The Preacher As Father

“But St. Paul did not hesitate to call himself the ‘father’ of the Corinthians, the Galatians and the Thessalonians, as well as of certain individuals, and there is no doubt that a father’s qualities, particularly of gentleness and love, which the Apostle mentions, are indispensable to the preacher as portrayed in the New Testament . . . The preacher, who is not a pastor, grows remote. The pastor, who is not a preacher, grows petty” (John Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, pp. 80-81).