“Paul Tripp, in his book Dangerous Calling, takes a look at Christian ministry from another angle. His contention is that there is something desperately wrong with ministers and ministry culture. The book is really trying to expose the danger of hypocrisy in the life of the Pastor. Many have found this book hugely helpful and it has made it on to a variety of top 10 lists of Christian books.”

I have been the Pastor of the same congregation for 12 years. I enjoy it. I mean, I really enjoy it. There is no other job I would want to do. It has been a privilege. My eldest brother Dave works in the manufacturing industry. He’s a better preacher than myself and my other brother Steve, who is a Baptist minister. He’s certainly more pastoral and gentle than I am. Dave leaves the house each day just before 7am and he’s rarely home before 7.30pm. He was made redundant 10 years ago and, because of the nature of the industry, his work is nearly always precarious. For 3 years he had to work in Holland most weeks which meant being away from his family. By contrast I am paid to study the Bible, to read great books, to pray, to preach and care for people. I work long hours but I love it. Because of the nature of Christian ministry I’m able to have breakfast and dinner with my young family. I do not know another man in the church where I serve who is able to do this. I am protected from many of the stresses and strains of life. Being able to be a full time minister is an enormous privilege. There is no greater calling. Miserable, Moaning Ministers are a disgrace. Don’t take my word for it. Geoff Thomas, who will have been at Alfred Place Baptist Church, Aberystwyth for 50 years this year, began his 2000 John Reed Miller Lectures at RTS Jackson in this way.

The full-time gospel ministry is still a protected oasis. We are relieved of so many of the tensions and temptations that the men to whom we minister are meeting each day. They work with their minds and bodies in this evil world and give their hard – earned money to us so generously that we may spend our days – think of it – in the quiet of our studies, in the Bible, in evangelism, and in pastoring God’s people. I hope you will never join with those ministers who sit around grumbling in their fraternals about all the alleged hardships of being preachers. What a marvellously privileged life we lead. I trust that you earnestly believe that if it be God’s will for you to spend the rest of your life caring for this particular congregation you will happily do so and thank the Lord at the end of each day for such blessings.

Paul Tripp, in his book Dangerous Calling, takes a look at Christian ministry from another angle. His contention is that there is something desperately wrong with ministers and ministry culture. The book is really trying to expose the danger of hypocrisy in the life of the Pastor. Many have found this book hugely helpful and it has made it on to a variety of top 10 lists of Christian books. I’ve not read one critical review. I have been given two copies by various people which probably tells you a lot of what they think about me! The book is written ‘to help you take an honest look at yourself in the heart and life exposing mirror of the Word of God – to see things that are wrong and need correcting and to help you place yourself once again under the healing and transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ’ (p11). Paul Tripp comes out of the CCEF stable and speaks of himself

    loving to give the rather proud pastor eyes to see himself with greater clarity, and I love helping the defeated pastor see himself in the light of the grace of the gospel. So I listen carefully. I watch with ministry intent. I draw out stories and probe for their meaning in the heart of the Pastor. I try to access the character of the local pastoral/staff culture. I do all of this with one question in mind: how is the gospel of Jesus Christ forming and transforming the heart of this Pastor and his local ministry culture? (p30)

Tripp encourages us in his introduction as follows: ‘I would simply ask you as you read that you de-activate your inner lawyer and consider with an open heart’. This last quote makes it quite difficult to engage with the book in a critical way; I want to agree with much of what Paul Tripp writes and yet there are a number of concerns about how he does so and how he details some of his targets.

Paul Tripp is the President of Paul Tripp ministries. He has a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Westminster Seminary Philadelphia. At present he is a counsellor, serves on the faculty of various seminaries and runs his own ministry speaking at conferences and retreats. He was for 10 years a Baptist pastor and then served for 9 years as a staff elder at an evangelical church in the 1980s. He also served for 4 years on the Staff of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. One of the reasons I’ve given you this info in a review, which I admit is slightly odd, is that throughout the book Paul Tripp gives the impression that he knows what pastors are going through. He knows how deceptive we really are. There’s very much the impression given that we might have been able to kid everyone else but we can’t kid Paul Tripp. So, for example, on numerous occasions he asks a barrage of questions which can only have one answer. Sometimes up to 25 questions one after the other, piled up like a machine gun rattling through us. Many of the questions are the ministry equivalent to ”When did you stop beating your wife?” It is hard to imagine a book on ministry more guilt-inducing than this. Much of what Paul Tripp writes is fair, insightful and helpful, but the majority of the book feels somewhat like you are being beaten up.

Let me briefly outline the book, which proceeds in 3 parts:

Part 1 Examining Pastoral Culture: This section sees Tripp taking a scalpel to much of what goes on in the leadership of churches. He’s tough on churches but not half as tough as he is on seminaries. He makes the oft made point about head and heart and how seminaries are only interested in getting theology right. Paul Tripp paints in very broad brush strokes regarding theological colleges, and at points, it feels slightly like a case of ‘biting the hand that feeds him’. There are some helpful points on how we can treasure the wrong things in ministry and how they can then become an idol. There follows a chapter on conflict where he looks at the pressure points that occur when there are differences in ministry. I think there should have been more consideration given to the role of the devil in discouragement in this chapter. The devil is absent from the book right until the very end.

Part 2 The Danger of losing your awe (Forgetting Who God Is): I found chapter 8 on Familiarity helpful. While Tripp can sound slightly accusatory in his tone, there’s much that is useful in this chapter as he unpacks Psalm 145. The following chapter is on dirty little secrets. You can imagine where he is going on that one. As he moves on to how a minister prepares, he rightly reminds us that we need to marinate in the truth. Again I felt there was an air of unreality in how he talks to ministers. Most of us are preparing 2 -3 things a week, there are times when we can get ahead in our preparation –  and our preaching is better for it – but a funeral, a family difficulty, an illness, a pastoral crisis, all these things throw us out of kilter. Paul Tripp recommends that we prepare 3-4 weeks ahead of time and in the week before preaching, he preaches it aloud to himself 15-20 times. One of the questions I want to ask is: Who has the time in pastoral ministry to preach a sermon through 15-20 times? Elders should be firing someone who has that amount of time on their hands. As I read it I realised that my preaching is way below par; but can anyone, even Paul Tripp, say his preaching is great? Surely when someone like Dr Lloyd Jones says he wouldn’t cross the road to hear himself we have to wonder. I’m not excusing bad preaching but for the man who is preaching upwards of 40 sermons a year I think a little more compassion could be called for here.