Letters to a Young Pastor: Reflections on Leadership Community and the Gospel of Grace

Speaking out of twenty-seven years of pastoral ministry Ian Stackhouse writes a series of letters to a young pastor just starting out. Responding to the various challenges his young charge faces in the first few years of congregational leadership Letters to a Young Pastor is something of a spiritual reflection on leadership in the context of Christian ministry. To say that the letters are addressed to a fictitious pastor is not to say that the issues are unreal. Letters to a Young Pastor addresses matters that anyone in leadership eventually has to face. It seeks to offer encouragement and practical wisdom but also an insight into the inner world of a person wrestling with the demands of a vocational life. In this sense Letters to a Young Pastor has relevance to anyone who is seeking to remain faithful to a calling whether ecclesial or not in a world dominated by consumerism formulas and success.