What kind of character is required for the ministry?The beloved Puritan, John Flavel draws upon the words of Christ in Matthew 24:45-47. Faithfulness and wisdom are the two key pillars in ministering to Christ's sheep. Filled with wisdom, insight, and warmth, Flavel's book will enliven and spur you on for the ministry.

A personal and practical guide to help pastors find Jesus as their mentor.For decades, Paul has been the model for today’s pastors. But Pastor John Frye says we must instead look to Jesus as our model. "While we may lift Christ up as Savior, as we bow down to him as Lord, as we marvel at his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, as we walk with him as Friend, we seem to ignore him as the supreme Senior Pastor." Sharing thought-provoking, biblical insights and personal experiences, Frye calls other pastors to become apprentices to Jesus himself. He is the One who invites pastors to watch him in action and draw close so he can shape who they are and how they fulfill their ministry."Why have pastors and churches not been driven to Jesus as the central and controlling focus for the pastoral vocation and ministry in the local church? He’s been relegated to other dimensions of Christian and local church experience. Jesus is shoved into our shadows as we read our management books, do our cultural surveys, attend our leadership seminars, and applaud or criticize one another’s endeavors"--John Frye in Jesus the Pastor

The authors of The Pastor: His Call, Character, and Work were all men closely associated, either as students, professors, or in one case a director, of Princeton Theological Seminary, which was established in 1812 by the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. It was founded as a 'nursery of vital piety as well as of sound theological learning...to train up persons for the ministry who shall be lovers as well as defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus, friends of revivals of religion, and a blessing to the church of God.' A sample of the Princeton view of the ministry is contained in this little volume. Taken together its chapters form a small instruction manual on the key elements in the work of a minister of the gospel in any age and place. These pages combine theological acumen, a high sense of purpose, a vision of the privileges of serving Christ, and a recalibration of our whole vision for ministry. The chapters in this book have been selected from the two-volume Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry, also published by the Banner of Truth.

POOR IN SPIRIT. BROKEN. HUMBLE. HUNGRY. SYMPATHETIC. PURE. RECONCILING. ENDURING. These are not the words that describe the typical picture of the modern-day successful American pastor, but these are the words Jesus said should characterize the lives of his twelve disciples. In many circles, the image of what a pastor is or does looks nothing like the picture Jesus paints for his disciples of the character that marks citizens of his kingdom. Shepherding like Jesus is a call to rebel against much of what our culture understands pastoral leadership to be and return to being the shepherd God has called pastors to be. It’s an invitation to recover the most essential element of pastoral ministry: the character of Christ.