Here in the Godblogosphere there are, I think, a lot of frustrated vocational ministers. Some of us have tried and hated it; others have just failed, or at least been told we failed; other still have the background, but just never tried for whatever reason. We are people that are more mature in our faith, our understanding of our faith, and our personal relationship with Jesus that seek an outlet for that which God has given us to share. In many cases we have been frustrated by a vocation that seems to be about everything but what we thought it was about.
Many of us rail about the church's failures because, in addition to not having the outlet for ministry we believe we are called to, we feel we are on our own, unable to find the leadership that we need to take the next step in our own faith life. There are a lot of authors out there writing books about how people can find deeper and more meaningful faith. People like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster come to mind.
The problems I have described exists, I think because despite protestations to the contrary, Protestants have not really given up on the priestly role, they have relabeled it, they have limited it, but it still exists. There is still a formal differentiation about who can and cannot perform certain functions. In the mainline Protestant denominations, only those with the proper education and ordinations can preside at sacramental occasions. In many evangelical churches, the distinction is more along a business model and less a sacramental model, but the distinction remains - There are those that as "in" and those that are not.
Most of this official offices descend from the apostolic role. Have you ever thought about the fact that it's pretty funny when cessassionist denominations hold to apostolic roles? Perhaps even misguided?
There are two really important points that I think come from this introductory discussion.
The first is that as things stand, the role of vocational ministry appears to be reaching the pinnacle of being a Christian. That perception simply must end. It places undue pressure on those in vocational ministry and it does not aid in the building of mature Christians that function in the rest of the world. Once they get mature, they think they are supposed to go to work for the church. The best way I can think of to end this perception is in the hands of those in vocational ministry. More than anyone else, they must demonstrate the humility that only the Holy Spirit can provide. They must demonstrate that theirs is a role, not a goal, and that they have a long, long way to go towards becoming genuine and complete imitators of Christ.
The second point is related, the church has to make a genuine place, for genuine ministry by the laity. Not limited roles, not just boards - I mean real and meaningful ministry. There should be nothing reserved exclusively for the clergy. This doesn't mean there will not be standards and restrictions, it means that the clerical role will change from holder of certain special duties, to being the gatekeeper of those duties, the arbiter of when an individual has met the standard.
Which brings us back to humility. It is tempting when acting as gatekeeper, to keep what is behind the gate for oneself. Only genuine humility can overcome that tendency.
When God has taught me humility, it has generally been through someone explaining to me how much I did not know, and how poor I really was at X. And now the circle is complete. The first role of the laity is to help the clergy maintain the proper levels of humility - to hold them accountable, and the clergy must submit to it. To not to breeds the corruption that has become all to apparent in church, after church, after church.
Related Tags: lay leadership, humility, accountability, maturity, Christianity
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