Why is being a pastor ‘a noble task’? Could you be one?
Alasdair Paine
In December 1926, a 27-year-old doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, left a London medical career in which he was making stellar progress to become pastor of a small church in a steelmaking town in South Wales. His move provoked public astonishment, even reaching the papers. Headlines included this: “Leading Doctor Turns Pastor: Large Income Given Up for £300 a year.”
One result of his move was that he was sometimes asked to give his testimony about the sacrifice he had made. He always refused. On one such occasion, he said: “I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour that God can confer on any man to call him to be a herald of the gospel.”1
Scotland: Bible and beauty
Alasdair Paine
Where better in Scotland to combine a
holiday with great Christian encouragement than Oban, on the beautiful west
coast? This August saw the third Argyll
Convention, a Bible-teaching event started
by an enterprising group of local ministers,
aimed at both locals and holidaymakers.
The format is a morning Bible reading at
11a.m. and an evening talk at 7.30p.m.,
over a period of three days. This gives plenty
of time to relax but there are afternoon seminars to choose from as well.
