Text Book Analysis: Book Report on Criswell Guidebook for Pastors Assignment

NEWBURGH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Textbook summary on “CRISWELL‟S GUIDEBOOK FOR PASTORS” In partial fulfillment of the required course for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Pastoral Ministry Program SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF NTS PMIN 880 November 16, 2023 Submitted by: KL MUANA KHUPTONG 1 Textbook Summary Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors By Dr. W.A. Criswell Introduction: This book entitled, “Criswell‟s Guidebook for Pastors” is written by Dr W.A. Criswell, former senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas. In this book, he introduced about his writing by saying that he wrote from his fifty years experiences as pastor. He dedicated this book to all pastors and ministers in churches of all sizes and location. He mainly argued that experience is supreme sources of wisdom. No one can comprehend what God can give to anyone who has experienced God-given wisdom in life. It is not something you can learn from the book. Dr WA Criswell talks a lot about the happiness and joy of the pastors whenever they are engaging in soul winning. He also emphasizes that the joy of the Lord comes to him when people in his congregation are growing spiritually, especially in the knowledge of Christ. He encourages younger pastor to fall in love with our savior and put values on acquiring personal relationship with Christ. If we can do that, we can have the best experience in life. Dr Criswell wrote this book in the hope that some pastors may be encouraged and blessed by his experiences that he shared through this book. Book Summary Chapter by Chapter In Chapter one, the author began his writing by saying that the ascension of Christ actually multiplied the gifts of ministry of the church to extend the kingdom of God. Men and women are equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit and they were able to do things unimaginable. God is able to do much more than people can think and imagined. Jesus said that it is good for Him to go for the benefits of the disciples to do ministries because he will send the other, which is the Holy Spirit. The ascension allows us to have the gifts of God for ministry, 2 victory over Satan, over sin and even the grave. The author wrote that secular world and worldly people disapproved the call of the pastor, but the call to ministry is something to be most valued, because it is the most precious thing on earth and the ministry of Christ is something that believers should continue while on earth. It is eternal thing and long lasting. He says that if someone is called by Jesus to do His ministry, it is not lowly or pathetic job he/she is taking about. It is one of the most valuable calling to get engaged into. It is true what Dr Criswell said, “The riches of the churches are not found on monumental building and monetary investments but in the people God has called and given to be the ministers of his redeemed.”(Page 22). He is absolutely right. As Dr Criswell mentioned in chapter one, God called and equipped preachers of His word throughout the centuries. It is really true that when the things of the world created chaos, great preaching by men and women of God that penetrate the hearts and minds of people of God will transform chaos to into order. In chapter 2, Dr Criswell asserted that the pastor in the pulpit pleases God in the midst of evil and ungodly secular world. In the Old Testament Noah was preacher of righteousness, so also in the New Testament and modern Christianity, preachers were the reformer of our society. In other word, because of the righteous preachers or pastors, the wrath of God was delayed and revival happened in many cities through churches. God usually changed His mind when sinners repented as the result of preachers who preached repentance and righteousness of God, and then the judgment that He would give to the people got delayed or cancelled. Dr Criswell mentioned about the transformation that took place in many nations around the world because of the preaching of the word of God. The primary necessities of the heathen third world nation were not financial assistance. It is the word of God preached by pastors who fear God, who love Jesus and love the souls. The author talked about the Lutheran Church in Siberia visited by an ordained 3 pastor. The people of that nation did not hear the word being preached for forty years. They asked the pastor to preach begging, “open your Bible and preach to us” (Page 20) and the pastor ended up preaching sermon for four straight hours. This shows that people are hungry and thirsty for the word of God. People want to hear expository Biblical preaching. Dr Criswell emphasizes that one of the most important job of the pastor is to lead the congregation in worship. It is the duty of the pastor to let the church members know that true worship should be given by everyone in the church. The author also talked about his church building alters rail and kneelers at all pews where people prayed and weeping before God with broken spirit and contrite heart. It is very important to remember the true worship before God. In Chapter 3, Dr Criswell talks about the importance of making priority for God. So therefore, he set aside his morning time for the Lord. He would not answer telephone while he was studying God‟s word. He sanctified his time for the Lord. Once he is done with his studies in the morning, he would responded to the calls, reply mail, preach and become servant for the church, etc. He also talks about the importance of Biblical preaching, delivering expository sermon from the Bible Old Testament and New Testament. There are many preachers not knowing what to preach, but if we study God‟s word diligently, God will show us what message we should be preaching for the people of God. Many preachers rely on what other people says about things. For example, many people give too much emphasis on what the Psychologist, Scientists, the columnist said. But the most important question is that does God say anything to you through His Word? The author also mentioned that reading sermon notes is also necessary at some point. He talks about Jonathan Edward‟s powerful message; „Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God‟ (page 52). It is totally fine if pastor has to write down his sermon notes and read it out loud. 4 It also informs us that keeping busy schedules does not always mean that we are successful. On the other hand, setting priorities is much more effective than too busy. Being the busy pastors, we have to let people know our schedule to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. It is also necessary for pastor to have self evaluation at the end of the month. As Paul instructed young pastor Timothy, pastors are students of the word. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV). It also encourages pastors not to engage in things that has no value and to avoid endless arguments. Again, the word of God, the Bible is the tool for pastors to use and these words are holy, so also, we must be careful with the words we are communicating. If we are not careful, we could destroy people‟s life. Chapter 4 Summary: In Chapter Four, Dr Criswell explicitly talks about the purpose of preaching sermons by pastors/preachers. The point he was trying to make is that preaching is not like making announcement for the congregation, or lecturing or teaching. Instead, preaching should be a soul crying out loud from the heart to God and to men. When someone is passionately preaching his heart out loud, it moves the heart of the listeners or in other word, the audiences. As a matter of fact, you can tell someone who is a preacher, moved by the truth. The truth is the supernatural forces that penetrate the hearts of many people (especially stiff-necked people). Jesus said He is the truth. There is no other word that explains truth but Jesus. Dr Criswell talks about the importance of receiving true doctrine. It is becoming more and more dangerous today because many preachers are compromising their doctrine and trade good doctrine with false doctrine. Doctrine is very important, so also gaining the knowledge about current event as well. Good homiletic is reading from any kind of sources that can give us 5 good ideas and help us in our sermons. It is really necessary to be a good listener. Many pastors think they know everything and never want to improve their learning abilities. So, they ended up in shallow thoughts and no one is listening to what they would say. As Dr Criswell beautifully wrote, “No one ever had a silver tongue who did not first have a golden ear” (Page 75). Pastor should never forget to preach expository sermon. Biblical sermon is the safest sermon that pastors/preachers can preach because it is all about „what does the Bible say?‟ When we preach from the Bible we can confidently say that we are correct because that‟s what the Bible says so. It is very crucial about giving Biblical sermon under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. Preaching and doing ministry without the guidance of the Holy Spirit ended into failure. When preparing for our sermon, we need to study the original transcripts, if it is from New Testament, study in Greek, if it is from Old Testament, study the text in the original Hebrews scripts and get the central idea from the root. Some time the conclusion can be in the next chapter of the couple first verses. So, understanding the text from its original is the key to open the door of Holy Spirit‟s inspiration. And then, prayer is the most important part of sermon preparation. If we do not have a prayer support for the sermon we are delivering, we may not be able to touch the hearts of the people because we need to rely on the power of Holy Spirit for everything. We need to ponder and think about the sermon even after we are done preparing. That will give us a room in our mind to live by the sermon we are preaching. In chapter Five, Dr Criswell was talking about having good relationship between the pastor and the staff. They (pastor and staff) must be the head of the Church. When they could not work together hand in hand, they church members suffered. In order for the church to grow healthier, it has to have faithful pastors or deacons or faithful families in the center and the church will be growing like a circle from outside. When the church does not have good middle 6 men, the circle cannot grow bigger because the people from outside do not trust something that has no foundation or backbone. The pastor‟s success also depends on the trustworthiness of the staff. The pastor alone cannot achieve great success. A pastor who has supporting and faithful staff is a blessed pastor because he can get many things done. It is also very important to understand that tithing by the congregation (members) is necessary in order for the staff and the pastor gets paid. On page 83, Dr Criswell talks about how he was making changes in his church‟s culture and how he terminated some positions of staff in the church where the old Sunday school superintendents and some leaders are furiously rebelled by saying, “I was here doing the task before you were born.” (Page 83). Whenever there is proposal for change, there is opposition. But if we want to achieve a goal for common good, we need to make changes no matter who opposed it. Sometime methods can be changed without changing the message, and we should always be Biblically sound and culturally relevant at the same time. One of the most effective staff selections could be selecting a staff who can lead educational program and a minister of music. In chapter six, Dr Criswell defined the meaning of the church by defining “Church from the Greek word, ekklesiawhich derived from ek kaleo, signifying „to call forth‟…. It denotes an assembly summoned or called out.” (Page 97) It is all about local visible church in the New Testament. Having local church that follow the Scripture is very important in the New Testament era. It talks about the head of the Church. Christ is the head of the Church. In this chapter the author talks about the importance of election of officers; bishops and deacons. This is also elected by the church. The congregation, the body has the power to elect officers in the church. It also talks about autonomy that the local church has. The local church is accountable to Christ alone. This chapter clearly exhibits about the tenets of faith that his church accepted. 7 In Chapter seven, the author, Dr Criswell wrote about why the local church should be strong in their faith and stood firm with their doctrine because the enemy of God will attack the bride of Christ with false doctrine and belief system. So, the church should not be influenced by secularism and the influence of outside world. The church should not compromise their convictions of the Holy Spirit. Also, this chapter contains about the structure of ministry in the church. It contains about the bylaws of First Baptist Church, Dallas. These bylaws are not above the Scripture but they need to be put in place for the betterment of the Church administration and ministry progress. In Chapter Eight, the author wrote very important issue that is solving of the financial problems. No one is exempted from financial problem. If not solved, everything will be collapsed easily. From great government to married couple, if they do not solve financial problem, they will face chaos and confusion and ended up in total devastation. In God‟s economy, tithe and offering must be made known to the congregation by the church. Pastor should preach about tithing and he should let everyone in the church know that the tithe belongs to the Lord. In Biblical stewardship, tithe is one of the most important factors that Christians should prioritize in Christian life. In Chapter nine, the author gives us the ideas of how important it is to dedicate new church buildings for the glory of God. Whenever there is new building project, we should make it holy unto the Lord and give it for God‟s glory. There is nothing wrong with hiring professional fund-raising firms that can raise funds for the building. Everyone should take part in the building project. In chapter ten, the author talks about the importance of church‟s daily operational. We should never close the church for summer holydays. Because the devil is at work and we cannot 8 let the church rest because God never rest either. Especially, Sunday school should never have summer break. Sunday school should always be opened every Sunday where people can learn God‟s word. Chapter Eleven talks about the observance of two ordinances by the Church namely- First one is true repentance and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as personal savior and show outwardly by getting baptized. Second, observing the sanctity of Christ, revere Him because He suffered and died for us by partaking communion. Chapter Twelve is all about the two officers of the Church; Bishop and deacons. They are to sharpen each other like iron sharpens iron. He talks about the importance of walking hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. The duties of the deacons are to help or assist the pastor in times of need. In some case, there are many deacons who would like to rule over the pastors. That should not be the way of serving in the church. When the church has healthy relationship with pastors and deacons, the church will flourish. Chapter Thirteen talks about the pastor as an evangelist, a soul winner who has burden for the lost souls. It raised the questions, what is evangelism? (Page 228) and gives sets of different answers like “taking seriously the great commission” (Page 228). It also talks about how big Evangelists like Billy Sunday and pastors of different churches work together and held evangelistic meeting where thousands of souls were saved by the power of Holy Spirit and they committee to follow Christ. Sermons should always include evangelistic messages for certain lost souls. Chapter Fourteen talks about how important it is for pastors to have real concerns for the children ministry. The pastor should take care of the kids, having the heart for children are necessary. During the time of Jesus, disciples became stumbling blocks for Children as they 9 came to see Jesus. So when there are people who prevent children from coming to Jesus, pastor should make a way for them to see Him. New born baby dedication is very important as well. Chapter Fifteen included pastor should have the heart for the shepherd and must be humbled by serving the need of others. When we see Jesus face to face, if we faithfully serve Him by serving His flocks, the master will say to us „well done, thou good and faithful servant‟. So, the pastor must comfort the lonely hearts. Chapter Sixteen is all about performing wedding ceremony. It says that the pastor had golden opportunity to preach the gospel to new couple before he is going to perform wedding. It is a good opportunity to teach them how to build healthy Christian family when he had premarital counseling with them. If possible, wining them to Christ and wining them to church should be highly considered. Chapter Seventeen talks about funeral is also a good time to preach the gospel instead of chanting empty eulogy. Comforting the bereaved family and visiting them multiple times during their grievance is very important. Chapter Eighteen talks about the possible trails and temptation that will be faced by the pastor. Since we live on earth, we cannot exempt from hardships and difficulties. Prophets, missionaries‟ even kings in the Bible faced difficult time. So as a pastor, we may also face problems and trials on the earth. Many pastors face financial hardship because the church gave little financial compensation to his family. There are deacons who are always having opposition to pastoral leadership. In times of troubles, it is always necessary to kneel down and pray to God. Dr Criswell wrote, “A pastor will give many reasons for wanting to leave his church, but the reasons are not acceptable before God” (Page 331). God never accept Moses‟ excuses. If God calls pastors to serve in the ministry, He wants them to stay, not to quit. 10 Chapter Nineteen contains about the Pastor‟s personal life. Pastor preaches it best when he lived by what he preaches. People will hear loud when pastor live by example. If we practice what we preach, we will win people to Christ. Chapter twenty is about what pastors should do or should not do. There are many advices for the pastor to do in ministry and in life. The pastor should put God first in everything and then put his family before ministry and so on. Pastor should not compromise the word of God. We should not dilute the truth and so on. In Chapter twenty-one, the author talks about the reward that pastor will get in heaven is not monetary stipends and salaries. He will get heaven‟s coin that will be the crown of righteousness and the crown of God. Heaven will warmly welcome faithful servant. PERSONAL COMMETS: This book “Criswell‟s guidebook for Pastors” is very helpful to me. It encourages me not to quit the ministry no matter what happens. I was moved by the story he told in this book, about young pastor who was ready to quit the ministry. After hearing him at his seminar, at the Pastors‟ conference, the young pastor walked down the aisle and wept like a child because he was convicted by the Holy Spirit. It shows that every pastor needs mentor or someone who can encourages him in times of despair. This book can be used as manual for pastors. All the practical things mentioned in this book are relevant and relatable by many young pastors including myself. I was very impressed by how he relates about preaching sermons from the pulpit. Sometime, our sermon can be very boring. It is easy to blame on the congregation when they fall asleep on us (preachers). As a matter of fact, if we do not preach with conviction, or if we do not preach what we lived by, our message would definitely make people fall asleep. That‟s why sermon preparation and preaching from the heart are so important for preachers. 11 All the church‟s constitutions and bylaws the author mentioned in the book are good. It may not be applicable for some. But having good bylaws in place is very important. In our community, we have church administration failures that resulted in church split because of unhealthy bylaws. If bylaws are created which is not matching with the Scripture, we should not consider using them. But we have to remember that bylaws should not be put above the Bible. The personal life that pastor should observe and should not do are very informative for me. Sometime I did make mistakes unintentionally. Keeping this book as a manual will help me a lot. I will definitely keep studying about them and make them useful for my ministry. This book reminded me about the life of Job who was suffering agony and pain because God allowed Satan to cause pain on Job. I came to realize that suffering and going through tough time is not a new thing. The devil will come to destroy God‟s people including pastors. So, knowing full well that our excuses to quit ministry are never acceptable before God, we should never give up. We should never discourage and never lose hope. This book will definitely help me achieving my ministry goals. The rewards that pastors/preachers will receive at the end of the day is vast as described by Dr Criswell, that can be found in 1 Peter 5:1-4 “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but [a]willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (NKJV) I am looking forward to see this. 12