"We must labor to be acquainted, not only with the person, but with the state of all our people, with their inclinations and conversations; what are the sins of which they are most in danger, and what duties they are most apt to neglect, and what temptations they are most liable to; for if we know not their temperament or disease, we are not likely to prove successful physicians."
- Richard Baxter
People. This is who we are to minister to. We are to minister for God and his glory but we are to minister to people. We need to know the people in our ministry context. This knowledge is to be experiential, we must invest our lives into theirs and then see them do the same with us. This knowledge is to be authentic in that what we know of the people truly represents their condition before God. This knowledge is then to lead to a diagnosis and treatment.
I have intentionally chosen to partner the ministry of Richard Baxter with this series. He represents a period within the history of the church where the pastors (and church planters) exhausted their time on this earth preaching, praying and investing their lives in their people in hopes of seeing the gospel bring about transformation in the hearts of sinners. Baxter committed to doing just this. He labored to be acquainted with his people. In fact, every calendar year he made it his goal to visit everyone within his congregation at least once. As I have studied Baxter's approach to ministering to people, I see three important commitments: his laboring for the salvation of souls, his taking heed of the flock to help it grow, and his principle that God is glorified in such labors.
Labor for the salvation of souls. In his introduction to The Reformed Pastor, J.I. Packer said this concerning Baxter's approach to his people: "for here we meet a passionate love and a terribly honest, earnest, straightforward Christian, thinking and talking about the lost with perfect realism, insisting that we must be content to accept any degree of discomfort, poverty, overwork, and loss of material good, if only souls might be saved." If only...I love that phrase. Am I willing to make a major cross-country move to a town I don't know, to a group of people that I know even less, to experience discomfort and lack of money and resources, to see my family grow up apart from their extended family, to potentially have few friends or worse yet, fail miserably? If only souls might be saved. I don't expect to fail, not because of me or my efforts, but because the gospel is so great. I don't expect to be friendless and in poverty because God's goodness to us is already evident. I don't expect to not connect with Bakersfield because part of what we want to do is pour our lives into others. What would sadden me more than any discomfort or poverty or trial is to not see the salvation of souls. This labor invigorated Baxter and the pastors of his generation to continue on because they knew the gospel was powerful and sufficient to save. This will be the same for us, for me.
Take heed of the flock. A church planter friend of mine recently shared the burden he felt for his ministry; how it brought him to tears; how inadequate he felt for such a task. Another church planter friend has shared similar things; how he can feel so overwhelmed with the task of caring for his people that it just devastates him to prayer. Both, and I can't emphasize this strong enough, have said what gets them out of bed, what gets them up off the mat is Jesus Christ. These two church planters are thousands of miles apart, they don't know each other, yet have such striking similarities because they "get it." They know they are to care for their people. They do so with their preaching, with their praying and with the way they personally invest their lives into their people. They are modern day Baxters and they have my respect. The point I am trying to stress is that ministering to people is laborious. It's enough to wipe a pastor or planter out on a daily basis...but that the gospel is there to pick them up from the knocked-down, dragged out fight with sinful people in a fallen world.
For the glory of God. The labor, the knock-downs, the exhaustion; it is worth it. It is worth it because God is glorified and Christ is exulted. It is worth it because God is glorified in the salvation of souls. It is worth it because God is glorified in the care of his flock. It is worth it because Christ is worth it. Baxter got it and he patterned his ministry to center around the glorification of God. He poured himself into preaching, he spent himself in prayer, he shared his life with people because ultimately Christ would be honored and glorified. "This duty," according to Baxter, "is necessary for the glory of God." I wonder, how many church planters and pastors understand their mission in these terms? I don't intend to be overly critical but I fear that that number is low. Pray that I would not depart from these.
Hopefully, this gives you a glimpse into what will be driving me and our ministry in Bakersfield. That God's mission is for his glory, that the church's mission is for God's glory, that the church planter labors in these things for God's glory. Whatever comes our way; success, struggle, turmoil, peace, in all these things, we are praying for the salvation of souls, the care of God's people and the glory of Christ to spread throughout Bakersfield. We ask that you join with us in praying for these things as well.
Grace and peace
Shawn Carpenter
