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Letters to a Young Pastor

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Coming from a pastor of twenty-five years, you'd think Calvin Miller would have plenty to share with the new generation of pastors.

This book is stocked full of his anecdotes and insights of what it takes to be a minister, the sort of people you will come in contact with, how to interact with them and what he believes to be wrong with Christianity and its leaders.

You will not be missing any of Miller's sarcasm as these letters are full of it. I'm talking every single letter has the sarcasm included. At times this is confusing because I wasn't sure if he was trying to be serious about a complaint or just making light of it.

For example, he thrashes the megachurch pastors pretty hard. He claims megachurch pastors don't read books unless they deal with church growth.

Then he rips into Christians who don't end their prayers with "in Jesus' Name". As if saying those three words invokes some supernatural authority. (You'd have to understand what it means to do something "in the name of Christ" - it's along the same lines as taking God's name in vain)

He states that Rick Warren's prayer at President Obama's inauguration seemed to give Jesus the right to, "the nation of faith He forged at a terrible price."

See, I'm not sure if he's doing the whole tongue-in-cheek act there or if he is serious.

All in all, this book is a fun read for new preachers. It'll provide some fun insight and humorous stories from a seasoned minister.

I could have done with less sarcasm.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by David C Cook Publishing.

Letters to a Young Pastor by Calvin Miller is one of those books I wished I had read several years ago. Miller is in his 70's after spending most of his life as a pastor and writes about the things he's learned, what he'd differently. It reads like sitting with an older mentor at Starbucks. Each chapter averages 4 pages and are written as short emails or letters from Miller to a young pastor.

I was struck by how much time Miller spent talking about character. Most books on pastoral leadership and church growth center on techniques, but it was refreshing to see him spend such a bulk of time on character. Without character, you won't last in ministry. I also appreciated how by the time you are Miller's age, in your mid-70's, the things that used to matter don't matter like they used to.

The other thing he emphasized was tenure, gutting it out when being a leader or pastor becomes difficult. The average pastor now stays at his church 18 months. This is one of the main reasons for a lack of effectiveness among pastors and churches. I am 3 and a half years into Revolution and we are more effective and healthy than we've ever been. I thought back to my 18 month mark and it was one of the hardest seasons of my leadership, but on the other side of that came a lot of vitality.

Here are a few things that jumped out, some of the best advice if it were:

-"People will endure anything in a church except an absence of vitality."

-Not everyone seems to believe it, but at the center of this minor formula for success is tenure. So many of the letters in this book focus on the long haul and the power of sticking to one thing: tenure.

-Every call makes one statement: One preaches because one must.

-"Pastoral care is a world of unbearable pain. However high we lift our spirits in personal or public worship, it is good to remember that many in our congregations come and go from our worship with broken hearts. In some ways this is what is most wrong with public invitations. We ask all those who are shrinking back from life to come forward. But they are refugees from sociability. They want to hide; they do not want to come forward. They want to hide out, so pastors must go to their hiding places. We must come down from our soaring worship and agree to enter the world of unbearable hurt."

-Churches that ignore their communities will not grow, and churches that will not globalize don't matter much.

-When you can't find Jesus, just play Jesus for someone else, and you'll soon have all the Jesus your errant heart can hold.

-Theology only really matters when it is affecting and changing the culture.

-Read the Bible as though the faith depended upon it.

-Never ask your people to do anything you have never done and wouldn't do. Never ask them to run a play you consider beneath your dignity.

-Visions should always be bigger than our life span.

-One of the things I wish I had learned earlier is that my sermons do not have to get better week by week. This would seem an easy thing to know. But we get caught in a trap for approval. We are so eager for our people to keep bragging us up, and so we work even harder, to keep getting better. This is a snare. Avoid it.

-Anytime you speak over people's heads to exhibit your own brilliance, you injure the gospel.

-People will sooner or later guess by the powerless life you live that you've lost your openness with a holy God.

-Never go into the pulpit without a definite plan to change the world in some way. Preaching is to change.

-The apostle Paul was more famous for his trials than his successes, I suppose.

If you are a young church planter or leader, then this is a book that should move up your reading list.

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The first rule of pastoral preparation should be that you don't get to pastor until you've apprenticed under a godly, seasoned pastor. I'd bend the rule occasionally for special cases like Spurgeon, but the rule would apply to the rest of us. And my second rule would be that you have to read a curmudgeon or two. I recommend Carl Trueman. But I think Calvin Miller might be up to the job as well.

In Letters to a Young Pastor, Calvin Miller shares from decades of pastoral ministry on almost every topic possible. I love it. I don't agree with everything he says, but I sense that he wrote more than a few sentences in this book with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

Miller is so out of step with contemporary Christianity that he's willing to call the emperor naked. He's played many of the games that young pastors play, and he's no longer interested. He's brutally honest, even when it rubs against the evangelical grain.

Here are some samples.

-On being a pastor and a father: "If the church suddenly came up with a critical meeting on circus night, I'd go to the circus."

-On ministry in a megachurch world: "One of our chief sins is that we school our students in the works of preachers with large churches and then brutally send them into the world of small churches where they remain until retirement."

-On theological mushiness: "The world is looking for answers. If you have some of them, for goodness' sake spit 'em out. The world is looking for servants of God whose yes is yes. How elementary, how refreshing."

-On hell: "I confess I miss hell ... a lot! What Jesus saved us from is no longer perfectly clear."

-On the mission of the church: "What does your church offer that's missing at the YMCA? ... When you read your church's bulletin and determine the invitation you offer, you will know whether your church is a community center or the globalizing, wounded arm of the Savior."

-On pastoring small churches: "Trust no theology that doesn't work where the crowd is small and the pay is inadequate ... If your church is small, it will likely more approximate the ministry of St. Paul than Dr. Megachurch."

-On church business meetings: "Baptist business meetings were my nemesis for all thirty-five years of parish life. I have always lived in fear of them and have always despised those five little words from hell: 'Is there any new business?'"

I have to confess that Miller almost lost me in the introduction when he said, "I led only a couple of people a week to Christ. Anybody can do that." Over 25 years, that led to 2,800 people. But I'm glad I kept reading.

Miller is out of sync with some of what's wrong with me and with the church, and that is one of his greatest gifts. There is no substitute for training under a seasoned pastor, but reading one will do in a pinch. This book is good for young pastors - and middle-aged ones too.

While Miller is definitely to the right of all of the pastors in my heart, he has a charmingly wry sense of humor and a delightful ability to laugh at himself while also poking good fun at others, without being mean-spirited in the slightest. This book is funny and offers great advice.

Milleresque in every way. Edifying , insightful , and stretching. Chapter 12 alone , The Emergent Emergency , is worth the price of the book.

Today it seems that we all have each other convinced that we don't need one another. The gap could not be wider between those of the builder generation and the millennials. But, it's interesting what we're finding: millennials don't like that. We want older people to invest in us, allow us to push back on their ideas but find love and wisdom in it all. I think part of the problem for perpetual and persistent adolescence is the lack of investment by those with wisdom; those who have seen it all and lived to tell the tale.

I imagine that's why it seems there have been a growing number of books being published by older men - seasoned pastors - writing to young men in the beginning stages. A book is no substitute for flesh and blood, but there is still tremendous wisdom to be found.

Calvin Miller has recently written Letters to a Young Pastor. He presents himself and his ministry as honest as can be. He is imperfect. He has made stupid decisions. He has experienced success and failure. Through it all he has learned and grown. He wants to see young ministers make through the difficult work of ministry. He says

Perhaps the real formula that drives this book could be: my experience plus your future might equal an encounter of survival. Or if that is too helpful, at the very least: my years plus your need might equal a loaf of bread for the journey

His experience and years have been reproduced for our benefit in the form of letters. They are short, succinct, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always important. I read this book as though it were a lost treasure that I had been searching for. I found myself reading chapter after chapter saying to myself, "I'll go to be after the next chapter". But, there was always another chapter.

I needed this book. I think young pastors everywhere need this book. Calvin Miller is a man who has walked with God. He has learned much along the journey. He now finds it is his turn, like Peter, to strengthen his brothers. Open and find strength.

Miller has been around for seventy-four years, pastoring, learning, making mistakes. "So walk with me," he says, "and will tell you the whole truth." 16)

He's been through all the ministry fads of ministry so his advice is just down to earth and practical.

He writes thirty five letters, sharing his insight how on as many subjects. He writes about his own "call to preach," the importance of a denomination (and how to get along in one), the mopes, how to deal with eros (use your brain and no other part of your anatomy), parenting (he thought the nursery workers would put his son's picture up at the post office), the emergent church (a heresy without any arguing points), Jesus (how He has been made a political issue), mission ("Churches that ignore their communities will not grow, and churches that will not globalize don't matter much."), bulletins (how they reveal who the church is: bowling leagues, or, mission projects), spiritual depression (the only way out, ministry!), team leading as player-coach ("Never ask your people to do anything you have never done and wouldn't do."), vision, blah (playing it safe is the killer), nets (friends catch us), difficult people, sermons (there are no bad short ones), humility (it's amazing how much can get done in a congregation if we don't care who gets the credit), among others.

Miller adds some humor to this serious book. He mentions seeing "a man carrying a Tim LaHaye prophecy Bible, which is sort of like the NIV except it glows in the dark." 38 He can also be blunt. "Teach your people they have an obligation to the world. Don't take them to the Holy Land where they will stay in five-star Western-style hotels and walk 'where Jesus walked.' ... He walked among the sick and dying." 111)

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Love the cover: cool, crisp, clean. Love the title: when you give a nod to Rainier Maria Rilke, I expect good things.

In this case, I wasn't disappointed. Calvin Miller's letters cover a wide range of issues that young pastors will face. He is candid, as if writing to a dear friend, and wise with all his years of being a pastor.

I settled quickly into Miller's writing; I loved it. For once, an author who doesn't endeavor to oversimplify everything, as if readers are stupid. Plus, Miller is funny-dry humor, good taste.

The letters are the perfect length and weight: substantial without being overbearing. I'm not left wanting at the end of each letter (which happens a lot to me when I read most devotionals out there today).

I recommend it to all pastors and church workers, young and old.

What would it be like to sit at the feet of a seasoned, successful, wise old pastor? Well every young preacher gets that chance by reading Letters to a Young Preacher. This book is a rich and wonderful read, filled with powerful and thought-provoking insights and reflections. Calvin Miller is more than a preacher. He's a masterful storyteller and writer, whose words lift off the page. In this book, he's extremely candid and skillfully critiques movements on all sides of Christianity, offering homespun advice to the young and green pastor. What I loved about this book is how he affirms the average pastor of a small church. He pushes the pastor away from seeking his own success and encourages him to get his hands dirty in ministering to God's people. At times this book was deeply convicting to my own soul. I think every young pastor should read this.

I did have one minor irritant in this book. No work, however beautiful, is perfect. Miller loathes the mega-church and he seems to loathe famous pastors. This is a thread throughout the book that at times can be jarring. Most of his insights on mega-churches are spot-on, but I'm not willing, like he, to assume every single famos pastor is disingenuous and self-seeking. That aside, this is a jewel of a book. Get it and read it

I loved this book. I am a "preacher's kid" and I can relate to what Miller is saying. This is the truth folks. Great book written with the Calvin Miller humor we all love. Miller is quite the master of words. I can confirm, with my own experiences, many of the things he talks about in his letters actually happen with frequency. Some of my father's experiences were much worse than you will read here. Unless you have experienced it you can't believe how some people claiming to be followers of Christ behave. With that being said; there are by far more good loving Christian people who helped us [our family] through the years than rude ones that hurt us.