The book was actually a delightful surprise while reading. What I mean is I thought it was going to be about reformed theology but it was not nor was it even about theology in any aspect. It was about reforming pastors for the ministry. It is not for those looking for a feel-good or 8 step to book to success and happiness. This book is about being a pastor and having a level of excellence in ministry. The material is very raw, blunt, and straight to the point to get at the heart of a shepherd.



I read this book because so many people have spoken of it as a classic. I heard Voddie Baucham one time quote from the book several times when speaking to pastors. On the same chord I once was listening to John MacArthur speak to pastors at conference and he cited and quoted the book a number of times during his message. Hearing this I like I have to get this book and read it. Now I know why. His single-minded devotion to God and his tender, shepherd’s heart for his flock have inspired pastors for over 300 years.

It is an extended lecture he proposed to give to a local ministerial association in 1656. The book uses as its foundation and framework Acts 20:28: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The book first deals with pastors “taking heed” to their own spiritual state and life, and then turns its attention to taking heed to all the flock. As to the topic of taking heed to their own spiritual lives, Baxter starts at the beginning, with making sure the reader is truly a Christian, and progresses through disciplines, qualifications, and indwelling sin. He next emphasizes the reasons why a pastor must be rigorous in his own spiritual life. He expounds reasons such as how many eyes are on the man of God, how difficult the work is, and how the honor of Christ depends on it. He reminds his reader of many practical insights, such as “all that a minister does is a kind of preaching” and to avoid the error of men who “study hard to preach exactly, and study little or not at all to live exactly.”



After dealing with the pastor’s personal life, he tackles the pastor’s responsibility to shepherd his congregation. His most radical recommendation, radical back then and almost unthinkable to American churches today, is for a pastor to personally visit and catechize people (for those unfamiliar with the term, it means to teach a list of several hundred questions and answers of basic theology). Specifically, he says a pastor should catechize each and every family, in the pastor’s entire town, each and every year. In Baxter’s town that meant 2000 people in 800 families, that he and his associate pastor took two full days every week to go through the whole town every year.

He bluntly states, “If the pastoral office consists of overseeing all the flock, then surely the number of souls under the care of each pastor must not be greater than he is able to take such heed as to here is required.” Yea, and I’m sure the pastoral staff of most churches personally know every member of their flock. And yes, I know that we consider Sunday School teachers or small group leaders to be “overseeing the flock”- but how many of those leaders in our churches see themselves as shepherds, have been theologically trained and commissioned as overseers, one-on-one ask them regularly about their spiritual life, and are seen by the members of their class or group as having spiritual responsibility over them?

After reading The Reformed Pastor, I must state that - this is absolutely essential reading for any man called to the ministry, to pin him against the wall and make him take stock of his ministry, his priorities, and his life before God, and to make him deeply consider about how best to “take heed over” himself and all his flock.



After reading this book the reader will see Baxter’s time was not too unlike our own. Despite there being a large theological agreement that there must be discipline within the Church, very few leaders in the church are willing to carry it out. Baxter reminds us, and convincingly so, that we must do so for not only the good of the soul of the individual, but for the rest of the Church, and even ourselves. Most of the book rotates around the subject of discipline in the pastoral ministry. It also contains many other details concerning the ministry that would be good for any aspiring, or current pastor to read.



Besides the “pastoral epistles” of Paul (1st & 2nd Timothy, and Titus) I know of no other piece of work that will prepare you and teach you the way that those who lead the church ought to be. I would recommend it to anyone who has a heart for the Lords work, not just pastors.

It can be a very painful book in many areas because it will cause you to look at yourself and wonder if you are really walking the life that The Lord wants from those who lead his people. Its very difficult to find the words to describe how incredible this book is. Physically, this book weighs about as much as any other paper back. Spiritually, you wont be able to lift it off the ground, much less turn a page. A great work written by a great Puritan Pastor. ( )

If you're a pastor, this is a must read. It's overwhelming, and pointed, but it will shape your ministry for the better. ( )

Baxter is not easy to read but this book is worth the effort. ( )

Great book on the problems in the church. Even though this book was written over 300 hundred years ago a lot of the problems in this book are still around. ( )