A Reassuring Word on Pastoral Ministry - The Pastor's Justification by Jared C. Wilson Book Review

I’ve been on a little bit of a pastoral ministry reading kick, and Jared Wilson’s The Pastor’s Justification was on my shelf waiting to be read, and I am so glad that I picked it up and started reading. I’d put The Pastor’s Justification up there in the same genre as Paul Tripp’s Dangerous Calling and most similarly Zack Eswine’s The Imperfect Pastor, books that are a good comfort for worn down pastors with plenty of autobiography and encouragement from the author’s personal experience.

Contentwise, the book is divided into two parts - The Pastor’s Heart and The Pastor’s Glory. The Pastor’s Heart reminds the reader of some core characteristics from 1 Peter for pastors to continue to recall - freedom (willingness to minister), holiness, humility, confidence, and so on. This part of the book was incredibly helpful in that Wilson went straight to Scripture and pulled out character traits the pastor ought to embody, and gave key illustrations on how pastors might live them out. It is one thing to be told not to be domineering, but Wilson painted a picture of what it looks like to dwell with people made in the image of God with a serving posture. 

The second half of the book, entitled The Pastor’s Glory, takes the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation and applies them to the pastoral task. I’ve read a decent amount about the Five Solas, but the idea of applying them to pastoral ministry was novel to me, and I appreciated Wilson’s applications in those chapters. All in all, if you feel like a failure in ministry, this book is the kind of book that will gently encourage and comfort you. If you’re looking for vision and inspiration, there’s some of that here, but the focus is less on “be strong and get it done” and more on caring for the pastor’s soul. 

I’d recommend this book to anyone in any kind of ministry!