Rudolf Gwalther on ministers adapting to their hearers and avoiding haughtiness

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Reformed Covenanter

Cancelled Commissioner
... Paul’s example reminds ministers of churches that they have to gear what they say to the capacity of their audience and use every means possible to win them over and call them back from their errors. Human minds come in many different shapes and sizes. Therefore, just as good teachers adapt themselves to the minds of their children, and just as trustworthy and skilled doctors (a simile that Jerome uses) pay close attention to the way their patients respond when they are trying to cure the more difficult diseases, so ministers of the Word must understand the thought pattern of their hearers in order to reach each one of them, and they should not hesitate to shout at them if they see that they are rude and uneducated. But they must be careful when doing this not to compromise the truth, because doing that is no service to anyone.

Those who are full of themselves could not be farther away from the spirit of Paul. They order people about, avoid any kind of discussion and refuse to have anything to do with those who disagree with them. At the same time, they attack people who are fine representatives of the cause of religion with sharp, or rather poisoned tracts written against them, condemn whole churches and cause trouble wherever they go. ...

For more, see Rudolf Gwalther on ministers adapting to their hearers and avoiding haughtiness.
 
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