The latest offering from Westminster Seminary is the fine volume by the seminary’s professor of Practical Theology, Tim Witmer. The book is called “The Shepherd-Leader,” and you can find it here.

I really like this book and think that it has a great deal of strength to it. Its biblical-theological section and historical section are wonderfully done (well, other than the part about blending together ruling elder and minister – what we might call the “two-office view”). But there was one thing that jumped off the pages at me which has made me uncomfortable. Dr. Witmer makes the public and corporate reading and preaching and teaching of God’s word on the same level – equally ultimate – with personal one-on-one shepherding. I find this inaccurate and unfortunate. God has promised to specially bless the preaching of his Word in a way he has not promised to bless the personal speaking of his Word. And here I am thinking of Romans 10 and John 10. The conversion of sinners and the building up of the Body of Christ are absolutely dependent upon the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, being heard through faithful preaching. This has a certain priority such that if you take away the personal one-on-one element, but have faithful preaching, you at least still have the church. However, if you have personal one-on-one ministry, but do not have the faithful preaching of God’s Word, then you no longer have a church (after all, a mark of the true church is faithful preaching). I think modern evangelicalism has plenty of the personal (their pastors are the most personal I know, and we can learn a lot here!), but very little if any of the public preaching of the Word. I think this goes a long way towards the increasing apostasy in the American church today.

Now, to be sure, it is most ideal to have both – the public and the personal. And this is where the book is helpful. It very clearly and helpfully directs us as under-shepherds as to how we are to work better and more closely with the sheep among us. The church is the healthiest, I believe, when both ministries are being discharged faithfully. But the public, corporate preaching of God’s Word has the priority.