Kakabeka Falls, near Thunder Bay, Ontario used to be a highlight on our trip from southern Ontario to Bible school in Saskatchewan. Right on the Trans Canada Highway, it's billed as the Niagara of the North. It was a great place to stretch your legs and spend a few minutes in the wonder of God's creation.In the book, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, the story is related of how Tom Carson found himself in the middle of a nasty conflict with the president of the denomination. After pledging their support to raise money for a new congregation Carson was planting, the denomination changed its mind and withheld the money that had come in. The new church had already paid a down payment on a building and would lose that money if contributions did not come in. In the end Tom had to borrow another $1000.00(half his annual salary) to keep the deal alive. At the same time he felt he had to leave the denomination so actually had NO income.
I write that as background to what I want to share. Some years later when son, Don (author of this book), was in seminary he heard about all of this for the first time. He writes,
So the next time I went home, I brought this matter up. The conversation went something like this:
Me: I’ve been learning some interesting Baptist history from 1948-1949.
Dad: Oh?
Me: It seems you had a pretty significant part to play.
Dad: What were you told?
So I summarized the events as I understood them…
Dad: I suppose that’s pretty close to what happened.
Me: So how come you never told us kids any of this?
Dad: (after a long pause): There were two reasons. First, you were children of the manse, and although you have seen the out-working of the gospel, you have also seen more than your share of difficult and ugly things, and we did not think it wise to expose you to this history when you were young. Second, Marg and I decided we needed to protect our own souls from bitterness. So we took a vow that neither of us would ever say an unkind thing about T.T. Shields (denominational head). And we have kept our vow.
That second reason grabbed me when I first read it and has not let go. They took a vow not to say an unkind thing against a person that had caused them much hurt! I find that remarkable. It is certainly godly. “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). You’ve heard about church members who go home from church on Sundays and have “roast pastor for lunch.” I’ve been guilty of returning the favour. What caught my attention even more is their reason was to protect their own souls from bitterness. I sense a great deal of wisdom in that statement. We end up hurting ourselves more than the other person when we talk about them behind their backs. Bitterness eats away at us when we refuse to let go. It’s a lesson I need to take to heart.
Grace and peace,
Dave
This book probably would not have caught my eye on the store shelf, but it was mentioned to me by the Executive Director of our Conference by way of encouraging the faithfulness of ordinary pastors. I checked on the review by Tim Challies and decided to buy it.
Written by Don Carson about his father’s pastoral ministry in Quebec, it begins with an interesting, short history of Quebec, including its root in Catholicism and the spread of the Gospel. From there it recounts the life and ministry of Tom Carson. Don Carson sets out his reason for writing this book in the Preface. After mentioning that a few pastors are extremely gifted and productive he, writes,
“Most of us, however, serve in more modest patches. Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth…Most of us—let us be frank—are ordinary pastors. Dad was one of them. This little book is a modest attempt to let the voice and ministry of one ordinary pastor be heard, for such servants have much to teach us” (p. 9).
Carson tells the story of his Dad’s life, interspersed with writings from his father’s journals and letters, and mixed with his own comments and applications.
I found the book to be both encouraging and convicting. Some of the encouragement came from seeing much of myself in Tom Carson. He was quite introspective and hard on himself, often journaling about his weaknesses and perceived failures and discouragements. That may not seem like encouragement, but it is good to know one is not alone in feeling some of these things. Even though he struggled with such things he was sure of his calling and continued to serve the Lord in some sort of pastoral ministry right to the end of his life(in his 80s). I appreciated the author’s thoughts and comments in talking about this aspect of his Dad. He says,
“…I think it wise to pause here and reflect a little on the discouraging face of this chapter. The longer I have spent getting to know pastors in many small and medium-size churches (and some larger ones!), the more I have become aware of the chasms of discouragement through which many of them pass.”
He continues on to offer some great insights into dealing with pastoral discouragement. I’ll share some of that another time.
The convicting aspects come in that, though he struggled with his own adequacy, Tom Carson seemed tireless in his ministry. In spite of being “ordinary” he was hard-working and faithful to his calling. At over seventy years of age he was still working anywhere from five to eleven hours a day on top of caring for a sick wife! When I read of his work ethic and compare it to my own, I come out feeling even less than ordinary! There is discouragement in that, but also motivation.
There is much more that could be said and I plan to blog further on various comments in the book, but in closing I’d like to suggest who might benefit from this book:
*Ordinary pastors of small churches; especially those needing encouragement
*Anyone who would like more insight into the life of a small-church pastor
*Anyone interested in a snapshot of Christian ministry in Quebec
*Anyone who doubts that God can use ordinary people
That’s all for now,
Dave
