Letters to a Young Pastor

Timothy Conversations Between Father and Son

By: Eric E. Peterson, Eugene H. Peterson

Narrated by: Eric E. Peterson

Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Have you ever felt in over your head? When Eric Peterson became the pastor of a brand-new church, he quickly and wisely turned to his dad for guidance. Eugene Peterson, author of more than 30 books, including his best-selling memoir The Pastor and his groundbreaking Bible The Message, here reflects on pastoral ministry in all its complexity - from relationships to administration to the sheer audacity of leading God’s people in a particular place. This is Eugene Peterson at his best - lifelong wisdom written with deep love.

As the listener, you will glimpse into the tender, witty, personal side of Eugene mentoring his own son. These intimate letters will be treasured by all and are applicable to church leaders around the globe.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2020 Eric E. Peterson (P)2020 Oasis Audio

Refreshing

A very enjoyable read. Vulnerable, refreshing and delightful. It was nice to put a “face” to the writer of “The Message” Bible

Grounding and humbling

Eugene never desired to be a “big deal” in this world; however, he relentlessly fought to stay relational and grounded in the resurrection each and every day. There’s something to be said about a life lived with an astonishing biblical imagination, but the contentment to never strive for “success”. This book grounds me in my true identity and leaves me with an ambition to live a quiet, humble life.

wisdom from Eugene Peterson

Eugene Peterson writes letters to his pastor son, fairly openly sharing his disappointments and hopes as he observes the American church in his later years. it's quite good - quite Petersonian!

This is a healing book.

This is a healing book.

In these letters from Eugene Peterson to his son Eric, I encountered a love I long to receive and extend. These letters are a balm for shepherds who have been bruised and battered--because often in the American church when you choose to be a shepherd instead of a shiny leader to follow and applaud, you get kicked, or cast out, or neglected by the very system you are giving your life to nurture. Weary shepherds, I think you'll find that the hard choices you have made to seek integrity and love will be honored and affirmed by Peterson's kind, honest words to his son.

As a therapist and author, I view all of my work as pastoral, shepherding work--the work of paying attention to people as the holy and beloved children of God they are. In this peek into Peterson's life, I felt strengthened and renewed in the necessity and goodness of my own vocation. Whether hearing him talk about his writing process (he sometimes had a meager 500 words-a-day goal too!) or hearing him describe the slowness of change in the human soul, I was refreshed for the long road of obedience and joy ahead.

As a daughter, Peterson's love and respect for his adult son filled me with hope for the way family can be. The gap between what is and what could be can be a source of envy, or it can be a holy hope. Eugene's simple, consistent love for Eric felt like a foretaste of what God is creating between parents and their children as we choose to honor those we love with sacred attention for them as beloved, holy children of the living God.

I'm so grateful to have been given a glimpse into such a beautiful relationship and to have been given even more of a vision for what the body of Christ can be on earth today.

(My only negative on the audio version is that Eric’s diction felt a little unnatural. It was distracting at first, but I got used to it. And the final minute, getting to hear Eugene read from the last letter himself—that alone is worth having the audiobook. It’s beautiful.)

Casual and Helpful

If you’re looking for a more in depth review of being a pastor, read Eugene Peterson’s memoir. If you’re looking to casually read dialogue between a father and son on life and being a pastor, this is for you. Not every chapter is full of gold, but some definitely are.

Good supplement book to the memoir mentioned above.

Should be on every young pastor’s bookshelf

The Peterson families challenges the current trend toward “celebrity pastor” culture through 37 letters of discipleship, encouragement, and simplicity.

Beautiful

This book came at the perfect time for me as a pastor. I highly recommend every pastor lean in to this beautiful conversation between 2 pastors, father and son.

humanizing

Summary: Thirty-seven letters of varying lengths from Eugene Peterson to his son Eric about being a pastor.

Eugene Peterson has strongly influenced me, and I definitely have a tendency to idealize Peterson. Peterson’s memoir and Winn Collier’s biography helped humanize Peterson. Eugene Peterson was not perfect.

Letters to a Young Pastors is equally good at humanizing Peterson in a different way. There is tension here because these were private letters (I assume Eugene approved of being turned into a book before he passed away), and the very nature of private letters has personal details. Regularly throughout this book, there are comments about looking forward to getting together or talking about personal details, similar to how Paul talks about bringing his books and cloak in 2 Timothy 4. The humanization of Peterson in Letters to a Young Pastor is partly the details of personal life discussed here. The reader knows from this book that the Petersons had their grandkids over regularly and that they went to a local church where Eugene liked the pastor but didn’t really like his preaching.

But the most important part of humanizing Peterson here is the open struggle expressed in the letters. Some of the struggle is trying to work through ideas that made it into his books, and if you have read a number of his books, it is easy to pick out those details even when they aren’t explicit. Even in later years, Peterson was grappling with his vocation and faith, not in the sense of doubting God, but in the sense of trying to figure out how to live his faith in public best. He grappled with the difficulties of aging, and if you listen to the audiobook, the last half of the last letters is read by Peterson himself, and he sounds very old at that point.

I also appreciate how well Eugene encourages Eric by saying that, in many ways, Eugene thought that Eric was a better pastor. Some of that is just the rose-colored glasses of fatherhood. But it isn’t all that; there are many specific examples in the letters of where, in his encouragement, he cites why and when differences in their ministry approach come into play. I am not sure that Eugene ever said or even understood, but it seems clear that in many places where Eric may have been a better pastor, it is because he was building on the foundation that Eugene laid. Good examples matter.

The 37 letters are of varying lengths, from just over a page to much longer. They started in 1999 and continued until 2010. Eugene passed away in 2018. His memoir, The Pastor, came out in 2011 and is mentioned in the last couple of letters. He has a book of poetry that came out in 2013. As Kingfishers Catch Fire was a collection of sermons that came out in 2017 and I think he was actively involved in the selection and editing of those. But the at least five books that have come out since then (not including the rerelease of several older books in new editions) were edited by others posthumously.

The introduction by Eric speaks about why he only included Eugene’s letters and not his own, and I have to respect his thoughts there, but it is less of a dialogue because we only get one side. There are moments of gold here. One reason there is a temptation to idealize Eugene is that he was wise and saintly. That isn’t to say perfect, but it is to say that he did develop character and wisdom throughout his life. It is also worth noting that at least part of what is valuable here is that many others did not show evidence of character or holiness in their later years.

Maybe I am just getting old, but Eric is about ten or so years older than I am. Letters to a Young Pastor was only published a couple of years ago. So, while I get the reference to the many other books that Letters to a Young…is referencing, Eric was in his late 30s and through to his late 40s when these letters were being written. There is value in them, but in some ways, the encouragement and detail are rooted in where he was at that point. These are letters to a pastor who is in the early stages of the middle of his career. There is a discussion of going on a sabbatical and the tendency for pastors to move to a different church when they are ten years or so into pastoring. And that type of advice is oriented toward the middle years of pastoring. The title is a good reference, but it may also be misleading. These are letters to a pastor in the middle of his career from a retired pastor near death. That is not a catchy title, but it would be more accurate.

I picked this up as an audiobook. It was the perfect length of chapters (letters) that I could listen to one or two on a walk with my dog. And that is what I would advise. Take one or two at a time and savor them. There is no perfection here. Some of the letters are far less interesting than others. But that is the way people are; we are not perfect, and our human limitations are the sign that we are just human. Those who never allow weakness to be seen are not showing us who they are.