For the Care of Souls: A Look at the Lexham Ministry Guides

Every pastor knows the challenges in ministry. It can be intimidating to lead a congregation well—even harder to do so from a place of reflection and not reaction. You need wisdom. Wisdom not based on trends, but deeply rooted in God’s Word and the tradition of the church.

This post introduces the Lexham Ministry Guides, which are designed to offer pastoral wisdom grounded in scripture and the tradition of the church.  

The Lexham Ministry Guides are a growing series of practical and thoughtful handbooks devoted to the needs of pastoral ministry. Each volume carries the subtitle For the Care of Souls, which reflects the ancient discipline of cura animarum: pastoral ministry as the care of souls. The pastor is the physician of souls—someone trained to observe the symptoms of spiritual distress, diagnose the ailment, and administer Christ’s gospel. 

The volumes in the series are written by pastors and theologians from a variety of traditions including Lutheran, Anglican, Wesleyan, and Baptist. But they share a common conviction that faithful ministry begins with recovering wisdom that has guided us before. 

“What’s old is new again. The church in ages past has focused her mission through every changing era on one unchanging, Spirit-given task: the care of souls in Jesus’s name.” 

—Harold L. Senkbeil, series preface 

The Lexham Ministry Guides Series at a Glance 

  • General Editor: Harold L. Senkbeil 
  • Publisher: Lexham Press / Baker Books 
  • Volumes: 10 and growing as of 2026 
  • Audience: pastors, seminary students, lay readers 

The Book That Started the Series 

Born out of his five decades as a pastor, Harold L. Senkbeil’s The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart reminds pastors that preaching and living out the Word of God is the essential work of ministry. 

The book is used for pastoral training in churches and seminaries and has been translated into several other languages, as well as winning awards with Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. 

After the success of his book, Lexham Press invited Harold to edit a series that would expand on his book by providing pastors with wisdom grounded in experience and deep theological wisdom.  

And the Lexham Ministry Guides series was born. 

The ongoing Lexham Ministry Guides (LMG) series address a range of pastoral concerns—from pastoral identity and leadership, congregational gathering, pastoral care, and witness and service. 

Pastoral Identity and Leadership 

Pastoral Mentoring: For the Care of Souls by Jared C. Wilson (Baker Books, 2026) 

  • Why character matters in identifying future pastors 
  • The role of the local church in pastor formation 
  • Why pastors need pastors 
  • For pastors identifying future leaders, raising up elders, and investing in aspiring pastors 

Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls by Harold L. Senkbeil and Lucas V. Woodford (Lexham Press, 2022) 

  • Practical tools for church leadership rooted in pastoral identity 
  • Recognizing and resisting “pastoral depletion syndrome” and ministry burnout 
  • For senior pastors, associates, and those new to pastoral leadership 

Lay Leadership: For the Care of Souls by Aaron Perry (Lexham Press, 2024) 

  • A foundational theology of lay ministry rooted in the body of Christ 
  • How pastors can share vision, delegate, and equip the laity for sustained ministry 
  • For pastors empowering elders, deacons, and lay leaders 

Congregational Gathering 

Church Music: For the Care of Souls by Phillip Magness (Lexham Press, 2023) 

  • Why the congregation’s voices are the primary instrument of worship 
  • Choosing music to form a congregation in God’s Wword 
  • How pastors, musicians, and lay leaders together shape the church’s song 
  • For pastors, worship leaders, cantors, music directors, and church planters 

Worship and Liturgy: For the Care of Souls by Paul J. Grime (Baker Books, 2026) 

  • Why every church has a liturgy — whether they call it one or not 
  • Why worship is Christ’s gifts to his people, not our offerings to God 
  • Practical guidance on preaching, prayer, the lectionary, and the sacraments 
  • For pastors planting churches or seeking to revitalize worship in long-standing congregations 

Pastoral Care 

Pastoral Visitation: For the Care of Souls by Tyler C. Arnold (Lexham Press, 2023) 

  • Why visitation should be at the center of pastoral ministry 
  • How the incarnation grounds the practice of pastoral presence 
  • Practical guidance for setting up a visitation rhythm in a busy and resistant age 
  • For parish pastors, associates, chaplains, and elders called to be with their people 

Funerals: For the Care of Souls by Tim Perry (Lexham Press, 2021) 

  • Recovering a theology of the Christian funeral in a death-avoidant age 
  • How to plan the service, preach the eulogy, and handle the hard cases 
  • Helping the dying prepare faithfully for death 
  • For pastors, chaplains, and any minister caring for the dying and bereaved 

Spiritual Warfare: For the Care of Souls by Harold Ristau (Lexham Press, 2023) 

  • Why spiritual warfare is very real but more often mundane than dramatic 
  • God’s Word, prayer, and worship as the church’s true weapons 
  • For pastors, chaplains, missionaries, and military chaplains 

Witness and Service 

Evangelism: For the Care of Souls by Sean McGever (Lexham Press, 2023) 

  • 2024 Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year for Evangelism 
  • How every Christian evangelizes and why every Christian should be re-evangelized 
  • A sustainable, biblical vision for evangelism rooted in pastoral care 
  • For pastors, evangelists, and ministry leaders weary of programmatic “how-to” approaches 

Stewardship: For the Care of Souls by Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis (Lexham Press, 2021) 

  • Grounds stewardship as identity in Christ  
  • Moving congregations from idolatry around money to joyful generosity 
  • For pastors leading stewardship seasons or rethinking their church’s giving culture 
  • Book cover of Pastoral Mentoring by Jared C. Wilson

Pastoral Wisdom in Every Era 

The pastor’s calling has not changed in two thousand years. The Lexham Ministry Guides aims to recover faithful pastoral tradition that can benefit ministers in any era. These books focus on the enduring work of how to be a physician of souls. 

If this fits the kind of pastor you want to be, we encourage you to pick up a volume in the series and carry forward the essential work of ministry! 

Lindsay John Kennedy is a senior marketing manager at Baker Publishing Group. He holds an MA in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary and worships at an Anglican church near Seattle, where he lives with his wife, four kids, three cats, and a tortoise.