If someone were to ask an Evangelical if there was any particular
19th-century Anglican that he admired, I’d venture to say that the name
that would be most readily supplied is J. C. Ryle. And that is not at
all without cause. Ryle’s work on discipleship and Christian living has
represented a remarkable service to Christ’s Church.
But another 19th-century Anglican who I wish was a household name in
Evangelical Christianity is Charles Bridges. My acquaintance with
Bridges comes chiefly in the form of his classic work, The Christian Ministry.
It is a wonderful manual of pastoral ministry that I would recommend
wholeheartedly to anyone interested in shepherding Christ’s flock.
Particularly helpful was a section he wrote on “Conformity to the
World,” and its relationship to the Christian ministry. It’s no secret
that many celebrity pastors in contemporary evangelicalism—and, sadly,
the many non-celebrity pastors they’re influencing—employ conformity to
the world as the modus operandi of their ministries. With a shallow, and rather twisted, interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23,
these men embrace—with their actions if not with their confession—the
philosophy of ministry that Christians must become like the world to win
the world.
And the interesting thing is, that kind
of uber-cool, hip, innovative ministry philosophy is hundreds—and even
thousands—of years old. Bridges’ commentary on the subject proves that
this avant-guard, new-kind-of-ministry of the 21st century was alive and
doing damage even in 19th century England.
