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

The Pastor and the Modern World: Reformed Ministry and Secular CultureIts a high calling to serve the people of God, and a hard one in todays 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 scholarsWilliam Edgar, R. Kent Hughes, and Alfred Poiriercome to the aid of todays pastor, bringing their experience to bear on cultural engagement, the craft of preaching, and the care of

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.

Publisher: Westminster Seminary Press
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781955859042

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William Edgar is Professor of Apologetics and John Boyer Chair of Evangelism and Culture at Westminster Theological Seminary. William is also an Associate Professor at the Faculté Jean Calvin. He received his MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and a DTheol from the University of Geneva. William and his wife, Barbara, have two children and three grandchildren. R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, and recently retired as professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hughes is also a founder of the Charles Simeon Trust, which conducts expository preaching conferences throughout North America and worldwide. He is the series editor for the Preaching the Word commentary series and is the author or coauthor of many books. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, and have four children and an ever-increasing number of grandchildren. Dr. Alfred Poirier (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is visiting professor of pastoral theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Dr. Poirier has held a number of additional teaching positions and has also served as a pastor at Rocky Mountain Community Church (PCA) in Billings, Montana for 26 years. Dr. Poirier’s academic interests lie in the areas of pastoral counseling and expository preaching. He is the author of The Peacemaking Pastor (Baker, 2006), and Words that Cut: Learning to Take Criticism in Light of the Gospel (Peacemaker Ministries) and several articles in The Journal of Biblical Counseling. Dr. Poirier has been married to his wife, Trudy, for 41 years and together they have 3 children: Sarah Clark, Sonja Stordahl, and Anya Valeriano; and ten grandchildren.

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“In these lectures, seasoned pastor-theologians equip us to proclaim the epoch-transcending gospel of Christ into a cultural milieu that imagines that it has outgrown such good news. Dr. Edgar insightfully profiles that secular milieu by engaging trends in philosophy, social sciences, and the arts. Dr. Hughes invites us into his pastoral study, showing us how to hear (humbly) and herald (boldly!) God’s good message, which stirs affections and transforms hearts. Dr. Poirier challenges us to become men so overwhelmed by our calling to be spiritual physicians that we cast ourselves, in desperation, on the Savior who came to heal sin-sick folk like us.Together, these fathers in the faith—and the forefathers whose wisdom they refresh to our ears—summon us to strenuous faithfulness as stewards of God’s mysteries, men shaped by Christ and his cross, bringing God’s message of astonishing grace, into a milieu in need of the hope that only the Sovereign Creator-Redeemer can give.” Dennis E. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Westminster Seminary California