Friday, April 27, 2007
Of Clergy and Leaders
It will be realized only if the ‘nonclergy’ are willing to move up, if the ‘clergy’ are willing to move over, and if all God’s people are willing to move out. For the ministry of the community is rendered first and foremost in the world and for the world. It is performed in the daily lives of its people, in their participation and involvement in the structures of a complex society, in their sacrificial obedience in ‘worldly affairs,’ in their mission to reclaim the world for the God who claims the world in love.Notice, there is a three-step plan there to have the church fall in line with Biblical examples for ordering the church that form a sort of circle. The compelling question for me in all of this is how do we cut the circle and make a line out of it so that we actually travel in the direction we should be rather than just keep running around the circle?
My answer is very straighforward. We start with the clergy "moving over" and more with that same clergy working to pull up the "non-clergy" that needs to move up. My reasoning is simple, as the people in the current leadership position, it is up to them to lead us where we need to be. And yet, this is for them, an inherently risky activity. They risk much
- Livelihood - if the church worked on this model, they could be out of a job
- Prestige - there is a cache' that comes with the job that is quite difficult to garner in other pursuits
- Control - of the church, of the congregants, and of their ability to project themselves as good Christians. And this I think is the biggest risk of all.
I never made enough money working for Young Life for that first item to be an issue, but the last two played an enormous role in my life and transition from professional to avocational ministry. The credibility and acceptance that came with the job was huge - it seemed like an instant stamp of legitimization. I had access to people and to places that was very difficult to obtain without that magic title.
But worst of all was control, and specifically control of my image as a "good Christian." Frankly, it was much harder work to keep up the "spiritual disciplines" with a real job than it was in professional ministry. It was also much harder to behave in a Christ-like fashion. It is one thing to act with grace when it is your job to do so and another thing altogether to act gracefully towards a client that is flat out trying to steal from you.
And yet, I cannot help but think that if one senses a call, a special call, to the Lord's service, it is a call to risk. We need leadership willing to take those risks, or we risk far more than just the personal.
Related Tags: church, clergy, ordination, office, risk
