Senkbeil Care of Souls

Cultivating a Pastor's Heart
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68359-302-7
Verlag: Lexham Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 312 Seiten

Drawing on a lifetime of pastoral experience, The Care of Souls is a beautifully written treasury of proven wisdom which pastors will find themselves turning to again and again. Harold Senkbeil helps remind pastors of the essential calling of the ministry: preaching and living out the Word of God while orienting others in the same direction. And he offers practical and fruitful adviceâ?'born out of his five decades as a pastorâ?'that will benefit both new pastors and those with years in the pulpit. In a time when many churches have lost sight of the real purpose of the church, The Care of Souls invites a new generation of pastors to form the godly habits and practical wisdom needed to minister to the hearts and souls of those committed to their care.

Harold L. Senkbeil is an Executive Director of Doxology: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care. His pastoral experience of nearly five decades includes parish ministry, the seminary classroom, and parachurch leadership. He is author of numerous books, including Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness and Sanctification: Christ in Action.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Senkbeil, Harold L.

Leseproben

Preface

“Of making many books, there is no end”

(Eccl 12:12).

Well, here’s one more. And now that you’ve opened the cover, you can be sure I wrote it just for you. You could be a pastor, a student, or someone simply interested in how God forms shepherds of souls. Ideally you’re all three. You could be a man or a woman; clergy or lay. But here’s the deal: I hope you’ll find something useful within the pages of this book no matter who you are. I’ve done the best I can with what I’ve been given—and my goal is to pass along to you some of the wisdom and insight I’ve received from others. I don’t claim any unique authority. Frankly, if you run into someone who claims to be an expert at ministry, you should run the other way. That’s the first thing you should know about this book: I don’t pretend to have all the answers.

It’s both foolhardy and dangerous to embark on pastoral work all by yourself. That is why Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, and that’s why all the mission imperatives in the New Testament are in the plural. We are not solo entrepreneurs in this business, and it’s not a business. It is rather a ministry that finds its source and goal in the eternal mission of the holy Trinity. All that was planned by the Father before the world began was accomplished in time by his only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and continues to be delivered day by day by the Holy Spirit who works through the preached word and sacraments administered in his name. A minister acts on behalf of another in a proxy capacity, bringing gifts that are not his own. Pastors are agents of the Lord Jesus, stewards working with him to administer God’s gifts. We dare never venture out alone in pastoral work. We must consciously cultivate the company and support of colleagues in office.

Therefore, I dedicate this book to generations of pastors past, present, and future whose hope is in the Word made flesh—those stalwart men who went before us are true fathers without whose example we would be traveling blind. Those intrepid men who currently share our burdens and joys as we forge ahead are indispensable brothers in this quest. Those eager men who come after us are the sons whose paths we are preparing. Fathers, brothers, sons—we’re all in this together, and not one of us is worthy of the office we hold. In fact, this office is bigger than any one of us—and all of us put together aren’t worthy to tie the sandals of the One who first blazed the trail ahead and now calls us to follow in his steps.

This book was a long time in gestation. In many ways it’s been a lifetime in development. In these pages I’ll share various vignettes from my childhood on the farm that shaped me early on, together with snapshots of hands-on ministry as a window into what I learned from God’s sinner-saints over nearly five decades. My beloved bride, Jane Nesset Senkbeil, has been at my side throughout, and she rightly shows up everywhere in this book. She is the love of my life and I think you’ll see in these pages why she is the helper fit for me. I literally would not be who I am today without her.

This book didn’t arise out of a vacuum. Many had a hand in its development. The idea for this book first surfaced in conversation with my treasured colleague, Dr. Beverly Yahnke. Bev and I have been involved in that conversation for nigh unto twenty years. Insights from her long experience as a Christian psychologist supporting church workers and their families were of incalculable value in the design and launch of DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel (www.doxology.us). Almost since the very beginning, she has been pushing me to sit down and write a book for pastors. What I’ve learned from her and with her as founding co-executive directors for DOXOLOGY has profoundly influenced what you are about to read.

The theological and spiritual insights reflected in these pages stem from my study of the classical heritage of the “cure of souls,” as it is called in the church’s collective tradition. Two twentieth century champions of this classical legacy were especially influential for me. Thomas Oden, late professor of theology and ethics at Drew University, led his fellow “young fogies” in rebellion against fashionable modernist trends in theology to drink from the deeper wells of the pastoral theologians of classic antiquity and enlighten the rest of us. Likewise, Eugene Peterson, for many years parish pastor in suburban Baltimore and then professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, championed this classical approach steadily over the years despite the passing fads of many popular ministry trends. Together, their seminal writings have had tremendous influence on my own thinking as I reflect on all my years as a pastor and teacher of pastoral theology.

But without the pivotal influence of John Kleinig, emeritus Professor of Theology at Luther Campus, Adelaide, Australia, the book you have in your hands could never have taken shape. John’s extraordinary exegetical insight and theological depth is combined with an amazing pastoral instinct. These ingredients for faithful ministry impact almost every page you are about to read. John’s scholarly erudition and pastoral wisdom are matched only by his genuine warmth and good humor. He was an early advisor in the formation of DOXOLOGY and its training program, and we remain both friends and colleagues. The friendship of a theological giant like “Doctor John,” as his former students affectionately call him, is remarkably humbling to this country boy. But when you consider that he too was raised on a small farm “down under,” perhaps our parallel paths are not completely happenstance.

The editorial team at Lexham Press shared their remarkable expertise in print and digital media and effectively brought my words to your attention. Special thanks to Todd Hains, my very patient and considerate editor, whose diligent attention to detail made those words worth reading. Likewise, my deep appreciation to Jonathan Mayer of Scapegoat Studios, whose masterful illustrations illuminate the rural life of my childhood along with the core of the church’s ministry, God’s word and sacraments.

Sprinkled throughout this book you will hear my view on the importance of pastoral friendships; it’s my conviction that the art of friendship has fallen on hard times among men—sadly, especially those engaged in ministry. One of the reasons this book is at last seeing the light of day is that I’ve been blessed with a remarkable friend who can also be a persistent nag. Lucas Woodford got on my case quite a few years ago to get this project going—and he’s remained extraordinarily obstinate about it. This book’s major themes took shape in the personal and professional give and take that has increasingly marked the deep friendship we’ve forged over the last decade. Augustine described his close friend Alypius as frater cordis mei—“my heart’s brother.” I thank God daily that Lucas is the Alypius who has greatly enriched my life and enlarged my vision for ministry. I pray God may likewise bless all of you with such friends and brothers in office.

“He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’ ” (John 21:17).

This is the secret for sustainable pastoral work: You need to realize that you’ve got nothing to give to others that you yourself did not receive. Jesus loves you first, then you love him back by loving his sheep and lambs in his name and stead. If pastoral ministry is anything at all, it’s a ministry of love. It’s being one more link in the unbroken chain of love that extends all the way back to Calvary one dark Friday outside the city gates of Jerusalem. There they nailed up the Lord of life to die a cruel death he didn’t deserve, but willingly—even joyfully—embraced so he could give us his own life to live, risen out of death and into life eternal.

No matter how compassionate and empathetic a pastor is, there’s just no way he can come up with what it takes to feed the sheep of Christ effectively, much less tend to their spiritual heartaches, bruises, and injuries. He’s going to run dry sooner or later, and most likely sooner. I learned that the hard way. As a young pastor, I thought the best I could do for people was to give them my own love and compassion. That was, of course, wrongheaded, but I didn’t know it way back then. In those early years of ministry, I began to learn the lesson I’m still learning every day now nearly fifty years later: The best we pastors have to give Christ’s sheep and lambs doesn’t come from within; it comes from him. His love is perfected through us; it reaches its goal when we extend the love we’ve received from him. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:11, 19).

And Christ’s love never runs dry.

Finally, you should know this: I’m Lutheran in conviction and confession. But don’t let that scare you. I’ve written this book expressly with you in mind, whether or not you share my doctrinal convictions. Every Christian confession has its own set of clichés and mantras. I’ve tried as best I could to avoid “Lutheran-speak” in these pages so you can capture my line of thought without getting bogged down in the lingo. Yet the discerning reader will quickly see my Lutheran garb is showing. The language of Luther’s Catechism, for instance, shapes my...