"Preachers must be able to come face to face with their own suffering and, with God’s help, see their way to the other side.”
—Rev. Dr. James Ellis III
With words by Rev. Dr. James Ellis III
An Inward-Outward Witness: Suffering’s Role in Forming Faithful Preachers is Rev. Dr. James Ellis’ third book. As Trinity Western’s University Chaplain and Director of Student Ministries, having relocated from the United States in 2019, he preaches often in chapel while leading a professional staff and group of student leaders to care for the campus community and offer opportunities for spiritual growth. We recently sat down with him to learn about his love for preaching and writing, and what connections suffering has to faithful preaching that his latest work covers.
Can you share a little about how An Inward-Outward Witness came about? Given your role at TWU, we know that you preach a lot and walk alongside students and employees, but how long have you been writing?
In my doctoral work with Chuck DeGroat, he supported me in crafting the final praxis in ways that enabled a smoother transition into a manuscript that upon graduation could be presented to publishers. The book itself derives from lament over noticing how preaching colleagues would at times process suffering in ways I found less than biblical. With God’s help, what I have assembled repositions suffering to its central place in the Christian life, and especially the preacher’s life because it is difficult to help others face suffering well if we are unable or unwilling to lead by example.
As for writing, it is probably a form of free therapy for me, although I do truly love it. Since adolescence, I have had a big imagination and a knack to transfer my thoughts onto paper in ways that people can grasp. I was a columnist for several student-run university publications while an undergraduate student and enjoyed a brief career as a spoken word poet and budding journalist as a young adult, so writing may come more naturally to me than some. Though a grace-filled gift, however, writing is also hard work that like preaching requires sacrifice.
Though the book isn’t only for preachers, what advice would you give to women and men who will one day find themselves called by the Lord to preach?
One hope is that the book will challenge and correct, thinking of especially in North America, the harmful preoccupation preachers can have today with vocational, individual, and interpersonal safety. Of course, no one adores adversity. The desire to avoid it is natural to a certain degree and yet suffering is par for the course of the human sojourn because we are temporary residents of a fallen world full of broken people, systems, and bodies. Preachers and pastors, however, are horribly misaligned with the Gospel if they go about building empires that never rock the proverbial boat, expecting calamity or hardship to never cross their doorpost merely because they are Jesus’ disciple. For those called to preach, I say to do it unto God. Do it like it matters because of what God has already said and done for the sake of the world He loves. I also strongly recommend that preachers, as early as possible, embrace boundaries to safeguard them from turning ministry into an idol.
Can you share a few writers and preachers who impacted you? What are you reading these days?
And the Shofar Blew: A Novel by Francine Rivers is one of my favorite books due to its fitting critique of pastoral misconduct. Having had personal relationships with Calvin Miller, who taught at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, and Eugene H. Peterson has made their huge library of books even more precious to me. They were pastors and writers who spoke both boldly and reassuringly to pastors and churches about the ought and is of ministry. They may be largely unknown in Canada, but preachers like James Earl Massey, Ralph D. West, M. Craig Barnes, C.L. Franklin, Haddon Robinson, Joanna Adams, and Terry Anderson have thoroughly shaped me.
With the academic year concluding soon, I will have more time to read books by Elizabeth Strout and Deesha Philyaw whose books I gravitate to for their gritty realism in narrating the human condition. In due time, I plan to chip away at a stack of books that include African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, A Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan by Geoffrey Girard, Arabic Christian Theology: A Contemporary Global Evangelical Perspective by Andrea Zaki Stephanous, and Gordon T. Smith’s Wisdom from Babylon: Leadership for the Church in a Secular Age. For anyone interested in illustrated children’s books, even as an adult, I heartily recommend I Love You Already! by Jory John and Benji Davies.
An Inward-Outward Witness is available through the publisher, Smyth & Helwys Books.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier global Christian liberal arts university. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four campuses and locations: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.