[Extract from Chapter One]

All professionals who are dealing with groups of people should at this time take very special care to know what they are doing. They should understand what is the main thrust of their ministry and not be sidetracked by a certain insistence of an accountability to man rather than to God. Any indecision in these areas causes inaction and especially in the realm of a Minister of the Word. Such inaction can erode confidence.

Any pastor is not simply a placebo drawn into the disorganized lives of the people he is attempting to minister to, so that it might have some calming down effect. No! All pastors should have burnt into their souls the word written by Paul to Timothy, 'Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers' (I Tim. 4:16). The thought that comes through is not to take stock of yourself but to hold to a certain position: 'Let fresh understanding of the word that you have grip you and seize you and in the light of this go on' (cf. Rom.15:4; II Tim. 1:13; Heb. 12:28). This is no mere placebo action. 'Take heed... ' Such strong words would not be used unless it was perceived that pastors are in a dangerous and difficult situation.