will be one factor that has contributed to the expectation that some have that they go to church to be entertained and then leave.

The smartphone has shifted church life and ministry from face to face to virtual.  YouTube services.  Zoom prayer meetings and Bible studies.  WhatsApp discussions.

It is worth thinking about the impact these three pieces of glass are having on the local church you are member of:

Do the members live in the community the church is based?  Do they interact with one another during the week?

Do people come to church services expecting to be entertained and then leave quickly?

Are people who are able to gather in-person prioritising virtual meetings?

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/ICm75bH

Three Pieces of Glass and the Church

The Sword and the Trowel • October, 1865

🧵 of highlights

There is an interesting reflection from Spurgeon on two episodes in his life of divine guidance.

The first was when a preacher, Mr Knill, was staying at his grandpa’s house when he was a young boy. Mr Knill gave up some of his time to instruct and pray for him including for his salvation. Before leaving, he said to Spurgeon some remarkable words which would come to pass.

“I do not know how it is, but I feel a solemn presentiment that this child will preach the gospel to thousands, and God will bless him to many souls."

"So sure am I of this, that when my little man preaches in Rowland Hall’s Chapel, as he will do one day, I should like him to promise me that he will give out the hymn beginning, ‘God moves in a mysterious way, He wonders to perform.’”

“Did the words of Mr Knill help to bring about their own fulfilment? I think so. I believed them, and looked forward to the time when I should preach the Word: I felt very powerfully that no unconverted person might dare to enter the ministry..."

"...this made me, I doubt not, all the more intent upon seeking salvation and more hopeful of it, and when by grace enabled to cast myself upon the Saviour’s love, it was not long before my mouth began to speak of his redemption.”

Interesting Spurgeon doesn’t give an answer to the question, “How came that sober-minded minister to speak thus of one into whose future God alone could see?”

Instead he draws out a practical lesson to learn from this incident, which was about the willingness of Mr Knill to spend time praying with children when he could have got on with other duties and how we should therefore “despise no opportunity of usefulness”.

The second was when Spurgeon was looking to get formal training as part of preparing more fully for the ministry.

He was due to meet with the tutor of the College, yet having arrived for the meeting, the servant girl failed to tell of his arrival, and the tutor ended up leaving without meeting with Spurgeon. This “strange providence… forced my steps into another and far better path.”

Following this and having not given up on entering into a college, he was on his way to a preaching engagement when he “was startled by what seemed a loud voice, but may have been a singular illusion, which ever it was the impression was most vivid..."

"...I seemed very distinctly to hear the words, ‘Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not!’”

This caused Spurgeon to give up on going to college and instead commit to serving the people he was regularly preaching to at the time.

These two instances, where “God occasionally grants to his servants a special and perceptible manifestation of his will for their guidance, over and above the strengthening energies of the Holy Spirit, and the sacred teaching of the inspired Word,” he says are...

“special interpositions of providence” and “generally appear unexpectedly, and as things not to be looked for, or waited for, to the interruption of ordinary life and its reasonable arrangements, but as afforded merely on exceptional occasions.”

He concludes, “Our ordinary guides are right reason and the Word of God, and we may never act contrary to these, but still we accept it as matter of faith and experience to us that on exceptional occasions, special interpositions do come to our aid..."

"...so that our steps are ordered of the Lord and made to subserve his glory.”

What are we to take from this?

The two incidents in Spurgeon’s life give a helpful reminder that God in His providence can and does guide in surprising ways, but we shouldn’t expect this to be a regular occurrence.

There was also article with the heading ‘Prayer Requested’ and outlined concerns about Sundays losing its status as a day of rest in the UK.

Two pieces of evidence are sighted. “The running of Sunday trains in Scotland” and “the partial opening of the Crystal Palace on Sundays.”

His solution to what he saw happening was not to “ask for legislative interference” or “to hold public meetings to denounce the evil” but “to seek unto the Lord concerning it.”

“United, earnest prayer is therefore suggested, that a spirit of love to the day of rest may be imparted to our fellow-countrymen.”

If we have a concern, the first and most important thing we should do is pray about it!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/W3lgWHG

The Sword and the Trowel • October, 1865

Diagnosing the condition of individual sheep

🧵 of categories from Timothy Witmer for elders to use to make a preliminary diagnosis of each member they are accountable for

Healthy Sheep: “One who is regularly in attendance in worship and is involved in ministering to others in some way.”

Weak Sheep: “One who is regular in attendance but who is not engaged in ministry to others.”

Stray Sheep: “One who is not only uninvolved in ministry to others but whose patterns of attendance are sporadic.”

Lost Sheep: “One who has essentially forsaken the church altogether.”

Circumstantially Inactive Sheep: “Members whose circumstances have led to their inability to be involved in the active life of the church.”

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/afbBlBh

Diagnosing the condition of individual sheep

Diary of a Pastor's Soul • M. Craig Barnes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Pastors-Soul-Moments-Ministry-ebook/dp/B0821PCX5B/

🧵 of highlights

"The old Pietists used to write... about gravitas. It was their description of a soul that had gained enough weightiness to be attractive, like all things with a gravitational pull. Most people can immediately think about someone in their lives who has this gravitas."

"Most of ministry is just doing small things as faithfully as possible."

"There was a generation that believed in institutions and their buildings. Sturdy things you can count on. Everything they know about Jesus and his grace for us is lingering in the mortar that holds the stones of the church together."

"He was always clear on his calling and wanted only to serve a local congregation - preferably a small one."

"His only ambition is to be the next in a long line of faithfully anonymous pastors who never move on to prestigious positions."

"The irony is that pastors are surrounded by more people than anyone in the congregation, know a whole lot more about their people than anyone else, and the members may know more about the pastor’s life than they do each other’s lives, but the pastor is always the pastor."

"It’s far more helpful to think of myself as a sheepdog that nudges sheep toward the only Saviour of the flock."

"Our delight has to come from helping others gather around the Good Shepherd."

"No child wants a father who is too busy being a reliable provider that he doesn’t have time to be a reliable dad."

"There is no one style of pastoral care that fits all people in any particular dilemma. I really have to know my parishioners and honour the way God uniquely wired them."

"I try to visit our parishioners in the local nursing home on a regular basis. If the church schedule gets demanding these visits are often the first thing to be postponed."

"The problem with popular songs isn’t the lyrics but its lack of gravitas. On deathbed people need to lean on something more sturdy."

"We’re supposed to get people to stop being so distracted by their anxieties, fleeting pleasures, deep regrets, loneliness, and frantic efforts to save themselves through more hard work in order to spend one hour beholding."

"The worship service was designed to wipe the smudges off your spectacles so you could behold."

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/9BdXVcI

Diary of a Pastor's Soul • M. Craig Barnes

Spiritual joy as a fruit of partaking in the Lord's Supper

🧵 of 8 propositions from Guilelmus Saldenus

1) A special fruit and consequence of the lawful partaking of the Lord's Supper is that it generates comfort and joy in the hearts of God's children.

2) The comforting joy of the Lord's Supper must not be considered as something external or physical, but rather, as something internal and spiritual.

3) Only the truly converted can be partakers of this spiritual comfort and joy in the Lord's Supper.

4) This spiritual joy derived from the Lord's Supper will ordinarily only be experienced by those who have actively prepared themselves for it.

5) This spiritual joy, derived from the Lord's Supper, will ordinarily not be experienced as generously by the person who finds himself in a troubled and confused state as by those whose condition is stable and tranquil.

6) All Christians will not derive the same measure of this spiritual joy from the Lord's Supper.

7) This joy proceeding from the Lord's Supper is not limited to the time when one either partakes or has partaken of this Supper. Rather, it can also be first felt or noticed long thereafter.

8) It is possible that a true Christian can sometimes be completely bereft of any spiritual joy proceeding from the Lord's Supper, and yet he receives and enjoys this Supper with genuine fruit.

What is this joy those who partake experience?

First, it is a clearer and more distinct apprehension of the magnitude and preciousness of the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Second, it is a greater and more certain peace of heart proceeding from and by way of an assured fellowship with the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ.

Third, it is a full peace and inner satisfaction and a determination to obey in return this perfectly obedient Christ, and if necessary to die.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/blogofdan/bpPIqnG

Spiritual Joy at the Lord’s Supper

Training of pastors and preachers is both necessary and to be taken seriously.

It is necessary because they are all but a vapour.  Every one of them is a step away from needing to be replaced. Then there are communities which have no gospel preacher to declare the way of salvation and to preach the truths of God's Word.

It is to be taken seriously because if James says not many should be teachers because they will receive a stricter judgment, then to be a teacher of teachers implies a greater judgment as they mould the thinking of those who shape the thinking and lives of many others.