Every Pastor needs a reminder that he is not alone. In the Bible, pastors are described in the Bible as shepherds and charged with the care of the flock but they are also described as sheep, too. Sheep are subject to struggles and brokenness in their personal lives affected by the treatment at the hands of others. If one is not careful, pastors can feel isolated and alone in suffering. The book 12 Faithful Men: Portraits of Endurance in Pastoral Ministry, edited by Colin Hansen and Jeff Robinson, seeks to pull back the shroud of loneliness and self-pity experienced by some pastors and encourage them to faithfulness by demonstrating the hardships and suffering endured by other pastors in history.
This book profiles twelve pastors spanning five centuries and situated across five continents. It provides historical snapshots of the Apostle Paul, John Calvin, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, John Newton, Andrew Fuller, Charles Simeon, John Chavis, C.H. Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, Janani Luwum, and Wang Ming-Dao. It spends a little time discussing the victories of their ministries, but emphasizes some of the spiritual valleys that each of these men walked through. Each chapter is penned by a different biographer. The following paragraphs will examine a few strengths, weaknesses and express my evaluation of the book.
Strengths
One of the greatest assets of this collection of biographical sketches is the variety of the men included. The pastors profiled are taken from various denominations, geographic locations, and time periods. While each man is lauded for his faithfulness, the writers are not afraid of demonstrating their failures. A second benefit of the variety of profilees is that I was introduced to faithful men I did not know about previously. The book also demonstrates a variety of sufferings. Not all suffering is perceived as the equal to the outside observer, but they are keenly felt to the one suffering, therefore, it is helpful to see what suffering looked like in the lives of those men in this book.
Weaknesses
In spite of the strengths, the book is not without its weaknesses. By my evaluation, the book is deficient in a few areas. First of all, each chapter is composed by a different author. This makes the development and description of each pastor uneven from chapter to chapter. This leads to the second criticism. Some chapters, out of necessity, leave desired details sparse. Admittedly, this is a limitation of a work such as this. Given this characteristic, it is my opinion that the book would benefit from each individual author selecting and listing a few worthy works on their subject for further study. One could argue that such material could be gathered from the endnotes, but for those with limited time, a section at the conclusion of each chapter would be beneficial.
Recommendation
All in all this book is extremely helpful in watering the seeds of interest for further study of the aforementioned pastors. It will serve to encourage pastors experiencing the ups and downs of local church pastoring. It is well worth your time.
Rating: 4 Highlighters