DESCRIPTION

When we think of the apostle Paul, 'pastor' is not usually the first word that springs to mind. He may seem too intellectual, too tempestuous and fiery, even too determinedly pioneering, to fall into the 'pastoral' category.

This book demonstrates that, at heart, Paul was indeed too multi-faceted in both background and ministry to be defined by a single function.

Rather, we should think of him in at least five ways: as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Thinking of him as a pastor is, then, legitimate. Indeed, apart from the accounts of his church-planting journeys across Asia and Europe that we find in Acts, most of what he has left us is a record in the epistles of his teaching and his pastoral care of the churches he planted or cared for. You could say that his teaching was, in fact, the product of his pastoral care, which was itself a product of his pioneering and prophetic evangelism.

Author Patrick Whitworth makes the case for Paul's extraordinary teaching - for which he is justifiably most celebrated - being a product of his pastoral care, which was itself a product of his pioneering and prophetic evangelism. Perhaps he was an unlikely pastor, but he was above all passionate, and an inspiration to pastors everywhere, to be studied and emulated, fathomed and then followed.

The book includes a study guide with a wealth of questions for group discussion linked to each chapter.

About the author:
Patrick Whitworth is Rector of All Saints Weston in Bath with North Stoke and Langridge and has served as Rural Dean of Bath. He previously ministered in York and London and has written six other books, including Prepare for Exile (SPCK, 2008).