Who'd be a leader today?

A NOBLE TASK: Why pastoring a church is a great role, and how to know whether it may be for you
By Alasdair Paine
Christian Focus. 85 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 527 113 152

I have always enjoyed the definition of the one-liners in the Book of Proverbs: “Short sentences drawn from long experience.”

I was reminded of this statement while reading this helpful little book which seeks to encourage and guide reflection on a call to pastoral ministry.

The book flows out of 1 Timothy 3v1, “Here is a trustworthy saying: whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.”

The author deals with five issues: Why this is a noble task; the nature of the work; qualifications for the work; the question of discerning a call to Christian ministry (in this chapter there might have been more emphasis on the objective side of this call by the church); and the training needed to do the work effectively. This is followed by a chapter dealing with practical questions about the things that might be a barrier to doing this work, including: “Will I get bored?”

One of the most helpful parts of the book is chapter 7, where five pastors tell the story of their route into ministry and how that ministry has developed. These snapshots of what it means to be a gospel minister provide useful insights into what a call to ministry looks like in practice.

The author is the pastor of a large church in Cambridge; I wonder whether there might be need to reassure people from a working class, less academic background that there is a route into ministry for them. This is a helpful little book to put into the hands of those who look like candidates for Christian ministry.