The Pastor as Gardener: A Renewed Vision for Ministry by Matthew Erickson

Author Matthew Erickson, senior pastor of Eastbrook Church in Milwaukee, Minn., asserts that a fresh metaphor for pastoral ministry is needed in North America today in a time when pastors continue to grapple with the confusion and after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent global events.

Erickson explains the inadequacies of old metaphors for pastoral work, such as the pastor as shepherd, since many North Americans are unfamiliar with the work shepherds do.

With frank vulnerability, Erickson shares his spiritual struggles during various phases of his ministry and how he has found the image of the pastor as gardener a worthy biblical metaphor. He writes, “This book arises from my own experiences and reflections upon the question of what it means to be a pastor. I have found that at least one way out of the confusion is to plunge our hands into the soil and get into the garden, to remember we were made from dust and to dust we will return. … I believe that pastors today will find a way forward by plunging our imagination into the rich soil of God’s garden, and in that place, like a kernel of wheat falling into the soil, experiencing a sort of death but also a sort of resurrection to new life and fruitfulness.”

Erickson explains that the work of the pastor-gardener “thrives on Christian hope,” and ministry approached in the context of the agrarian metaphor is “an invitation to hope.” He explains several ways this is true in the current secular age when the church is facing vast obstacles: hope is nourished by being rooted in the life of Christ, by anticipating Christ’s second coming, by refusing to accept the secular notion of success as a measurement for Christ’s church, and by saying no to despair or resignation, but instead trusting in God to fulfill his promises.

The Pastor as Gardener is suitable for individual reflection and small group study, though discussion questions are not included.

(Eerdmans)