CALLED?
Pastoral guidance for the divine call to
gospel ministry
By Michael A. Milton
Christian Focus. 231 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 527 101 128
Michael Milton, a Presbyterian minister and seminary president in the US, writes specifically for young men prayerfully considering the Christian ministry. However, those already at college or in their first pastorate, and churches preparing to send a man to college, are equally included in the purpose of this book.
It is a practical and biblical approach to understanding the ‘call’ to the ministry, choosing a college or seminary for training, deciding on the kind of ministry one may be suited to, and assessing personal gifts.
Many challenges
There are many challenges in these 16 chapters, including the warning that it is possible to excel in our profession but lose our ministry (10), the encouragement not simply to admire the great gifts of great men, but to plead for the Spirit of anointing that they experienced (13), and to learn from the fall and rise of the apostle Peter (15). A final, though brief, chapter on a God-centred preparation for ministry is very necessary.
Perhaps one significant omission, even in the chapter ‘On Mentors in Ministry’, is the absence of any practical advice on accountability to save a minister (of any age or length of service) from the sadly too frequent moral failures we are faced with today.
Clearly written for a North American readership and with little adaptation for the genre of the United Kingdom, the British reader will therefore need to appreciate the different language and illustrations, the different church types and denominational backgrounds and the approach to training and colleges available. With this caveat understood, each of the three readerships referred to above would find help and value here.
A small but valuable alternative from 10Publishing, and directed specifically for a UK church scene, The Call — Finding your way on the journey to full-time ministry is written by Trevor Archer and Paul Mallard.
