3 out of 4 stars
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Pastoring is Not What You Think is a fictional book written by Elijah Oladimeji and published by Yorkshire Publishing. It is a quick read spanning an intro and twelve chapters.
The book is a critical look at the typical day to day life of church ministry through storytelling, starring Pastor Job. The author follows him as he goes about his routines and along the way we encounter his wife. Caring and loving as she seems, she criticises his approach to faith and pushes him now and again to do something about certain material needs of their home. The landlord makes his presence felt and anyone familiar with the pastor’s situation at this point will easily tote with how the two interact. PastorJob also deals with a lot of people who burden him with their needs. This leaves him feeling that they only contact him when they seem to be in one crisis or another.
He doesn’t have all the answers to all questions or those who come to him seeking advice. For instance, boys may complain about girls and girls about boys. The Pastor struggles to give advice but doesn’t believe they’ll heed to his words. The congregants are concerned about his mental well being, and his wife seems to be of the same persuasion, until she is relieved to learn that it comes with the territory of being a pastor. This is after she arm twists a familiar shrink to visit their home.
I like the fact that the author effectively uses this story to shed some light onto the chaotic nature of the life of an ‘official’ in the clergy. Everybody seems to want a piece of his time. Peoples’ expectations on him are high as he struggles with his own expectations of himself. He prays for people; they do well. He prays for himself (and his house); he struggles. We also see the expectations he has for his labour in the church, which he hopes they’ll be fulfilled in a supernatural way. Yet he is a man like any other, with an opinion on current affairs of the day. This book is recommended to those who want to be ministers in the church, they will learn a lot on what it entails to be a Pastor. Those already pastoring will also relate well to this story, and it also demistifys the life of a minister to those on the outside.
I rate the book with 3 out of 4 stars. I think the author could have done more to delve deeper and widen the scope of the story. I got the impression that the book is a humorous look at the work of a pastor but for those seeking to learn some lessons, it may come across as shallow. Maybe the story is good as it is but to me it comes across as simple to some extent. Maybe I had higher expectations going into the book. There were one or two grammatical errors in the book but it is generally well edited.
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Pastoring is not what you think
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