The Pastor and the Modern World: Reformed Ministry and Secular Culture

by William Edgar, R. Kent Hughes, Alfred Poirier

It’s a high calling to serve the people of God, and a hard one in today’s world. Pastors need wisdom, encouragement, and guidance to serve people living in the context of secularism. In The Pastor and the Modern World, they get exactly that. Three seasoned pastor-scholars―William Edgar, R. Kent Hughes, and Alfred Poirier―come to the aid of today’s pastor, bringing their experience to bear on cultural engagement, the craft of preaching, and the care of souls. How has secularism infiltrated culture and the arts, and what is a Christian response to it? How does a pastor prayerfully construct a message that moves the hearts of his congregants? What can we learn from Gregory of Nazianzus about being a “physician of souls”? These questions are answered, with many more, in a volume that’s sure to encourage pastors to take up their call with fresh enthusiasm and Spirit-led vigilance.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 19, 2022

About the author

William Edgar (DTheol, University of Geneva) is professor of apologetics and coordinator of the apologetics department at Westminster Theological Seminary. His books include Reasons of the Heart, The Face of Truth, and Truth in All Its Glory.

Reviews

[Zach Barnhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 great lectures here, but Kent Hughes' was simply superb. I know I will return to it often.

[Erik Bonkovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s hear it for the old alma mater!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the last chapter, I will reread that specific chapter again in the future, over and over again.

[John Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading books like these. The pastoral ministry is, as the final essay rightly reminds us, "the sciences of sciences and the art of arts". it is a lifelong journey of learning, reflecting, failing, travailing, suffering -- Yet generation after generation pastors are raised up from amongst the people of God to care for their souls and to proclaim the good news of Christ.

While we wrestle with what it means to be secular, how we can effectively preach the Bible, and what, in fact, a pastor really is we go forward with God's grace. He gives wisdom and grace abundantly -- some if it is even found in this book.

[Adam Kareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short work of three collected lectures we get a good range of insight into the pastor and relating to the modern world. The first lecture is ball about secularization - what it is and how it is changing the church. The second is about the pastor and preaching, while the third is a look at Gregory of Nazianzus and his work on pastoring. Each lecture has its benefit- with the last two being more encouraging and challenging to the role of pastor and the first being insightful to ministry in the present age.