Good reading
Sarah, at “Accidental Blog“, wrote a very thought-provoking post last week called “Just who is it?” In this post, Sarah quotes a friend concerning the “ordination of homosexuals in the Anglican church”. Of course, there is a much broader discussion concerning “ordination”: homosexuals, women, divorcees, younger men, etc. Shouldn’t we start by questioning “ordination” itself?
Anyway, here’s the money quote:
It only becomes problematic when God’s own people don’t know Him well enough to recognize that He has or has not ordained someone, & for what.
You mean, we actually have to know God and what He’s doing? (If you want to think more about this, you might like my post called “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers“.)
Also, grace, at “Kingdom Grace“, has written an excellent post called “Practice makes Perfect“. In this post, grace deals with the common practice of “practicing” for a church meeting. grace makes her point with some sarcasm and Scripture re-mixes. Here’s the sarcasm:
“Honey, would you like to go on a date this weekend?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe we could get together for practice on Thursday.”
~
“Mary, do you have time for coffee this afternoon?”
“This afternoon works for me.”
“Great. Could we meet a half hour early to practice our conversation?”
~
“I would love to invite the Smiths over for dinner soon.”
“You should give them a call.”
“I wonder when they would have time for a practice session.”
~
“The family reunion is this coming Sunday afternoon.”
“It will be great to see everyone.”
“We will be getting together Saturday evening to practice first.”
Do we really need to practice for a family reunion? Oh… wait… maybe that’s the point. So, what are we practicing for?
Who is qualified and responsible to speak?
Not long after I started this blog, I wrote two posts that were probably my most substantial blog posts to that point. The posts concerned two questions that all believers should ask themselves when they gather together: “Who is qualified to speak during the meeting?” and “Who is responsible for speaking during the meeting?” Although I wrote these two posts over two years ago, I still agree with what I wrote. If the church – meaning all believers – recognizes that anyone indwelt by the Spirit, motivated by love, and with a desire to built up the church is qualified and responsible to speak during the meeting of the church, and if church leadership and structure allows this type of mutual participation in the meeting of the church, then I believe the church will mature far beyond what we currently see. I hope you enjoy these two posts – now combined for your reading pleasure. 😉
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Who is qualified to speak during the meeting?
“For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” (1 Corinthians 14:31)
Does Paul really mean “all”? Does he really mean that every believer in the meeting has the potential for speaking edifying words during the assembly of the church? Does he really expect that a new believer could speak words that would “teach” a pastor?
The answer to all of these questions must be “Yes!”
Consider the ones to whom Paul is writing. For the most part, they do not have a personal copy of the Scriptures. And yet, Paul expects all of them to be able to speak during the meeting. “Knowing” Scripture must not be a prerequisite for speaking during the assembly.
So, what qualifies someone to speak during the meeting? In the context of 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul offers three different qualifications:
1) The person must be indwelt by the Spirit of God, and therefore gifted by the Spirit.
2) The person must speak from a motivation of love.
3) The person must speak in order to edify the body of Christ.
These are the only qualifications. Education is not a qualification. Experience is not a qualification. Speaking ability is not a qualification.
Who is allowed to speak in our assemblies? Perhaps there are times when those “qualified” should be silent in order to allow others to speak “that all may learn and all may be encouraged.”
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Who is responsible for speaking during the meeting?
Yesterday [previous post above], I asked the question, “Who is qualified to speak during the meeting?” Today, I want to take this farther: Whose responsibility is it to speak during the meeting? Within most groups of believers, this responsibility falls upon one man (or at most a few men). What does Scripture say?
1 Corinthians 12-14 teaches that every believer is gifted by the Holy Spirit, and during the assembly of the church, these gifts are to be exercised in order to build up (edify) the body of Christ (not the individual). So, all believers are qualified to speak during the meeting.
Furthermore, Ephesians 4:1-10 confirms this. Gifts are given to each believer by Christ (through the Spirit). Gifted individuals are given to the church (Eph. 4:11-12) to equip the body for works of service in order to edify the body towards maturity, which is measured by the stature of Christ himself.
Ephesians 4:16 is an interesting verse. Removing the modifying phrases, the main clause is “the body… causes the growth of the body” (to soma … ten auxesin tou somatos poieitai…). Adding the modifying phrases, this body growth only happens when the body is in Christ, the head, and when each member of the body is doing his own part, which is “measured” by Christ.
Combining these two passages (1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4), every member is instructed to take responsibility for the growth of the body.
Are pastors responsible for being filled with the Spirit and speaking during the meeting in order to edify the body? Yes! But, so is every other member. If one man (or a few men) dominates the meeting time, then he is not allowing the body to function as God desires it to function-he is usurping the responsibility given to every member of the body. If a group of people allows one man (or a few men) to dominate the meeting, then they are not fulfilling their God-given responsibility to edify the body.
Pastors and Persecution
No, this post is not about persecuting pastors nor is it about pastors persecuting others. Instead, I am linking to two very good blog posts: one about pastors and one about persecution.
First, my friend Lew at “The Pursuit” in a post called “The List” lays out the “qualifications” for elders from 1 Timothy 3:2-7. If this truly is a list of “qualifications” then who qualifies? According to Lew, very few of the people from the Old or New Testaments “qualifies”. Everyone that I know would drop off the list from the first words: above reproach. Oh, sure, we can explain that one away, but then what good is it? Perhaps this is not a “qualification” list after all? (I’ve talked about this previously in a post called “Qualifications and examples“.)
Second, Lawrence from “Agonizingly Honest Christianity” asks some very good questions in his post called “Agonizing over church membership/fellowship“. You should read this post. He asks if we would be as picky who we would pray with if we were facing persecution and perhaps imminent execution. Would we care how they prayed, or what they emphasized about salvation, or their views on eschatology? Or, would we only care that the person was a brother or sister in Christ? Why is different when we’re not facing persecution? (HT: Lionel)
This seems like a good test to me
Bob at “the planter” has come up with what I think is a good test in his post called “BETTER YET! Let’s prove it.”
Better yet, let’s put this to the test.
Is your Church controlling you when it comes to the ministries you can create or serve in? Will they allow you to serve where the Holy Spirit is leading you to serve.
Can you decide what ministries your church is involved in?
Would your church leadership bless you to take 20+ quality leaders and start a new disciple-making church?Better yet – Let’s prove it.
Tell your pastor that God’s Holy Spirit is leading you to leave the church to start a Disciple-making Church and tell him that 20-30 “very important” (name them) leaders are joining with you. Then ask Him if you have His blessing. Try to keep a straight face here. (Mike and John) You should try this. You are both ornery enough to pull this off.
If your pastor will bless you and release you & the people to do this you are in a God honoring -God releasing ministry. If your pastor does not give you his blessing than you are in a system of control. Jesus and His plan to reach the world is one of releasing to walk in Holy Spirit obedience.
God owns the people -the Church does not. The problem is that most churches do not know this.
I don’t know who “Mike and John” are, but I can tell you that I would be very excited if someone who was part of our church would try this. Of course, I would be very disappointed to find out it was “just a test”.
What about you? What about your pastor?
One of us
I’ve been in conversations (both here and on other blogs) concerning pastors/elders and whether or not they are “one of us”. That is, often leaders feel separated from other believers, and believers feel separated from leaders.
This separation and the lack of real relationships between leaders and other believers has been listed as one of the causes of fatigue and “burn-out” for pastors/elders. Most leaders that I talk with today do not subscribe to the “wisdom” that pastors should not have friends among the church – although that has been taught and still is taught in some circles. Instead, most believers now recognize the need to have real, authentic relationships with other believers – including leaders.
So, why does the church in general often find it difficult to form relationships with pastors/elders? Why do pastors/elders feel isolated from other believers?
I believe there are many reasons for this separation. The first reason that leaders feel separated from other believers is that there is an ongoing practice and belief of clergy/laity division. Yes, most would deny that there is a ontological difference between leaders and other believers, but in our words and practices we often veto our denial. Usually, when the church meets, leaders have a special place to sit, a special place to stand, and speak at special times when others are not allowed to speak. Leaders decide who does what, when, and how. Leaders baptize and serve the Lord’s Supper. Leaders pray at special times and officiate special ceremonies. By our actions we demonstrate that we really thing that leaders are different than other believers.
However, some leaders refuse to separate themselves from other believers by these actions. In other words, leaders sit and stand with everyone else. Other believers speak and make decisions and baptize and serve the Lord’s Supper and pray and officiate special ceremonies. Many times, this does not completely overcome the separation between leaders and other believers.
Sometimes this separation persists because of special titles. Sometimes this separation continues because the leaders are considered “short-timers” – they came from another location and will probably move again. Sometimes leaders and other believers cannot form relationships because the people see them as “hirelings” – paid to do religious work for them. Similarly, leaders sometimes project or are perceived to project the image that they are perfect – or near perfect, since no one will claim to be perfect – which hinders other believers from forming relationships with them. This will probably be a very controversial point – it usually is – but it is my opinion that being a paid religious professional (pastor/elder as a job) also separates leaders from other believers.
Any time leaders see themselves as “special” or any time other believers see leaders as “special”, then they will find it difficult to form relationships with one another. Whenever the interaction moves away from leaders being “among” the body to the leaders being “over” the body, then leaders will be separated from other believers.
In reality, leaders are more mature believers – more consistent in their walk with Christ (supposedly) – but they are not “special”. They are not holy men doing holy work in holy places. All of God’s children are holy – set apart by God for service – and all of God’s children are ministers (servants). When we understand this – and when we live and act accordingly – we will find that our leaders are actually “one of us”.
Do you know of other beliefs or practices that would hinder pastors/elders from forming relationships with other believers?
A weak church or a strong church?
I have read recently that those who hold to a more structured and organized understanding of the church have a “strong ecclesiology”, while those who hold to a less structured and organized understanding of the church have a “weak ecclesiology”. I am one of those who believe that the church is not defined by either structure or organization. I believe that less organization and structure is better. I also believe that organization and structure often hamper the church. Is this a “weak ecclesiology”?
In my ecclesiology, all believers are “ministers” – servants. All believers respond to God by serving others – both other believers and nonbelievers. Leaders (pastors/elders or deacons) are not more responsible that others. All believers teach, care for, and watch out for other believers. Leaders are not more responsible for teaching, shepherding, or overseeing. Believers do not serve because they hold a certain position, but because they are all gifted to serve.
In my ecclesiology, all believers are “missionaries” – sent out into the world. All believers respond to God by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in word and in deed. All believers live in a way that demonstrates the love of God to “the least” of society. All believers speak in a way that proclaims the truth of God, including his grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Leaders (missionaries or evangelists) are not more responsible for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Since all believers have been reconciled to God, all believers are ambassadors, representing God in his ministry of reconciliation.
In my ecclesiology, all believers speak and serve one another during the meeting of the church. All believers are gifted by the Holy Spirit; and, when the church comes together, he alone decides who speaks and who serves in a way that best edifies all believers present. Even those who aren’t prophets can prophesy when enabled by the Spirit. Even those who aren’t teachers can teach when enabled by the Spirit. Leaders (teachers or preachers) are not more responsible for speaking during the meeting of the church. Since all believers are gifted by the Spirit, and since love and edification – not training or education – are the requirements for speaking during the meeting of the church, all believers share that responsibility.
In my ecclesiology, all believers make disciples. All believers work to see one another grow in maturity in both the knowledge and unity of Jesus Christ, with him being our only measure and goal. All believers consider how best to stir up one another toward love and good deeds. Leaders are not more responsible for discipleship than other believers. All believers help one another bear their burdens, correct one another in gentleness, and exhort one another daily to grow in character and obedience toward Jesus Christ.
In the traditional “strong” ecclesiology, a few leaders in the church are responsible for serving, evangelizing, speaking, and discipling. In my “weak” ecclesiology, the entire church – every believer – responds to God’s amazing work in their lives by serving, evangelizing, speaking, and discipling.
What’s the difference? In the traditional “strong” ecclesiology, leaders are given and take responsibility for things for which they (alone) are not responsible. Other believers, in turn, allow or expect leaders to carry these added responsibilities. Then, when things are not “accomplished”, the leaders are found to be at fault. This may be a “strong” ecclesiology, but I believe it creates a weak church.
Responsibilities and Expectations of Elders
I recently came across this generic “job description” for pastors (elders). I think it is a good representation of what is expected of “pastors” in the modern church:
- Plan and conduct the worship services; prepare and deliver sermons; lead in observance of ordinances.
- Lead the church in an effective program of witnessing and in a caring ministry for persons in the church and community.
- Visit members and prospects.
- Conduct counseling sessions; perform wedding ceremonies; conduct funerals.
- Serve as chairman of the Church Council to lead in planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and evaluating the total church program.
- Work with deacons, church officers, and committees as they perform their assigned responsibilities; train and lead the deacons in a program of family ministries.
- Act as moderator of church business meetings.
- Cooperate with associational, state, and denominational leaders in matters of mutual interest and concern; keep the church informed of denominational development; represent the church in civic matters.
- Serve as chief administrator of the paid church staff; supervise the work of assigned paid staff workers.
As you read through that list, which items are scriptural responsibilities of elders alone – meaning that the items are not required of other believers? What do you expect of elders that you don’t expect of other believers? Why?
Deacon and Usher and Pastor
As most of my long-time readers know, I love satire. I recently ran across the blog “Deacon and Usher’s Weblog“, which chronicles the discussion of two buzzards – a deacon and an usher – I kid you not. Their latest post is called “Traditional Title of Pastor or Real Titles?” In this post, the two birds discuss titles for their pastor, if they used titles which demonstrated his actual job function. These were Usher’s suggestions:
Chief guilt officer, Chief alter caller, Chief wine and bread steward, Chief Membership Pusher, Chief Building Fund Persuader, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Delegator, Chief Manipulator, Chief divorce counselor, Chief curriculum chooser, Chief Finanacial Officer, Chief Idealist (keep the member) officer
hmmm… are the two buzzards suggesting that some “Pastors” don’t actually shepherd?
The [Chinese] Church Institution
The latest PBS / Frontline World program includes a segment called “Jesus in China“. Evan Osnos, the reporter, examines Christianity in China.
He begins by talking about the “underground” church. The underground church in China is made of Christians who cannot meet together openly. Instead, they meet in homes and caves and other locations around their cities. Many of these underground churches are now beginning to meet more openly, in spite of ongoing harassment. Often, the leaders of these underground churches are arrested by Chinese government officials, who charge the leaders with various political charges – but never religious charges.
Interestingly, there is an official Christian church in China. This is what Osnos says about it:
This is the [Communist] Party’s answer to Christianity: an official church where Christians are supposed to worship. The Party actually started this church right after the revolution to put religion under state control… It can all get a little confusing figuring out why this version of Christianity is tolerated… Pastors here like Wu Wei Cheng are trained and approved by the government. I asked Pastor Wu why the majority of Christians are choosing the underground church over his.
Here is Pastor Wu’s response:
There are some people who are not willing to be part of the church. They would rather stay or worship by themselves. I believe ??? [couldn’t make out the word] Church – the church I’m serving – is the church of Christians in China – is the church of the people.
Pastor Wu’s response sounds like the response of many institutional church leaders in America: “My church is the true church, and anyone who doesn’t want to ‘worship’ like and with me is being rebellious and not part of the true church.”
By the way, if you watched the segment, you’ll notice that video that they show of the official church in China looks very familiar. In fact, it looks like they have all the right parts in place: a nice building, choir singing, hymnals, preaching, even the Lord’s Supper with the small cups. I think many Christians in the West would be very comfortable in the official church in China. I wonder why so many Chinese Christians are not comfortable there – to the point of being arrested for meeting “underground”…
As long as
This is from Dave Black:
As long as there is a strong emphasis on church membership rather than on Christian witness and sacrifice…
As long as the book of Acts is ignored in favor of books on church growth and mission strategy…
As long as worship is something we attend rather than something we do…
As long as the focus is on “missionaries†rather than on the whole people of God…
As long as the gathered church refuses to be the scattered church…
As long as Christians believe that church is a place of solace rather than a place of work…
As long as planning and decision-making is entrusted solely to the leadership…
As long as interest in humanity and the world is replaced by self-interest…
As long as we identify “minister†with clergy status…
As long as the pastor remains “the answer manâ€â€¦
As long as we refuse to acknowledge that the Old Testament distinction between priest and people has come to an end…
As long as we love our churches and our organizations more than we love Jesus…
As long as we go to church in the mood of a spectator and not a participant…
…the church will never be a freed and freeing Body, equipping all believers to be agents of the kingdom of God.