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Peterson’s book Working the Angles discusses integrity within pastoral ministry. A second book discussed in this episode is Under the Unpredictable Plant, which describes the life of Jonah and how we can apply the principles described in Jonah to life and ministry. He is very skillful at placing the modern reader into the biblical narrative.
Peterson spoke out loudly and boldly against viewing the pastor as a CEO or president of a business. Peterson viewed pastors as shepherds and servants towards their flock instead of the corporate view of pastorship. A busy pastor does not equate to a good pastor. While he does not advocate for laziness, he does advocate for margin.
Prayer, Scripture, Direction
A pastor ought to give himself fully to three things in ministry: prayer, scripture, and spiritual direction.
Prayer helps us make sense of our world as we understand God through His Word. God gets the first word, and we get the second word in response to God in praying Scripture.
In terms of Scripture, Peterson is most known for his work on The Message paraphrase. One thing many people miss about this work is that Peterson was trying to get the emphasis and message of the original languages to the modern reader. We ought to come to the Bible in terms of living life as Scripture describes.
Brittany Proffitt lives in Dallas and is a writer and content manager for So We Speak.