I was struck by how often Schaeffer responded to people. He was somewhat of a Christian household name at this time in his ministry (although I doubt he would have liked for me to call him that) and still took the time to write thoughtful letters to hard questions often to people he barely even knew. It’s important to be accessible.

Not in person, of course. It would have been an absolute pleasure to meet and do ministry with Schaeffer, but I wasn’t around back then. That’s one of the reasons I’m thankful for good books because they put you in touch with the life and heart and mind of the author even when they’re gone.

Recently, I’ve been reading Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer: Spiritual Reality in the Personal Christian Life. These were letters that Schaeffer received from correspondents back in the 60’s and 70’s. He received questions on tough topics like pre-marital sex, divorce, homosexuality, and many more issues. I gleaned a lot about how to deal with others from his letters, and here now I’ll point out four lessons from the book. These lessons are particularly relevant for those in pastoral ministry.

1. It’s important to be accessible and responsive.

You can’t reach and respond to everyone. But ministry leaders should be accessible, in some sense, to others — and especially to people in your own church. No, not everyone who tweets or texts emails you deserve a response. But as a general rule, we ministry leaders should be available when the people we are leading have questions. Schaeffer reminded me that I am a shepherd who needs to be available for the sheep.

I was struck by how often Schaeffer responded to people. He was somewhat of a Christian household name at this time in his ministry (although I doubt he would have liked for me to call him that) and still took the time to write thoughtful letters to hard questions often to people he barely even knew. It’s important to be accessible.

2. Be thankful when people reach out to you.

Time and time again, Schaeffer would say something like this when he received a letter: “I received your letter and I read it with great care. What you said touched me deeply.” I’m thinking, what? Why even read the whole thing? Just skim it! Nevertheless, Schaeffer often took the time to let the unexpected correspondent know that they were not being a burden, but a blessing.

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