Who Was The Pursuit of God Originally Written For?

The Pursuit of God was originally written for spiritually hungry Christians—especially ordinary believers, pastors, and missionaries who already knew Christian doctrine but wanted a deeper, lived knowledge of God. Tozer’s own preface says he was writing to "God’s hungry children," while Samuel Zwemer’s original introduction commends the book to pastors, missionaries, and devout Christians.

That means the book was not written only for scholars, clergy, mystics, or new converts. Its original audience was broad, but its spiritual condition was specific: people dissatisfied with a merely external or secondhand Christianity.

The clearest evidence is Tozer’s preface

Tozer’s preface is unusually direct about the people he had in mind.

He describes Christians whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger for God Himself. They want spiritual reality, not merely correct explanations. They are not rejecting truth; they are refusing to stop at truth that remains abstract.

He also speaks about believers who sit under sound Bible teaching yet remain inwardly hungry.

That tells us something important about the intended reader.

The book assumes a person may already:

know the gospel;
attend church;
understand basic doctrine;
hear Bible teaching;
participate in Christian activity;

and still need help cultivating a more conscious, surrendered, obedient fellowship with God.

It was not written mainly as an evangelistic tract

The Pursuit of God contains gospel assumptions and Christ-centered teaching, but it is not primarily a "how to become a Christian" booklet.

Tozer is mostly addressing people inside the Christian fold.

His central concern is not simply whether they can state Christian beliefs. He asks whether those beliefs have become personal knowledge, worship, desire, surrender, and obedience.

That is why the book can be confusing if a reader treats every chapter as a conversion message.

Tozer is writing about growth after grace has already awakened the heart.

The opening chapter makes this especially clear. He argues that a person seeks God because God has first drawn and awakened that desire. The believer’s pursuit is response, not self-salvation.

For that theological foundation, see How Does Tozer Hold Together God’s Grace and the Believer’s Pursuit of God?.

Zwemer broadens the picture

Samuel M. Zwemer’s 1948 introduction describes the book as useful for:

pastors;
missionaries;
devout Christians.

That list is helpful because it shows the book was never framed as private mystical reading for a narrow elite.

A pastor could read it as a warning against ministry without communion.

A missionary could read it as a warning against service without worship.

An ordinary Christian could read it as a call to know God in daily life.

Different roles, same central need.

What kind of Christian did Tozer especially have in mind?

The best answer is not demographic. It is spiritual.

Tozer seems especially concerned for the Christian who says:

"I know what I believe, but I do not want to be satisfied with words about God when Scripture invites me to know, worship, trust, and obey Him."

That reader might be young or old.

That reader might have attended church for six months or sixty years.

That reader might be a ministry leader or someone with no public role at all.

The key characteristic is holy dissatisfaction with merely external religion.

Was the book written for mature Christians?

Yes—but not only for them.

Some of Tozer’s vocabulary, historical references, and devotional intensity may be easier for mature readers. But the book’s fundamental questions are accessible to a newer believer:

Do I desire God?
What competes for my heart?
Am I trusting Christ?
Do I live as though God is present?
Am I willing to obey?
Is my ordinary life offered to God?

A newer Christian may simply need more biblical explanation around Tozer’s language.

That is one reason a modern study edition can be useful. It should not replace the original text, but it can define terms, connect themes to Scripture, and help the reader distinguish Tozer’s rhetoric from explicit biblical teaching.

Was the book written for pastors?

Pastors are clearly part of the intended audience.

Zwemer explicitly names them, and Tozer’s preface repeatedly discusses preaching, Bible teaching, church worship, and the spiritual hunger of believers.

But Tozer does not write a pastoral ministry manual.

He is not giving instructions on:

sermon preparation;
church administration;
staff leadership;
budgeting;
outreach systems;
counseling procedures.

Instead, he addresses the pastor’s inner life before God.

That distinction matters.

A ministry leader can become skilled at Christian work while becoming spiritually dry. Tozer’s question is whether the leader is personally pursuing God, not merely helping other people talk about Him.

See How Pastors Can Teach The Pursuit of God for the ministry-application question.

Was the book written for missionaries?

Yes, at least in Zwemer’s framing.

That makes sense given the book’s spiritual logic.

Missionary work involves sacrifice, public ministry, cross-cultural stress, theological conviction, and sustained service. Tozer’s emphasis on God as the believer’s highest treasure can function as a safeguard against making ministry success itself the ultimate goal.

The missionary is not merely sent to perform tasks.

The missionary is first a worshiper.

That principle also applies to disciple-makers, small-group leaders, parents, teachers, and pastors.

Was it written for "mystics"?

Tozer drew from historic Christian mystical and devotional writers, but calling the intended audience "mystics" is misleading.

He did not write for people pursuing vague spiritual experience apart from Scripture and Christ.

His original audience was conservative Christian. His preface assumes biblical doctrine, the gospel, church life, and the Christian Scriptures.

The book does use the language of personal experience, spiritual perception, presence, and inward knowledge. But those themes are meant to operate inside historic Christian faith.

Modern readers should therefore avoid two errors:

Error 1: Rejecting every experiential statement as unbiblical simply because it is experiential.

Error 2: Treating personal experience as automatically authoritative because it feels spiritual.

The healthier approach is biblical discernment. How Should Readers Test Tozer’s Teachings Against Scripture? gives a practical framework.

What about people who do not feel spiritually hungry?

The book may still be useful, but it can land differently.

Tozer writes with urgency. A reader who feels numb, exhausted, depressed, confused, or ashamed may experience his language as accusatory if every lack of desire is interpreted as simple rebellion.

Scripture gives a more complete pastoral picture.

Spiritual hunger can be weakened by:

sin;
distraction;
fear;
grief;
exhaustion;
suffering;
false beliefs about God;
unresolved conflict;
chronic stress;
seasons of spiritual dryness.

The right response is not always "try harder."

Sometimes it is repentance.

Sometimes rest.

Sometimes lament.

Sometimes wise counsel.

Sometimes patient return to Scripture and prayer.

Sometimes medical or mental-health support alongside pastoral care.

Tozer’s book is most helpful when its call to seek God is applied with biblical wisdom rather than as a one-size-fits-all diagnosis.

Who is not the primary audience?

It helps to name a few boundaries.

People looking for a systematic theology

The book is not comprehensive enough. Tozer assumes more theology than he explains.

People seeking a verse-by-verse Bible commentary

The book uses Scripture devotionally, but it is not an exegetical commentary.

People looking for a disciple-making method

It can form the inner life of a disciple-maker, but it does not provide a complete Great Commission strategy.

People looking for neutral religious history

The book is openly Christian, devotional, and exhortational.

People wanting a quick motivational read

Its language may be short, but its questions are meant to slow the reader down.

Why the original audience still matters

Modern publishers can market a classic to many audiences:

small groups;
teenagers;
men;
women;
pastors;
church classes;
discipleship pairs;
devotional readers.

Those uses may be legitimate.

But before adapting the book, it helps to remember whom Tozer himself seemed to address:

Christians who know the language of faith but long for God Himself.

That keeps the book’s purpose from being swallowed by modern packaging.

A useful reading posture

If you are approaching the book today, ask:

Where have I become content with information instead of response?
What desire, fear, possession, or habit competes with God?
Which statement should be tested carefully by Scripture?
What would obedience look like this week?
How could this truth shape the way I love and serve another person?

Those questions keep Tozer’s original pastoral purpose in view.

Go deeper

The modern study edition of The Pursuit of God: A Modern Study Guide to A. W. Tozer’s Classic on Abiding in Christ and Making Disciples is designed to help readers connect the original chapters with Scripture, reflection, and application. See the Amazon listing if that format fits your purpose.