{"id":282,"date":"2013-01-30T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T17:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.225.232.228\/us\/product\/an-earnest-ministry\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T04:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T09:44:08","slug":"an-earnest-ministry","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/banneroftruth.org\/us\/store\/church-ministry\/an-earnest-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"An Earnest Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Description<\/h2>\n

John Angell James’ book, An Earnest Ministry<\/em>, is a classic on the Christian\u00a0ministry. The reason\u00a0lies largely in the manner in which he presents one simple idea: he argues that the effect of preaching is directly related to the heart-condition of the preacher, ‘it is feeling<\/em> which gives power to words and thoughts’. To command attention for the truth, its spokesmen must first be earnest, that is to say, be possessed by one single aim and by a devotion which leads them to surrender all that would hinder its attainment.<\/p>\n

Born in 1785, at a time when the preaching of the leaders of the evangelical revival was still remembered, James served Carrs Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham for fifty-five years. In later life he believed that the pulpit generally had become less effective, even though there was an increase in the availability of men, talent and training. He saw an evident loss of the power which Whitefield ‘studied, discovered, and applied’; preaching was no longer ‘adapted to produce conviction and conversion’.<\/p>\n

Employing Scripture and the lessons of outstanding preaching, drawn from both sides of the Atlantic, James’ Earnest Ministry<\/em> renewed the same call as Baxter’s Reformed Pastor<\/em> of two centuries earlier and it proved to be a book of no lesser value.<\/p>\n

At a time when many false explanations are offered for the decline in preaching, and when many have even ceased to pray, ‘Send us preachers’, this volume goes back to fundamentals and is itself a proof of the power of true earnestness.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents Expand \u2193<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nAN EARNEST MINISTRY THE WANT OF THE TIMES.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nPreface<\/td>\nxi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nPreface to the Third Edition<\/td>\nxix<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nThe Apostolic Ministry<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nThe Nature of Earnestness<\/td>\n29<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nThe Nature of Earnestness (Continued)<\/td>\n66<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nEarnestness in Preaching<\/td>\n86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nIllustrations of Earnestness collected from various Authors<\/td>\n99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nEarnestness of Manner in the delivery of Sermons<\/td>\n120<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nEarnestness in the Pastorate<\/td>\n149<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nExamples of Earnestness in the Ministry<\/td>\n168<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nMotives to Earnestness in the Ministry<\/td>\n182<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nThe means of obtaining an Earnest Ministry<\/td>\n245<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nThe necessity of Divine influence to make the Ministry efficient<\/td>\n282<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The abiding impressiveness of James\u2019 classic on the Christian ministry lies largely in the manner in which he presents one simple idea: \u2018it is feeling which gives power to words and thoughts.\u2019 296pp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[1260],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-282","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-church-ministry","7":"pa_binding-cloth-bound","8":"pa_class-bh","9":"pa_era-19th-century","10":"pa_format-book","11":"pa_isbn-2240","12":"pa_original-pub-date-2241","13":"pa_page-count-2242","14":"pa_recent-pub-date-dec-1-1993","15":"pa_recent-pub-date-year-6246","16":"pa_short-isbn-2244","17":"pa_subtitle-the-want-of-the-times","18":"pa_theauthor-james-john-a","19":"pa_topic-pastoral-theologypastoral-helps","21":"first","22":"outofstock","23":"sale","24":"taxable","25":"shipping-taxable","26":"purchasable","27":"product-type-simple"},"bundled_by":[],"bundle_stock_status":"outofstock","bundle_stock_quantity":0,"bundle_virtual":false,"bundle_layout":"","bundle_add_to_cart_form_location":"","bundle_editable_in_cart":false,"bundle_sold_individually_context":"","bundle_item_grouping":"","bundle_min_size":"","bundle_max_size":"","bundle_price":[],"bundled_items":[],"bundle_sell_ids":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn 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