The Christian Ministry, by Charles Bridges

The full title is, "The Christian Ministry, with An Inquiry into the Causes of its Inefficiency." I bought this book about six years ago, started reading it, then neglected it, started it again at the beginning - reading in fits and starts - and finally just finished it today. Here are some of my thoughts on it.

As a minister constantly learning "on the job," I find books on the ministry and preaching to be extremely helpful. I learned Hebrew, Greek, and theology at seminary, but relatively little on how to be a pastor and preacher (though I believe that seminary training - or something equivalent to it - is vital to faithful and fruitful gospel ministry). I learned much more about the ins and outs of day to day pastoral work from simply observing the pastors I had, and from serving in two different churches as a ministerial intern. The best supplement to those experiences are books such as this one.

The Christian Ministry was written by an 19th-century Anglican minister, Charles Bridges. His style strikes modern ears as old-fashioned and sometimes a bit stilted (part of the reason why it took me a while to read). Also, the context in which Bridges ministered, England in the early 1800's, is obviously much different from 21st-century America. The reader must "translate" some of what he writes into his own familiar setting.

However, the strength of The Christian Ministry is that Bridges concentrates on the very fundamental principles that define and shape the character and work of the gospel ministry. These principles are Scriptural, and so as true today as they were at that time, and as they were in the days of the New Testament. He addresses virtually every aspect of the ministry, always focusing on the truly important matters: the nature of the call, the life and character of the pastor, the work of preaching, the need for faith and prayer, and so on. Here is a typically simple but needful reminder: "Who will deny, that - had he been a more spiritual Christian - he would probably have been a more useful Minister?" (pg. 164). I consider this work to be a sort of touchstone by which to evaluate and compare all other writings about the ministry. It well deserves its classic status.

As one who served as a minister himself, Bridges had a realistic view of pastoring. He writes of the struggles of ministry, as well as the joys. With regard to the struggles, I was struck by his list of the main sources of adversity in the ministry: the professing church, the world, the power of Satan, and ourselves. We often hear of the "unholy trinity" we face as Christians, the world, the flesh, and the devil. But Bridges, writing as a pastor to pastors, includes - and first, no less - "the professing church" as a source of "severe and sometimes overwhelming trials"! Thankfully, serving the church is also a privilege and a joy. But certainly the church itself is often a cause for grief for the pastor. Bridges helps the minister to see this unpleasant truth in the light of the greater call to ministry, with encouraging results.

One observation I found helpful was the reminder that one of the chief "comforts and encouragements" of ministry is the great privilege of laboring in the Word of God. In this connection Bridges quotes Proverbs 11:25, "he that watereth is watered also himself." How true that is.

I also found particularly challenging Bridges' observation that one of the "causes of the want of success in the Christian ministry" is a basic lack of faith. He writes, "All our failures may be ultimately traced to a defect of faith. We ask but for little, we expect but little, we are satisfied with little; and therefore we gain and do but little" (pg. 173). That hit home when I first read it. It is too easy for me as a pastor to simply "go through the motions" of my work and fail to look to God for his blessing on the ministry of his Word.

Somewhere (I couldn't find the page) in the book, Bridges quotes another as saying, in effect, that the ministry demands more than any man can possibly bring to it. Reading this book convicted me of this truth, but at the same time encouraged me to carry on in the work. If I, by the grace of God, grow at all as a minister of the gospel, others will grow in their knowledge of Christ. And that makes it all worth it.