Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
March 17th, 2008
Book Review: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson
(Review by Nathan Williams)
I must admit, once I started Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, I could barely put it down. This has to be one of the most challenging and yet encouraging books I have read in quite some time.
As far as biographies go, this one was unlike any other biography I have ever read. We naturally gravitate toward biographies of the heroes of the faith. And we should. God used men such as Whitefield, Calvin, and Luther to alter the flow of Christian history and literally to change the world. We long to know what made them so fruitful in their ministries. What personal disciplines did they practice? What methods did they use in personal Bible study? How did they maximize the use of their time to bring the most glory to God? All wonderful questions we should be asking.
However, I fear in my own life the tendency to aspire to be like these men simply because of the results they produced. I often desire the results without hungering after the personal faithfulness and recognizing that ultimately, God causes the increase of their ministry. That is the reason why I feel this brief look at the life of Tom Carson, the father of D.A. Carson is so valuable. It allowed me to look into the life of a man who was tremendously faithful over a lifetime of ministry but did not see thousands saved under his ministry, nor write books that influenced pastors for centuries, nor spark a movement that changed the course of human history.
The fact remains that most pastors will have a ministry more like Tom Carson in scope than like John Calvin. Most of us will never write a systematic theology which will be read 400 years after we die. We should read the biographies of influential leaders of the faith, but it is also helpful to read and understand the life of a brother like Tom Carson. From his life we learn that God requires faithfulness and not large numbers. We are responsible to love our people and preach God’s Word faithfully. God will take care of the results.
D. A. Carson wrote Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor about the life of his dad, Tom Carson. The author used a variety of resources to construct the story of his dad’s life. These included Tom Carson’s personal journal, his letters, along with the author’s personal memories and the memories of his two siblings. Instead of simply editing his dad’s journal, D.A. Carson provides much commentary of his own explaining the circumstances behind much of what his father wrote and did. He gives a short history of the province of Quebec, where his dad spent his life of ministry. Memoirs is extremely well written and provides a compelling story of faithfulness in the Lord’s service.
A couple of particularly challenging portions of the book are worth mentioning. D.A. Carson devotes an entire chapter to an incredibly challenging crisis in the life of his father. I won’t go into details of the crisis, but the book is worth buying just to read about Tom Carson’s response. The story will challenge every pastor to stick to biblical principles even in the face of the most difficult trials.
Another wonderful aspect of this book is to learn about the interaction of Tom Carson with his wife Marg during the years in which she suffered from Alzheimer’s. What an amazing testament of God’s grace! This chapter nearly brought me to tears as I read it.
Overall, this is an important book which would be encouraging to any pastor. It brings our focus onto what is most important in the work of the ministry. It also encourages us when the sphere of our influence seems limited. God is sovereign and the story of Tom Carson told by his son is a wonderful witness to that fact.
Most of us never have a share in the “spotlight”, no matter what path our life takes. We do not take “center stage” nor do we stand before thousands who wait to hear our voice. We do not set records that are nationally known… We live, to all appearances, ordinary lives. We go about the day the Lord has given to each one of us. We pray that God will use us to touch the heart of someone else who is leading an ordinary life.
The work is done in the trenches and that is where most of us are. Interacting, face-to-face with the man next door, the worker at the next desk, the associate over the phone, the relative who is lost, the hurting, the lonely, the woman at the store, the kids in Sunday School, etc.
The Kingdom of God is being built one brick at a time by the minimum wage masons in this world. Praise God, He uses people just like you and me. We do not have to have the pulpit on a Sunday morning or the radio show. We only have to be open to the work of the Spirit through us. The fields are ready for harvest, the workers are few.
We all have a field of ministry. Right now, it may be our children or grandchildren. What better reward could there be than to lead one of these little ones to the Lord.
Open your eyes to the ministry all around you and just maybe someone will write a book about you, the person no one ever heard of before.
Thanks for the heads up about this book. Now, you have me intrigued and trying to figure out how to get ahold of this book. Thanks for putting this information about the book on the website.
It is available at Westminster Bookstore, http://www.wtsbooks.com and also from Amazon.com
The price at both places was under $11.