A stirring post from Peter Mead, which I will be taking to prayer today.

“My main word is, as Stephen F. Olford has often said, that ‘we belong in the study not in the office.’ The symbol of our ministry is a Bible, not a telephone. We are ministers of the Word, not administrators, and we need to relearn the question of priority in every generation.”

These words are attributed to John Stott, who recently went home to be with the Lord.  How true these words are.

Where the clergyman once held a position of honour in the community, we now find ourselves tempted to grasp for respectability and credibility.  So there is a temptation to try to look like the respected folks of the community.  They have increasing education, so we are tempted to flaunt ours, or get extra degrees for the wrong reasons.  They have manic lives, so we are tempted to run around like mad folks looking for an ulcer (who would respect a preacher who is able to choose serenity over stress?)  They have offices, mobile phones and permanent contactability, so we feel we can do no other.

What difference would it make if we stopped playing the busy professional and renewed our commitment to a different calling, to the ministry of the Word and prayer?  If our gut reaction to this idea is to fear loss of credibility, or loss of income, or loss of support from those who think they hold us accountable … then we are making decisions out of fear rather than faith. 

What does God want of us?  Acts 6:4 is worth pondering in prayer.  Let’s ask Him what He thinks.

From Spurgeon’s Lecture to my Students:

“It will be in vain for me to stock my library, or organise societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling;

my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle axe and weapons of war.

M’Cheyene, writing to a ministerial friend who was travelling with a view to perfecting himself in the German tongue, used language identical with our own:

‘I know you will apply hard to German, but do not forget the culture of the inner man – I mean of the heart. How diligently the calvary officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument – I trust, a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfection of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.’”

May it be so.

(HT: Pastoralized)

The Resurgence has posted a wonderful obituary honoring this remarkable pastor. While brief, it offers insights into the man:

He lived for the last 35 years in a two-room garage apartment above the rectory of an exceptionally busy Church of England parish in downtown London. He traveled all over the world encouraging simple Christians, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, and always traveled second-class, in “the back of the bus.”

Read the whole post.