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    Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry: Interviews With David Torrance
    Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry: Interviews With David Torrance
    Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry: Interviews With David Torrance
    Ebook76 pages1 hour

    Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry: Interviews With David Torrance

    By David Torrance

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    About this ebook

    David Torrance, younger brother of Thomas and James Torrance, retired minister in the Church of Scotland, recounts experiences and lessons from pastoral ministry. He discusses the importance of the faith of Christ, of prayer, of grace and forgiveness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrace Communion International
    Release dateJul 9, 2012
    ISBN9781476380780
    Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry: Interviews With David Torrance

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      Book preview

      Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry - David Torrance

      Grace and Prayer in Pastoral Ministry:

      Interviews With David Torrance

      Copyright 2016 Grace Communion International

      Thank you for downloading this e-book. Although there is no charge for this document, it remains the copyrighted property of Grace Communion International, and it may not be reproduced, copied or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      The Grace of the Finished Work of Christ

      Not I, But Christ

      Not My Will, But Yours

      The Importance of Prayer in Pastoral Work

      Already Forgiven

      About the Publisher

      Grace Communion Seminary

      Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      Introduction

      This is a transcript of interviews conducted as part of the You’re Included series, sponsored by Grace Communion International. We have more than 130 interviews available. You may watch them or download video or audio at https://learn.gcs.edu/course/view.php?id=58. Donations in support of this ministry may be made at https://www.gci.org/online-giving/.

      Grace Communion International is in broad agreement with the theology of the people we interview, but GCI does not endorse every detail of every interview. The opinions expressed are those of the interviewees. We thank them for their time and their willingness to participate.

      Please understand that when people speak, thoughts are not always put into well-formed sentences, and sometimes thoughts are not completed. In the following transcripts, we have removed occasional words that did not seem to contribute any meaning to the sentence. In some cases we could not figure out what word was intended. We apologize for any transcription errors, and if you notice any, we welcome your assistance.

      Our guest in the following five interviews is David Torrance, a retired Church of Scotland pastor and the younger brother of Thomas and James Torrance. David and his brother Thomas edited the 12 English volumes of Calvin’s Commentary on the New Testament. He contributed to and edited The Witness of the Jews to God, and together with George Taylor, authored Israel, God’s Servant. He also contributed to and edited God, Family and Sexuality and wrote A Passion for Christ with brothers Thomas and James. He worked with Jock Stein to edit Embracing Truth: Homosexuality and the Word of God. His memoirs are published as The Reluctant Minister.

      The interviews were conducted by Michael Morrison and J. Michael Feazell. Michael Morrison received his PhD in 2006 from Fuller Theological Seminary and is now Professor of New Testament at Grace Communion Seminary. Mike Feazell received his D.Min. from Azusa Pacific Seminary in 2000. At the time of the interviews, he was vice-president of Grace Communion International; he is now retired.

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      back to table of contents

      The Grace of the Finished Work of Christ

      Michael Morrison: David, it’s a pleasure to have you here.

      David Torrance: Thank you. It’s a privilege to be here.

      MM: I’d like to begin by finding out who you are. I associate the name Torrance with Thomas and James, and you’re the third brother?

      DT: The third brother. Yes. The youngest.

      MM: You have all studied theology and written on theology.

      DT: My brothers have. I…rather more modestly, I’ll put it that way.

      MM: You’ve helped in writing some of the books, haven’t you?

      DT: Tom and I edited 12 volumes of John Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries from Latin to English. That was a big effort. That’s still in print. That was quite a while ago. Various other articles and so on in journals.

      MM: But you didn’t go into an academic teaching role like your brothers did.

      DT: No. I embarked on the same course at university…went through classics, honors philosophy, Bachelor of Divinity, specialized in Dogmatics and Christology, as they did. I also went on and studied on under Karl Barth and Oscar Cullman as they did. Then I began to question what I called an academic career, to the parish ministry. I thought I was called to parish ministry, and I believe that’s so. I’ve enjoyed it immensely.

      The joy of parish ministry

      MM: What’s been the most enjoyable part of your work?

      DT: When people are converted, they discover the reality of salvation and new life in Christ—it’s a tremendous joy. It’s a tremendous privilege to be allowed to be present when someone comes to Christ, or again, when people’s faith is deepened and they come to a new sense of freedom in Christ. I don’t think there’s any job that’s more satisfying than ministry. I didn’t believe that at one time. It was quite a struggle for me to enter the ministry, but having entered it now, it was a marvelous calling.

      MM: Many pastors, in the U.S. at least, drop out. There’s a high turnover rate because of the demands of the job. You’ve had a different experience as a parish minister. What’s the key to your role in leading a parish? Why do you see so much joy in it, whereas they might see a burden?

      DT: The key to the ministry is to keep your eye on Jesus Christ—Jesus the Son of God, Jesus who became man, who lived, who died, who rose again, ascended. Here we are face to face with God the Father, God the mighty Creator and our Redeemer. If he is central in our ministry, then our ministry should grow more exciting and fresher as the years go by. Take your eyes off that, and we could try and carry though the responsibilities of ministry on our own strength, and people fail.

      Put it a different way: I feel strongly that (I think this to myself) if you look at ministry today, probably 90 percent of all our preaching is telling people what to do. We lay tremendous burdens on the congregation. Our congregations get weary and tired, and many slip away. The ministers themselves get frustrated and leave. They’re trying to go ahead in ministry,

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