Christian Thought & Tradition

I was recently asked by the editors of Credo Magazine to offer my opinion on the importance of church history for pastoral ministry. My thoughts, as well as those of Gregg Allison, Steve Nichols, and John Muether, have been included in the “A Scale from 1 to 10″ section of the August 2012 edition of Credo Magazine. I rated the question an “8 out of 10,” arguing:

At minimum, every pastor needs to be familiar with key persons, themes, and events in church history, though few have to be scholars of church history. There is a gospel-centered humility in learning from past faithfulness for the sake of present faithfulness.

You can find this discussion on page 19 of the current issue of Credo Magazine. Most of the articles in the issue are dedicated to the “Old Princeton” tradition at Princeton Theological Seminary, a topic that will no doubt interest many readers. For my part, I’ve also written on the topic of Baptist history and pastoral ministry in a short article I wrote for Baptist Press several years ago, titled “Baptist History and Baptist Ministry.”

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