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The Pastoral
Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work
Whereas much of the current literature on pastoring stresses up-to-date training and new techniques stemming from the behavioral sciences, Eugene Peterson here calls for returning to an "old" resource--the Bible--as the basis for all of pastoral ministry.
Originally published in 1980 and now being reprinted to meet continuing demand, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work shows how five Old Testament books provide a solid foundation for much of what a pastor
Pointing to the relevance of ancient wisdom, adapting Jewish religious tradition to contemporary pastoral practice, and affirming a significant link between pastoral work and the act of worship, this book opens up to pastors a wealth of valuable practical-theological insights.
Originally published in 1980 and now being reprinted to meet continuing demand, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work shows how five Old Testament books provide a solid foundation for much of what a pastor
Pointing to the relevance of ancient wisdom, adapting Jewish religious tradition to contemporary pastoral practice, and affirming a significant link between pastoral work and the act of worship, this book opens up to pastors a wealth of valuable practical-theological insights.
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
160 people are currently reading
1098 people want to read
About the author
Eugene H. Peterson
432 books1,006 followersEugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
February 13, 2025
Re-read in 2025:
Still one of the best from Peterson. I don't always connect with his books, but this one hits me on every level. It's one of the best blends of serious academic work and deep pastoral sensitivity. I just love it.
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Original Thoughts from 2019:
My favorite from Peterson (at least of what I've read so far). This book is all of what he did best: beautiful, meditative writing; biblical scholarship; deep, pastoral sensitivity. Every chapter (each "stone") goes in refreshing, unexpected directions, and at no point does it ever feel cheap or didactic. The result is a robust picture of what it means to truly "pastor" a group of people. Each section is wonderful, but the chapters on Ecclesiastes and Ruth were personal favorites. I will be returning to this again and again.
Still one of the best from Peterson. I don't always connect with his books, but this one hits me on every level. It's one of the best blends of serious academic work and deep pastoral sensitivity. I just love it.
---------------------------
Original Thoughts from 2019:
My favorite from Peterson (at least of what I've read so far). This book is all of what he did best: beautiful, meditative writing; biblical scholarship; deep, pastoral sensitivity. Every chapter (each "stone") goes in refreshing, unexpected directions, and at no point does it ever feel cheap or didactic. The result is a robust picture of what it means to truly "pastor" a group of people. Each section is wonderful, but the chapters on Ecclesiastes and Ruth were personal favorites. I will be returning to this again and again.
November 7, 2024
This book is a treasure for pastoral ministry. I deeply connected with this approach to finding ourselves and our communities within the narratives of scripture.
Peterson takes a look at the festivals of Judaism, which provide the community of God an opportunity to step into the story of His presence in the world. Core to these festivals is the reading of the Megilloth scrolls. This book creatively examines how each of these scrolls are an invaluable resource for the community of the faithful and a unique tool in the belt of a pastor.
My greatest hesitancy with this book is that Peterson seems set on emphasizing the truth of scripture against the insights and offerings of therapeutic science. While I certainly appreciate his passion for the church maintaining a proper hierarchy of its authority, I think there’s a missed opportunity to see God at work in the therapeutic as he opens His children’s hearts, minds, and bodies to his Spirit in accordance with scripture. This could very well be due to the fact that this book was written at a different time than the one I’m currently living in, but I disagreed with several of his broad brush criticisms of the therapeutic.
All that to say, this book is definitely one that takes the pastoral work seriously and earnestly believes that God has given his church all that they need to flourish, provided that they stay nourished in the story of God.
Peterson takes a look at the festivals of Judaism, which provide the community of God an opportunity to step into the story of His presence in the world. Core to these festivals is the reading of the Megilloth scrolls. This book creatively examines how each of these scrolls are an invaluable resource for the community of the faithful and a unique tool in the belt of a pastor.
My greatest hesitancy with this book is that Peterson seems set on emphasizing the truth of scripture against the insights and offerings of therapeutic science. While I certainly appreciate his passion for the church maintaining a proper hierarchy of its authority, I think there’s a missed opportunity to see God at work in the therapeutic as he opens His children’s hearts, minds, and bodies to his Spirit in accordance with scripture. This could very well be due to the fact that this book was written at a different time than the one I’m currently living in, but I disagreed with several of his broad brush criticisms of the therapeutic.
All that to say, this book is definitely one that takes the pastoral work seriously and earnestly believes that God has given his church all that they need to flourish, provided that they stay nourished in the story of God.
July 10, 2021
Absolutely pure gold. I’m smitten with Peterson so much. He speaks unvarnished truth. I needed that deep drink for the soul. Can’t wait to keep reading his stuff.
July 24, 2023
This book is a must-read for those called to pastoral ministry.
Eugene Peterson was a unique voice in being a marvelous exegete of the Christian scriptures, but even a better exegete of the cultural climate of his day (which feels close to modern America). Peterson utilizes five books placed in the back of the Hebrew Bible, which were repurposed for great Jewish festivals, and gleans at them for the ways pastors ought to pray, counsel, mourn, make boundaries, and cultivate community for and with the congregation.
Four stars only for Peterson's writing style, which takes a minute to get used to and enjoy.
Eugene Peterson was a unique voice in being a marvelous exegete of the Christian scriptures, but even a better exegete of the cultural climate of his day (which feels close to modern America). Peterson utilizes five books placed in the back of the Hebrew Bible, which were repurposed for great Jewish festivals, and gleans at them for the ways pastors ought to pray, counsel, mourn, make boundaries, and cultivate community for and with the congregation.
Four stars only for Peterson's writing style, which takes a minute to get used to and enjoy.
May 2, 2019
So glad I didn't rush through reading this wonderful meditation, nor read it before having been a pastor for awhile. Felt very personally addressed to me and my situations. Peterson- insightful as always- gleans corrective life lessons for pastoral ministry from the 5 scrolls of the OT usually much ignored-Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.
July 16, 2016
This demonstrates that every facet of pastoral ministry, not just preaching, should be rooted in Scripture. And true to his form, Peterson does this with creativity and eloquence. I wish I had read this years ago.
March 13, 2024
Second time reading: This book always deserves 5 stars. So worth the read.
First time reading: I highly recommend this book to all my friends in ministry or in pastoral roles. This has become a formative book for me that I'll come back to for years and years to come.
First time reading: I highly recommend this book to all my friends in ministry or in pastoral roles. This has become a formative book for me that I'll come back to for years and years to come.
February 23, 2025
This is pure gold. Pastoral principles anchored in biblical narratives that get right to the heart of human nature and what it means to be part of the family of God. As Eugene Peterson explains, 'people are not problems to be solved, they are mysteries to be explored.' The very essence of pastoral care is expounded from 5 Old Testament books that take us back into the foundations of the church. I love the emphasis on pastoral work specialising in ordinary, everyday lives 'to represent the eternal word and will of God ... among the idiosyncrasies of the local and the personal'.
May 30, 2024
An early work of Peterson’s, entirely relevant. This book taught me that the very sang angsts of pastors in the 2020’s was shared by pastors in the 1980’s. It is an ideal leadership book for clergy.
Peterson is at his usual best rooting readers in the faith, weeding away the distractions. This book also weaves its way through the Scriptures, taking the scenic route through Biblical books I now understand in greater, richer detail.
Peterson is at his usual best rooting readers in the faith, weeding away the distractions. This book also weaves its way through the Scriptures, taking the scenic route through Biblical books I now understand in greater, richer detail.
August 24, 2025
Peterson is, and always will be, a balm and corrective to turning pastoral work into pure organisational leadership. Peterson always finds a way to reclaim the sacredness of simple, ordinary and faithful prayer, pastoring and preaching.
I don't agree with all his conclusions, he wrote this book in the 70's and the church is a different beast in 2025, but I agree with his convictions and I love his work.
If you're a pastor, read the last chapter on Esther and community building.
I don't agree with all his conclusions, he wrote this book in the 70's and the church is a different beast in 2025, but I agree with his convictions and I love his work.
If you're a pastor, read the last chapter on Esther and community building.
March 31, 2023
One of the best books I’ve ever read - throughly beautiful, inspiring, and challenging. If you’re a pastor you need to read this book. If you’re not a pastor you should still read it if you want to understand what a pastor is supposed to be and how that should form the spiritual community they’re called to lead in which you find yourself.
April 9, 2021
A few lines that didn’t age well, a few places where I disagreed. Nonetheless. Wow. What a vision of this vocation.
March 26, 2024
I read this years ago but a mentor suggested I revisit Peterson, and my oh my is he a treasure.
September 22, 2024
It took me a minute to get accustomed to Gene’s writing style, but once I did, I loved it.
His historical knowledge of Gods people combined with his pastoral insights make this book so, so good.
His historical knowledge of Gods people combined with his pastoral insights make this book so, so good.
December 27, 2025
Somehow every Eugene Peterson book I read is my favorite one. So rich.
August 2, 2022
4.5/5. Heady but RICH.
"Pastoral work is that aspect of Christian ministry which specializes in the ordinary" (1).
"the work which has to do with the human's relation to God & God's will for the human does not come from knowing more about the times but from knowing humanity--and God...That being the case, we are far more likely to get help from those whose experience has been tested in a variety of climates & cultures, & been demonstrated in the testing to be trustworthy" (2) rather than new behavioral sciences, etc.
"It is essential to stay in touch, almost literally, with the biblical material & pastoral traditions where specific God-person exchanges take place" (6).
"I need encouragement to attend to God with steadfast faithfulness & the patience to immerse myself in the local & the personal. But our society marshals enormous resources & ingenuity to make things happen" (8).
"pastoral work gathers expertise not by acquiring knowledge but by assimilating old wisdom, not by new reading the latest books but by digesting the oldest ones" (10).
"Pastoral work takes place between Sundays, between the first & the eighth day, between the boundaries of creation & resurrection, between Genesis 1 and Revelation 21. Sunday worship establishes the life of the community of faith in & on the word of God; weekday pastoral work unfolds the implications in the ordinary lives of people as they work, love, suffer, grieve, play, learn, & grow in times of crisis & times of routine. Worship calls a congregation to attention before God's words, coordinates responses of praise & obedience, & then sends the people out into the community to live out the meaning of that praise & obedience. But they are not only sent, they are accompanied, & pastoral work is the ministry of that accompaniment. Pastoral work begins at the Pulpit, the Font, the Table; it continues in the hospital room, the family room, the counseling room, the committee room. The pastor who leads people in worship is companion to those same people between acts of worship" (19).
"High on the agenda for the rebuilding of a biblical pastoral work is the acquisition of facility in the idiom of the local, the specific, the personal" (20). T.S. Eliot: "A local speech on a local issue is likely to be more intelligible than one addressed to a whole nation."
Sexuality and prayer "are both aspects of a single, created thing: a capacity for intimacy. Much of pastoral work has to do with nurturing intimacy, that is, developing relationships in which love is successfully expressed & received--shared...Pastors are assigned the task of helping persons develop their everyday relationships in such a way that they discover God's will & love at the center of every encounter" (22-3).
"The word 'salvation' in the course of its biblical usage developed both the sense of 'rescue from destruction' & 'restoration to health'" (28).
"Pastoral work, in large part, deals with the difficulty everyone has in staying alert to the magnificence of salvation...The pastor, working in the midst of the symbols & artifacts of transcendence, is faced, both in himself or herself and among the faithful, with this dangerous drift towards the shoals of nonchalance. Praying, the most personal aspect of life, becomes riddled with cliches, a sure indication that it has ceased being personal" (31).
"The pastor deals with people in the context of the historical & institutional, but always in order to bring about personal, intimate participation in the saving love that is ritualized in the forms of worship & the disciplines of the institution... Pastoral work is a commitment to the everyday: it is an act of faith that the great truths of salvation are workable in the 'ordinary universe'" (32-3).
"Salvation is not an intensification of the ego, the solitary soul deepening into mystical profundities, nor is it an abstraction from the self, an idealization of the personal into some fragment of feeling or thought. Salvation is a personal relationship that is nurtured by the Word that creates & by words that praise" (43).
"Covenant, in effect, means that humanity cannot understand life apart from a defined & revealed relationship with God" (44).
"Life, to be meaningful, must be joined: intimacy is a requirement of wholeness" (46).
"It is not the pastor's job to simplify the spiritual life, to devise common-denominator formulas, to smooth out the path of discipleship. Some difficulties are inherent in the way of spiritual growth--to deny them, to minimize them, or to offer shortcuts is to divert the person from true growth. It is the pastor's task, rather, to be companion to persons who are in the midst of difficulty, to acknowledge the difficulty & thereby give it significance, & to converse & pray with them through the time so that the loneliness is lightened, somewhat, & hope is maintained, somehow" (51).
"Seeking for intimacy at any level--with God or with persons--is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it lacks 'glamour.' If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sexual intercourse, then routines are simple & the world can be run efficiently" (53).
"In prayer the desires are not talked about, they are expressed to God. In prayer the difficulties are not analyzed & studied, they are worked through with God" (55).
"There is no clear line separating the conversations that a pastor has with people & the continuation of those conversations in prayer... It means that the conversation in which they have just been engaged will be continued with God as partner to the conversation...for how else will a pastor work at the center as intercessor before God on behalf of the deep desires & the persistent difficulties that concentrate on their force in each person?" (60-1).
"A sense of hurry in pastoral work disqualifies one for the work of conversation & prayer that develops relationships that meet personal needs...the pastor must not be 'busy.' Busyness is an illness of spirit, a rush from one thing to another because there is no ballast of vocational integrity & no confidence in the primacy of grace" (61-2).
"the most important thing a pastor can do for a person is to be grateful to God for that particular person; celebrate with joy the sheer existence of this particular instance of God's creation without regard to moral quality or spiritual maturity" (65).
"A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God & men." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"his banner over me was love" (Song 2:4). "God's love is an assault on our indifference & a victory over our rebellion" (67).
"Prayers do not calculate their chances by evaluating a person's past; they are awakened to action by the word of promise. Christ's love brings fresh vigor to lives as it announces the springtime of resurrection. Prayer is the place where chill doubts that result from disappointment & failure are dispelled & a warm faith in resurrection love is created" (68).
"The Sinai event is a kind of axle for holding together two basic realities: one, everything God does involves me (election); and two, everything I do is therefore significant (covenant). Because I am chosen, I have consequence. Election creates a unique identity; covenant describes a responsible relationship. Election is the declaration that God has designs upon me; covenant is the description of how the things I do fit into those designs" (78-9).
"Sinai, in short, is a realization that we count & what we do counts" (79).
"Because the Hebrews had this lively sense of story, they did not look upon the covenant, which was, in a sense, the syntax of the story, as a legal burden to be borne; it was evidence, rather, of the significance & interrelated meanings of every detail in history. The Hebrews would no more have considered the covenant ten command ments as a burden in living a life of faith than a person would call nouns, verbs, & prepositions a burden in carrying on a conversation" (81).
Ruth "brings the lofty concept of covenant into vital contact with day-to-day life, not at the royal court or in the temple, but right here in the narrow compass of village life" (Edward Campbell). "For the pastor this is important, for it means that we have a model for taking seriously each person, however obscure, however unimportant, however 'out of it'" (83).
"By taking a storyteller's approach to the outsider, pastoral work is saved from two egregious (but, unfortunately, common) errors, namely, moralism & condescension. Pastoral moralism focuses on what is wrong with the misfit and, by concentrating on the trouble, alienates him or her even further... Pastors are historians, not moralists... Biblical pastoral work 'takes a history' & with that raw material creates a story of salvation" (85-6).
"Pastors are very frequently bored with dull people, irritated with difficult people, & frustrated by incalcitrant people...But if these same persons are approached with the interests & expectations of a storyteller, everything changes. If each parishioner is a key person in a story, everything is alive & interesting. All the details of the day are relevant" (86).
"talking is not the first step in pastoral storytelling. Listening is the first step" (87).
"by taking everyday things in a serious vein, an inner structure is realized in them-- random persons and events are embedded in the structures of salvation history...The pastor begins this work, then, not so much as a storyteller, but as one who believes that there is a story to be told, the curiosity to be attentive to the life of another, & the determination to listen through the apparently rambling digressions until a plot begins to emerge" (88).
"visitation & counseling provide the conditions in which a short story of salvation can be constructed out of the everyday materials that come to light in such conversations" (89).
"Good counseling does not aim to be 'successful,' & has no control over how the newly introduced or uncovered reality will be used. The pastor cannot 'write' the story alone--only collaborate with the other in the writing, & the telling, of it. The pastor participates in the making of a story, not in an adjustment; the primary interest is in getting at usable truth, & then taking the person seriously as an equal so that there is confidence and freedom to be creative with the material. By resisting 'secularization,' that is, refusing to be used apart from or in place of God, the pastor forces the person to deal with God on his or her own" (92).
"The secularization of pastoral visitation takes place when the pastor gives up the uncertain & somewhat modest work of being companion to persons in pilgrimage and takes on the job of public relations agent for the congregation" (e.g. raising money) (93).
"The pastoral visit is not the condescending visit of the superior to the inferior, and not the professional visit of one who has something to one who does not have it. It is an act of collaboration in order to demonstrate the mutuality of the Christian discipleship" (94).
"The pastor doesn't introduce God into anyone's life...The pastor simply calls attention to what is already there" (96).
"The pastor provides in his or her vocation the confidence that the materials for a story are there" (97).
"The pastor can help a person 'get into the story' by assisting in the formulation of complaints, making out list of grievances, clarifying where God has failed to do his part, and drawing up an indictment against him. The pastor doesn't always have to be on God’s side, defending him; there are times when the biblical position is at the plaintiff's side" (99). -> e.g. Naomi
"There are times when the pastor collaborates in storymaking by encouraging persons to step out and speak their own lines...speaking up on one's own and asking for what we want" (102). -> e.g. Ruth
"Pastors are in a position to collaborate in the making of these [wealthy, influential] persons' stories in such a way that they no longer see themselves as a center to which fame, possessions, and power naturally gravitate, but at the center of a circle of responsibilities -> e.g. Boaz
"The biblical revelation neither explains nor eliminates suffering. It shows, rather, God entering into the life suffering humanity, accepting & sharing the suffering" (114).
"Lamentations...functions as a pastoral ministry by dealing with the suffering in such a way as to direct the despair that ordinarily accompanies guilt toward God & not away from him...Any religion that takes seriously God's judgment has the pastoral task of realizing God's mercy, demonstrating in a credible way that judgment and mercy are not opposites but complements. The task of pastoral work is to comfort without in any way avoiding the human realities of guilt or denying the divine realities of judgment" (117).
In Lamentations, the acrostic is used "to guarantee that the griet & despair are expressed completely. The acrostic patiently, & carefully, goes through the letters of the alphabet & covers the ground of suffering. Every detail of suffering comes under consideration... It is important to pay attention to everything that God says; but it is also important to pay attention to everything that men & women feel, especially when that feeling is as full of pain & puzzlement as suffering" (118-9).
"The acrostic form makes certain that nothing is left out, but it also, just as certainly, puts limits upon the repetitions. If there is a beginning to evil, there is also an end to it" (122). e.g., "the simple act of making an appt to return to listen again to the tale of tragedy or sorrow or whatever begins to put boundaries around it. Order begins to infiltrate the chaos of the sufferer in the very prosaic act of making another appt, three to seven days hence...There is some reason initially to listen to persons for as long as they want to talk, but probably not more than once. After that, the conversation should be bound by agreed-upon time. Not because the pastor has so many demands that he or she must schedule the time, but because the sorrow must be bound, placed within limits, told within the scheme" (123-4).
"Names, places, buildings, dates are ways of tethering suffering, holding it within the framework of history. Suffering assumes its place as one among other things. It is not everything. It is not the whole world. It is not an entire history...History is necessary, not to explain, but to anchor" (125-6).
"When a pastor asks, 'What happened?' (after having asked, 'How do you feel?") it is not in order to minimize suffering, or to 'put it in perspective.' It is, rather, to pin it to the actual & so make it accessible to the grace that operates, as we know from biblical accounts, in the historical" (129).
"God's anger, among the Hebrews, was always evidence of his concern" (130). "The moment anger is eliminated from God, suffering is depersonalized, for anger is an insistence on the personal... Our very pain is a sign of God's remembrance of us, for it would be much worse if we were left in ghastly isolation" (131-2).
"God's anger is not incalculable or arbitrary-- it takes place within a clearly defined, well-known structure" (i.e. the covenant) (134).
"Pastoral work joins the sufferer, shares the experience of God's anger, enters into the pain, the hurt, the sense of absurdity, the descent into the depths. It is not the task of the pastor to alleviate suffering, to minimize it, or to mitigate it, but to share it after the example of our Lord Messiah" (135).
"Pastoral work in suffering is like Jacobean wrestling with the angel at Peniel: 'I will not let you go till you tell me your name.' Pastors grapple with the dark assailants & demand they cough up their meaning" (136).
"Pastors have no business interfering with another's sorrow, or manipulating it. Suffering is an event in which we are particularly vulnerable to grace, able to recognize dimensions in God & depths in the self. To treat it as a 'problem' is to demean the person" (139).
"Encouraged by Lamentations, the pastor will have the strength to do far less in relation to suffering, and be far more. Pastors will not give in to the temptation to fix the sufferer & will engage in a ministry that honors the sufferer. Nothing, in the long run, does more to demean the person who suffers than to condescendingly busy oneself in fixing him or her up, and nothing can provide more meaning to suffering than resolute & quiet faithfulness in taking the suffering seriously & offering a companionship through the time of waiting for the morning" (141).
"One of the strategies of pastoral work is to enter private grief & make a shared event of it... response to suffering is a function of the congregation" (142). "When others join the sufferer, there is 'consensual validation' that the suffering means something" (143).
"Since 'no one has seen God at any time' and the pastor is perfectly visible at most times, the expectations that people have of God are often focused the pastor, the bull's-eye for God-targeted expectations... Pastors are in the awkward position of refusing give to what a great many people assume it is our assigned job to give. We are in the embarrassing position of disappointing people in what they think they have a perfect right to get from us. We are asked to pray for an appropriate miracle; we are called upon to declare our us to an an authoritative answer. But our calling equips us for neither. In fact, it forbids us to engage in either the miracle business or the answer business" (150, 152-3).
"The pastor reads Ecclesiastes to get scrubbed clean from illusion & sentiment, from ideas that are idolatrous & feelings that cloy. It is an exposé & rejection of every pretentious & presumptuous expectation aimed at God & routed through the pastor" (155-6).
"The pervasive danger in [pastoral] work is that while developing & encouraging personal relationships with God, the difference between God & humanity is denied & the distance between holiness & sinfulness is obscured" (157).
"That word ['yes'] expresses, perhaps better than any other, the gospel message. God says yes to humanity. Humanity returns the yes. Pastoral work consists in repeating the Gospel yes in every conceivable life situation & encouraging the yes answer of faith" (159).
"...A religion that promises the fulfillment of all needs is thus distorted into a religion that manipulates God for the satisfaction of all wants. When that happens the pastor has to say no" (163).
"We must demonstrate that the trumpet sentence 'in him it is always yes' can only be sounded in a world in which Job's doubt and pain are affirmed, a world in which David's disintegrating family and harassed kingship are accepted, a world in which Peter's denials and bitter weeping are acknowledged--a world of shipwreck and rejection, famine and plague, a world in which Jesus Christ hangs on a cross feeling in every nerve-end the physical and spiritual disorder of a world that says no to God" (164).
"Knowledge of God comes from scriptures proclaimed and obeyed in the community of the people of God...When religious knowledge becomes an impersonal item of information, or is used impersonally, it ceases to be biblical. If it is used to put distance between persons, something has gone wrong. If it is used to put another person in his or her 'place,' then something has gone wrong. If it is used to improve life apart from faith in God, something has gone wrong" (172-3).
"Miracles are evidence that there are dimensions to God that with all our knowledge we have not been able to anticipate" (174).
....and more!
"Pastoral work is that aspect of Christian ministry which specializes in the ordinary" (1).
"the work which has to do with the human's relation to God & God's will for the human does not come from knowing more about the times but from knowing humanity--and God...That being the case, we are far more likely to get help from those whose experience has been tested in a variety of climates & cultures, & been demonstrated in the testing to be trustworthy" (2) rather than new behavioral sciences, etc.
"It is essential to stay in touch, almost literally, with the biblical material & pastoral traditions where specific God-person exchanges take place" (6).
"I need encouragement to attend to God with steadfast faithfulness & the patience to immerse myself in the local & the personal. But our society marshals enormous resources & ingenuity to make things happen" (8).
"pastoral work gathers expertise not by acquiring knowledge but by assimilating old wisdom, not by new reading the latest books but by digesting the oldest ones" (10).
"Pastoral work takes place between Sundays, between the first & the eighth day, between the boundaries of creation & resurrection, between Genesis 1 and Revelation 21. Sunday worship establishes the life of the community of faith in & on the word of God; weekday pastoral work unfolds the implications in the ordinary lives of people as they work, love, suffer, grieve, play, learn, & grow in times of crisis & times of routine. Worship calls a congregation to attention before God's words, coordinates responses of praise & obedience, & then sends the people out into the community to live out the meaning of that praise & obedience. But they are not only sent, they are accompanied, & pastoral work is the ministry of that accompaniment. Pastoral work begins at the Pulpit, the Font, the Table; it continues in the hospital room, the family room, the counseling room, the committee room. The pastor who leads people in worship is companion to those same people between acts of worship" (19).
"High on the agenda for the rebuilding of a biblical pastoral work is the acquisition of facility in the idiom of the local, the specific, the personal" (20). T.S. Eliot: "A local speech on a local issue is likely to be more intelligible than one addressed to a whole nation."
Sexuality and prayer "are both aspects of a single, created thing: a capacity for intimacy. Much of pastoral work has to do with nurturing intimacy, that is, developing relationships in which love is successfully expressed & received--shared...Pastors are assigned the task of helping persons develop their everyday relationships in such a way that they discover God's will & love at the center of every encounter" (22-3).
"The word 'salvation' in the course of its biblical usage developed both the sense of 'rescue from destruction' & 'restoration to health'" (28).
"Pastoral work, in large part, deals with the difficulty everyone has in staying alert to the magnificence of salvation...The pastor, working in the midst of the symbols & artifacts of transcendence, is faced, both in himself or herself and among the faithful, with this dangerous drift towards the shoals of nonchalance. Praying, the most personal aspect of life, becomes riddled with cliches, a sure indication that it has ceased being personal" (31).
"The pastor deals with people in the context of the historical & institutional, but always in order to bring about personal, intimate participation in the saving love that is ritualized in the forms of worship & the disciplines of the institution... Pastoral work is a commitment to the everyday: it is an act of faith that the great truths of salvation are workable in the 'ordinary universe'" (32-3).
"Salvation is not an intensification of the ego, the solitary soul deepening into mystical profundities, nor is it an abstraction from the self, an idealization of the personal into some fragment of feeling or thought. Salvation is a personal relationship that is nurtured by the Word that creates & by words that praise" (43).
"Covenant, in effect, means that humanity cannot understand life apart from a defined & revealed relationship with God" (44).
"Life, to be meaningful, must be joined: intimacy is a requirement of wholeness" (46).
"It is not the pastor's job to simplify the spiritual life, to devise common-denominator formulas, to smooth out the path of discipleship. Some difficulties are inherent in the way of spiritual growth--to deny them, to minimize them, or to offer shortcuts is to divert the person from true growth. It is the pastor's task, rather, to be companion to persons who are in the midst of difficulty, to acknowledge the difficulty & thereby give it significance, & to converse & pray with them through the time so that the loneliness is lightened, somewhat, & hope is maintained, somehow" (51).
"Seeking for intimacy at any level--with God or with persons--is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it lacks 'glamour.' If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sexual intercourse, then routines are simple & the world can be run efficiently" (53).
"In prayer the desires are not talked about, they are expressed to God. In prayer the difficulties are not analyzed & studied, they are worked through with God" (55).
"There is no clear line separating the conversations that a pastor has with people & the continuation of those conversations in prayer... It means that the conversation in which they have just been engaged will be continued with God as partner to the conversation...for how else will a pastor work at the center as intercessor before God on behalf of the deep desires & the persistent difficulties that concentrate on their force in each person?" (60-1).
"A sense of hurry in pastoral work disqualifies one for the work of conversation & prayer that develops relationships that meet personal needs...the pastor must not be 'busy.' Busyness is an illness of spirit, a rush from one thing to another because there is no ballast of vocational integrity & no confidence in the primacy of grace" (61-2).
"the most important thing a pastor can do for a person is to be grateful to God for that particular person; celebrate with joy the sheer existence of this particular instance of God's creation without regard to moral quality or spiritual maturity" (65).
"A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God & men." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"his banner over me was love" (Song 2:4). "God's love is an assault on our indifference & a victory over our rebellion" (67).
"Prayers do not calculate their chances by evaluating a person's past; they are awakened to action by the word of promise. Christ's love brings fresh vigor to lives as it announces the springtime of resurrection. Prayer is the place where chill doubts that result from disappointment & failure are dispelled & a warm faith in resurrection love is created" (68).
"The Sinai event is a kind of axle for holding together two basic realities: one, everything God does involves me (election); and two, everything I do is therefore significant (covenant). Because I am chosen, I have consequence. Election creates a unique identity; covenant describes a responsible relationship. Election is the declaration that God has designs upon me; covenant is the description of how the things I do fit into those designs" (78-9).
"Sinai, in short, is a realization that we count & what we do counts" (79).
"Because the Hebrews had this lively sense of story, they did not look upon the covenant, which was, in a sense, the syntax of the story, as a legal burden to be borne; it was evidence, rather, of the significance & interrelated meanings of every detail in history. The Hebrews would no more have considered the covenant ten command ments as a burden in living a life of faith than a person would call nouns, verbs, & prepositions a burden in carrying on a conversation" (81).
Ruth "brings the lofty concept of covenant into vital contact with day-to-day life, not at the royal court or in the temple, but right here in the narrow compass of village life" (Edward Campbell). "For the pastor this is important, for it means that we have a model for taking seriously each person, however obscure, however unimportant, however 'out of it'" (83).
"By taking a storyteller's approach to the outsider, pastoral work is saved from two egregious (but, unfortunately, common) errors, namely, moralism & condescension. Pastoral moralism focuses on what is wrong with the misfit and, by concentrating on the trouble, alienates him or her even further... Pastors are historians, not moralists... Biblical pastoral work 'takes a history' & with that raw material creates a story of salvation" (85-6).
"Pastors are very frequently bored with dull people, irritated with difficult people, & frustrated by incalcitrant people...But if these same persons are approached with the interests & expectations of a storyteller, everything changes. If each parishioner is a key person in a story, everything is alive & interesting. All the details of the day are relevant" (86).
"talking is not the first step in pastoral storytelling. Listening is the first step" (87).
"by taking everyday things in a serious vein, an inner structure is realized in them-- random persons and events are embedded in the structures of salvation history...The pastor begins this work, then, not so much as a storyteller, but as one who believes that there is a story to be told, the curiosity to be attentive to the life of another, & the determination to listen through the apparently rambling digressions until a plot begins to emerge" (88).
"visitation & counseling provide the conditions in which a short story of salvation can be constructed out of the everyday materials that come to light in such conversations" (89).
"Good counseling does not aim to be 'successful,' & has no control over how the newly introduced or uncovered reality will be used. The pastor cannot 'write' the story alone--only collaborate with the other in the writing, & the telling, of it. The pastor participates in the making of a story, not in an adjustment; the primary interest is in getting at usable truth, & then taking the person seriously as an equal so that there is confidence and freedom to be creative with the material. By resisting 'secularization,' that is, refusing to be used apart from or in place of God, the pastor forces the person to deal with God on his or her own" (92).
"The secularization of pastoral visitation takes place when the pastor gives up the uncertain & somewhat modest work of being companion to persons in pilgrimage and takes on the job of public relations agent for the congregation" (e.g. raising money) (93).
"The pastoral visit is not the condescending visit of the superior to the inferior, and not the professional visit of one who has something to one who does not have it. It is an act of collaboration in order to demonstrate the mutuality of the Christian discipleship" (94).
"The pastor doesn't introduce God into anyone's life...The pastor simply calls attention to what is already there" (96).
"The pastor provides in his or her vocation the confidence that the materials for a story are there" (97).
"The pastor can help a person 'get into the story' by assisting in the formulation of complaints, making out list of grievances, clarifying where God has failed to do his part, and drawing up an indictment against him. The pastor doesn't always have to be on God’s side, defending him; there are times when the biblical position is at the plaintiff's side" (99). -> e.g. Naomi
"There are times when the pastor collaborates in storymaking by encouraging persons to step out and speak their own lines...speaking up on one's own and asking for what we want" (102). -> e.g. Ruth
"Pastors are in a position to collaborate in the making of these [wealthy, influential] persons' stories in such a way that they no longer see themselves as a center to which fame, possessions, and power naturally gravitate, but at the center of a circle of responsibilities -> e.g. Boaz
"The biblical revelation neither explains nor eliminates suffering. It shows, rather, God entering into the life suffering humanity, accepting & sharing the suffering" (114).
"Lamentations...functions as a pastoral ministry by dealing with the suffering in such a way as to direct the despair that ordinarily accompanies guilt toward God & not away from him...Any religion that takes seriously God's judgment has the pastoral task of realizing God's mercy, demonstrating in a credible way that judgment and mercy are not opposites but complements. The task of pastoral work is to comfort without in any way avoiding the human realities of guilt or denying the divine realities of judgment" (117).
In Lamentations, the acrostic is used "to guarantee that the griet & despair are expressed completely. The acrostic patiently, & carefully, goes through the letters of the alphabet & covers the ground of suffering. Every detail of suffering comes under consideration... It is important to pay attention to everything that God says; but it is also important to pay attention to everything that men & women feel, especially when that feeling is as full of pain & puzzlement as suffering" (118-9).
"The acrostic form makes certain that nothing is left out, but it also, just as certainly, puts limits upon the repetitions. If there is a beginning to evil, there is also an end to it" (122). e.g., "the simple act of making an appt to return to listen again to the tale of tragedy or sorrow or whatever begins to put boundaries around it. Order begins to infiltrate the chaos of the sufferer in the very prosaic act of making another appt, three to seven days hence...There is some reason initially to listen to persons for as long as they want to talk, but probably not more than once. After that, the conversation should be bound by agreed-upon time. Not because the pastor has so many demands that he or she must schedule the time, but because the sorrow must be bound, placed within limits, told within the scheme" (123-4).
"Names, places, buildings, dates are ways of tethering suffering, holding it within the framework of history. Suffering assumes its place as one among other things. It is not everything. It is not the whole world. It is not an entire history...History is necessary, not to explain, but to anchor" (125-6).
"When a pastor asks, 'What happened?' (after having asked, 'How do you feel?") it is not in order to minimize suffering, or to 'put it in perspective.' It is, rather, to pin it to the actual & so make it accessible to the grace that operates, as we know from biblical accounts, in the historical" (129).
"God's anger, among the Hebrews, was always evidence of his concern" (130). "The moment anger is eliminated from God, suffering is depersonalized, for anger is an insistence on the personal... Our very pain is a sign of God's remembrance of us, for it would be much worse if we were left in ghastly isolation" (131-2).
"God's anger is not incalculable or arbitrary-- it takes place within a clearly defined, well-known structure" (i.e. the covenant) (134).
"Pastoral work joins the sufferer, shares the experience of God's anger, enters into the pain, the hurt, the sense of absurdity, the descent into the depths. It is not the task of the pastor to alleviate suffering, to minimize it, or to mitigate it, but to share it after the example of our Lord Messiah" (135).
"Pastoral work in suffering is like Jacobean wrestling with the angel at Peniel: 'I will not let you go till you tell me your name.' Pastors grapple with the dark assailants & demand they cough up their meaning" (136).
"Pastors have no business interfering with another's sorrow, or manipulating it. Suffering is an event in which we are particularly vulnerable to grace, able to recognize dimensions in God & depths in the self. To treat it as a 'problem' is to demean the person" (139).
"Encouraged by Lamentations, the pastor will have the strength to do far less in relation to suffering, and be far more. Pastors will not give in to the temptation to fix the sufferer & will engage in a ministry that honors the sufferer. Nothing, in the long run, does more to demean the person who suffers than to condescendingly busy oneself in fixing him or her up, and nothing can provide more meaning to suffering than resolute & quiet faithfulness in taking the suffering seriously & offering a companionship through the time of waiting for the morning" (141).
"One of the strategies of pastoral work is to enter private grief & make a shared event of it... response to suffering is a function of the congregation" (142). "When others join the sufferer, there is 'consensual validation' that the suffering means something" (143).
"Since 'no one has seen God at any time' and the pastor is perfectly visible at most times, the expectations that people have of God are often focused the pastor, the bull's-eye for God-targeted expectations... Pastors are in the awkward position of refusing give to what a great many people assume it is our assigned job to give. We are in the embarrassing position of disappointing people in what they think they have a perfect right to get from us. We are asked to pray for an appropriate miracle; we are called upon to declare our us to an an authoritative answer. But our calling equips us for neither. In fact, it forbids us to engage in either the miracle business or the answer business" (150, 152-3).
"The pastor reads Ecclesiastes to get scrubbed clean from illusion & sentiment, from ideas that are idolatrous & feelings that cloy. It is an exposé & rejection of every pretentious & presumptuous expectation aimed at God & routed through the pastor" (155-6).
"The pervasive danger in [pastoral] work is that while developing & encouraging personal relationships with God, the difference between God & humanity is denied & the distance between holiness & sinfulness is obscured" (157).
"That word ['yes'] expresses, perhaps better than any other, the gospel message. God says yes to humanity. Humanity returns the yes. Pastoral work consists in repeating the Gospel yes in every conceivable life situation & encouraging the yes answer of faith" (159).
"...A religion that promises the fulfillment of all needs is thus distorted into a religion that manipulates God for the satisfaction of all wants. When that happens the pastor has to say no" (163).
"We must demonstrate that the trumpet sentence 'in him it is always yes' can only be sounded in a world in which Job's doubt and pain are affirmed, a world in which David's disintegrating family and harassed kingship are accepted, a world in which Peter's denials and bitter weeping are acknowledged--a world of shipwreck and rejection, famine and plague, a world in which Jesus Christ hangs on a cross feeling in every nerve-end the physical and spiritual disorder of a world that says no to God" (164).
"Knowledge of God comes from scriptures proclaimed and obeyed in the community of the people of God...When religious knowledge becomes an impersonal item of information, or is used impersonally, it ceases to be biblical. If it is used to put distance between persons, something has gone wrong. If it is used to put another person in his or her 'place,' then something has gone wrong. If it is used to improve life apart from faith in God, something has gone wrong" (172-3).
"Miracles are evidence that there are dimensions to God that with all our knowledge we have not been able to anticipate" (174).
....and more!
July 22, 2014
Peterson is truly a pastor's pastor. "Five Smooth Stones" helped me think through the work I do and how I go about it. There are many voices in my head telling me what my priorities should be and how I should do the work I have been called to do. Peterson gives clarity and direction, as well as assurance to continue in the often quiet work of ministry.
He tackles the American obsession with "church growth" with common sense observations like this: "There is, of course, nothing wrong with a large-membership congregation. But neither is there anything right about it. Size is not a moral quality. It is a given. It is what is there--part of the environment in which the pastor works. . . . size is mostly the result of cultural conditions. Congregations are large when there is a social approval to be part of a religious establishment, small when there isn't. The pastor cannot choose his or her culture."
He points out the idolatry of what he calls "Neo-Baalism": "Pastors are subjected to two recurrent phrases from the people to whom they give spiritual leadership. . . . The phrases are: 'Let's have a worship experience' and 'I don't get anything out of it.'"
Peterson helps me stay focused on the true work of ministry and cautious of the issues that constantly seek to derail the work. I would highly recommend this book to all who want to know how to do a better job of shepherding the flock of God.
He tackles the American obsession with "church growth" with common sense observations like this: "There is, of course, nothing wrong with a large-membership congregation. But neither is there anything right about it. Size is not a moral quality. It is a given. It is what is there--part of the environment in which the pastor works. . . . size is mostly the result of cultural conditions. Congregations are large when there is a social approval to be part of a religious establishment, small when there isn't. The pastor cannot choose his or her culture."
He points out the idolatry of what he calls "Neo-Baalism": "Pastors are subjected to two recurrent phrases from the people to whom they give spiritual leadership. . . . The phrases are: 'Let's have a worship experience' and 'I don't get anything out of it.'"
Peterson helps me stay focused on the true work of ministry and cautious of the issues that constantly seek to derail the work. I would highly recommend this book to all who want to know how to do a better job of shepherding the flock of God.
July 23, 2011
I've always enjoyed Peterson for his wonderful insights, so I must admit I was somewhat dissapointed after reading this book.
The problem was not so much that there wasn't good insights... but really that I found myself unable to relate to much of what was written. I feel this book is written for those ALREADY involved in pastoral work. I'm sure much of what is written would echo the daily issues that they face. However, as a person just entering into pastoral work, I found that many of the issues seemed foreign.
Perhaps the most relevant area for me was when Peterson examined the book of Esther. Here I found a wonderful affirmation of the church as a community called by God, and also could appreciate the role of servant leadership which the pastor brings as the leader of this community. Aside from this, his treatment of Ruth and Lamentations were also excellent and contained many gems for me.
Worth a read? I believe so... but perhaps more so for those in ministry already.
The problem was not so much that there wasn't good insights... but really that I found myself unable to relate to much of what was written. I feel this book is written for those ALREADY involved in pastoral work. I'm sure much of what is written would echo the daily issues that they face. However, as a person just entering into pastoral work, I found that many of the issues seemed foreign.
Perhaps the most relevant area for me was when Peterson examined the book of Esther. Here I found a wonderful affirmation of the church as a community called by God, and also could appreciate the role of servant leadership which the pastor brings as the leader of this community. Aside from this, his treatment of Ruth and Lamentations were also excellent and contained many gems for me.
Worth a read? I believe so... but perhaps more so for those in ministry already.
March 1, 2015
I think this book should be required reading for all pastors and their wives or husbands. Eugene Peterson spent years in the trenches, thoughtfully considering what is most important in his position.
Some of the phrases that stick out to me are "It is no easier to be a Christian pastor in America than in Russia, China, or Zaire. Nor harder." This is reassuring. Also "It makes little difference why persons think they come to church -- whether to hear good music, to find a quite place away from their kids, to get moral training for their children, to hear a good sermon, to be with the 'better people' of the community. The actual reason that they assemble together is that God calls them." This is heartening.
I also appreciate the reflection and creativity that went into the metaphor of the Five Smooth Stones as described in the Epilogue. This is a good book -- like a hearty, healthy meal after years of feasting on candy.
Some of the phrases that stick out to me are "It is no easier to be a Christian pastor in America than in Russia, China, or Zaire. Nor harder." This is reassuring. Also "It makes little difference why persons think they come to church -- whether to hear good music, to find a quite place away from their kids, to get moral training for their children, to hear a good sermon, to be with the 'better people' of the community. The actual reason that they assemble together is that God calls them." This is heartening.
I also appreciate the reflection and creativity that went into the metaphor of the Five Smooth Stones as described in the Epilogue. This is a good book -- like a hearty, healthy meal after years of feasting on candy.
January 11, 2013
I have a new favorite author: Eugene Peterson. Simply astounding read. I can't wait to read it again. Peterson takes you through the Megilloth (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther) showing the significance of these books for constructing a foundation for pastoral ministry in the areas of: prayer-directing, story-telling, pain-sharing, nay-saying, and community-building. Peterson's biblical depth, ministerial experience, and wise guidance shines through on every page making this book an indispensable read for novice and seasoned ministers.
June 21, 2014
Learned. Intelligent. Nourishing. Thought-provoking. In reading this book, and Peterson in general, I occasionally write a question mark in the margins, totally unconvinced that the text under consideration warrants the statement he has just made. That notwithstanding, Peterson has few peers when it comes to the juxtaposition of textual reflection, cultural awareness, and spiritual insight. Also read in June 2008. Enjoyed it more the 2nd time.
August 22, 2024
“No one could have guessed that the man picking stones out of the brook was doing the most significant work of the day.”
November 30, 2018
This is a wonderfully written book which uses the five little-read books of The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther to provide insights into pastoral ministry. Written as far back as 1980, Peterson's lamentation about a church that is too sucked into a culture of business management and numerical success to reflect adequately upon the theological underpinnings of its life still seems sadly fresh. Perhaps even more so. His ringing conviction at the end that as the Jewish people survived the near genocide of Esther the church too will always survive in some shape or form needs to be heard afresh.
At times you could quibble that Peterson spends too little time with the texts themselves, using them as a springboard into other thoughts, however it did lead me to read each of those texts again and, in the case of The Song of Songs, persuade me that more personal study is required of this wonderful poem.
At times you could quibble that Peterson spends too little time with the texts themselves, using them as a springboard into other thoughts, however it did lead me to read each of those texts again and, in the case of The Song of Songs, persuade me that more personal study is required of this wonderful poem.
February 15, 2023
Not my favorite Peterson work. He attempts to use the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther to promote a priestly version of pastoral work. I appreciate the motive, but the methodology just didn't connect for me. Maybe in another season of my work I will be more in tune with what he was saying. He is so brilliant, and this book shows it, but it was a little lofty for me. "It is the unique property of pastoral work to combine two aspects of ministry: one, to represent the eternal word and will of God; and, two, to do it among the idiosyncrasies of the local and the personal (the actual place where the pastor lives; the named people with whom he or she lives). If either aspect is slighted, good pastoral work fails to take place." (Eugene H. Peterson, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work)
May 2, 2020
The chapter on Ecclesiastes was the best of all, although it's hard to choose. I've always been fascinated with these five books of the Bible: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, and their special place in the Tanakh. Peterson makes use of this tradition and applies it aptly to pastoral work. Ecclesiastes is especially apt for the times we live in, when Christianity has become more of a product and a commodity. How do we learn to say "No" in a culture that expects only "Yes"?
July 28, 2022
It is amazing how Peterson says things that are at the same time common sense but also wildly controversial. The idea that a pastor is not a “community organizer” or a “leadership guru” makes logical sense. He says the job of a pastor is to stay within his/her lane and develop the christian community to love each other and God more.
This rows against the current of pastors being the best leader in the room. The pastor is not supposed to be the charismatic trend setter. We are suppose to be those who serve people and challenge them to follow Jesus.
This rows against the current of pastors being the best leader in the room. The pastor is not supposed to be the charismatic trend setter. We are suppose to be those who serve people and challenge them to follow Jesus.
May 20, 2019
This book had some astoundingly relevant words for pastoral work today. While written in 1980, Peterson is absolutely prophetic about the coming tide of consumerism in church culture. While the chapters are somewhat uneven: some of his insights I could take or leave, but there are some incredibly portions. His chapter on Ruth and the pastoral art of storytelling is well worth the price of the book. I always walk away from reading anything from Peterson wanting to be a better pastor.
October 21, 2021
This was a good book to slowly digest during these months of ministry sabbatical. To be given the gift of stepping back from the roles and responsibilities of two decades of professional ministry leadership. Time to re-evaluate the messages and models of church leadership in light of Scriptural truth. I felt encouraged, rebuked, warned and commissioned at different intervals of this book. May I put into practice what I read and heard.
April 5, 2024
Read Peterson because you desire depth.
I didn’t like Peterson earlier in my life and ministry. But as I have matured, I find myself drawn to much of what he writes. He isn’t simple nor is what he writes practical in the typical sense. But it is deep and deep is helpful for the long term. Peterson is a balancing voice in a world full of leadership experts. Peterson isn’t against leadership but he is first and foremost a pastor and not all leaders are pastors.
I didn’t like Peterson earlier in my life and ministry. But as I have matured, I find myself drawn to much of what he writes. He isn’t simple nor is what he writes practical in the typical sense. But it is deep and deep is helpful for the long term. Peterson is a balancing voice in a world full of leadership experts. Peterson isn’t against leadership but he is first and foremost a pastor and not all leaders are pastors.
May 17, 2017
Perfect substance!
For anyone looking to understand the role and work of a pastor, this book provides the perfect substance to confirm what you know to be true in your heart. The work of the pastor is less about growth models and next big thing, and more about the day-to-day life of faithfulness rooted in who we are as God's people.
For anyone looking to understand the role and work of a pastor, this book provides the perfect substance to confirm what you know to be true in your heart. The work of the pastor is less about growth models and next big thing, and more about the day-to-day life of faithfulness rooted in who we are as God's people.
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