RelevantPreaching.Com
Real Messages for Real People
Featured Article
Returning Ministry to the Members
by David Calvin, 2010
by David Calvin, 2010
A person once said to me, "Whether you like it or not, the Churches of Christ have a pastor system." Although we jump through hoops to deny it, there is no getting over the fact that many "preachers" in the Churches of Christ approach ministry on the "clergy-laity" model. Why it is this way is not hard to understand: Preachers are hired to become clergy. The elders expect it, the deacons expect it, the members expect it. The preacher ministers and the members are the recipients of his ministry. If you do not believe this, reflect for just a moment. What would happen if you did not visit an elder's wife at the hospital bedside? Let us suppose it just slipped your mind. What would happen if you helped a member organize an event and you did not show up because you figured she had it under control? What would happen to you if you were not "in the thick of it" at every single church event?
And so we go on, hour after hour, day after day. We visit every elderly member in the church on a weekly basis, despite the fact that this work might be better served by members and deacons. We visit every member and every member's relative that is hospitalized and we sit through hours-long surgery. We attend every youth function. We preach every funeral. We marry every couple. Are these valid ministries? Certainly! And they should be handled with diligence, care, and love. But, at the end of the day, the preacher has performed ministries where, quite possibly, he was least equipped to do so.
In Ephesians 4, Paul says that God gave the church leadership for a very specific reason: Namely, that leadership would equip the members to minister. "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." (Ephesians 4:11, 12) If preachers handle all of the ministry themselves and the members expect this, the body of Christ can never be transformed into Christ's image.
Church leaders are to equip the members "so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12, 13)
Transformation comes through imitation. Serving as Jesus served. Building one another up in love. And this can only happen if leadership equips, mentors, and trains church members in the usage of their unique, God-given gifts.
If you are a church leader, whether an elder or a preacher, let me ask: Are you holding your church back? Are you keeping your members from experiencing a transformation into Christ-likeness by refusing to equip them for service in the body? Are you helping your members find their spiritual gifts, their service styles, and their passion?
Isn't it about time that we return ministry to where God intended for it to be?
