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About ten years ago, Christian Education and Publications,
mailed a copy of R. Paul Stevens book, Liberating the Laity to all the
PCA pastors. We felt at the time that Stevens had written on a theme that all
pastors should work through, then teach and practice with their congregations.
As the title suggests, the book dealt with the role of the laity in the overall
ministry of the church. Since writing that book, he has lamented his use of the
term laity and sought to correct it. In The Other Six Days, he has
written on the subject of roles in ministry with more insight and research from
Scripture and church history than he included in his first book. If you buy and
read two books this year, this should be the second one
In my doctoral dissertation in the late 1980s, I wrote that
while the Protestant Reformers called the church back to the Bible as the basis
of authority, as they developed a clear statement on ‘salvation by grace through
faith,’ as they set forth the priesthood of all believers, the Protestant church
has generally failed to develop the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers
in everyday practice. The result has been a dichotomy within the body of Christ
that lacks a biblical base.
Stevens picks up that theme and develops it in a way that
causes us to see the weakness in our ecclesiology, not only in Roman Catholic or
mainline Protestant churches, but also our own Reformed churches, past and
present. Much contemporary church growth philosophy builds on a wrong model of
ministry, where there are two categories of people, the clergy, or
professionals, and the laity, or common people. The clergy study theology, do
the ministry of the church, set forth the church’s vision and mission, and the
“other group of people,” called the laity, sit by and watch them do it.
Stevens points out that there is no biblical basis for such
a division. We first find that distinction at the end of the first century AD,
in the writings of Clement of Rome. No inspired Apostle in Scripture
distinguished between professionals and non-professionals. God’s people are one
people. True, we have different callings and assignments within the body of
Christ, but there is no distinction. We are all the people of God. This sad
dichotomy has not only impacted the doctrine of the church, but has caused a
misperception of the church’s ministry. It implies that theology is a science to
be studied rather than a ministry to be performed. It suggests that the
professionals study theology and doctrine in order to dumb it down for the
non-professionals. The professionals do the work of the ministry, while the
non-professionals sit by and cheer them on.
Stevens points out that God’s calling to ministry and
mission is not something for a special class of people. He maintains that
churches have not and are not recognizing, supporting, training, and equipping
the people for ministry in their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods, resulting
in a distorted view of what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about. It is
not merely reading the Bible, sharing the Gospel, and praying. It is also
serving Christ in all of life, in the marketplace and home, as well as the
church. It is being involved in ministry and mission right here and not and not
merely something for those called and set apart for church work or foreign
missions.
Every church should commission all of its members for
ministry and mission, even if they are shop workers, teachers, lawyers, doctors,
farmers, etc. Stevens maintains, and we strongly agree, that God’s people need
to recover the biblical definition and description of who they are and what it
means to live for the Lord, as his people, in everyday life. A clergy-laity
division is not only biblically wrong, it produces results that are
counterproductive to the Kingdom of God.
The whole academic model has grown from this false division
among God’s people. Stevens demonstrates how the division fed the idea that
non-professionals should not study theology but rather listen to the clergy.
This notion has effectively served the idea that theology is some kind of
special discipline, separate from life. For instance, a seminarian studies
theology in one class, apologetics in yet another, and practical ministry in
another. In actuality, they should be studied as a whole. In reality, theology
is life; theology is ministry; theology is mission It is not an abstract
discipline that we only study and think about. It is not something that we study
as a separate discipline from the other aspects of reality. [See Frame’s related
comments in the review of The Other Six Days.]
Should the clergy be abolished? Should the laity be
eliminated? The answer is yes, as two different and distinct categories of God’s
people. Yes, but, as the loas—the people of God, one among equals with
different functions of ministry and mission— no.
It is a false notion that only academic institutions can
give us an education. Although what they do is important, it is only a part of
the educational process. Training and equipping people to do the works of
ministry and mission and to see all of life under the Lordship of Christ is the
church’s calling. Other institutions, including the family and the school, have
their place, but the church’s role, according to the Apostle Paul, is to equip
the people for life, including ministry and mission.
Studying this book with our CE&P staff, has been
challenging, transforming, revolutionizing, and hopefully confirming what we
already know about the church. It describes CE&P’s philosophy of ministry. If
you are comfortable with doing things as you have always done them or in seeing
the church function as a clergy dominated or driven ministry, do not read this
book. You will not sleep well. But, if you are willing to be “reformed according
to the Scriptures” and are willing to think God’s thoughts after him, read this
book. Devour it with the full intention of making certain that you are following
a biblical pattern, a kingdom model of being disciples of Jesus Christ.
- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator
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