Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Did You Get The Voice Mail?
Mark Roberts on I Corinthians 1:1-9:
I don't know for sure. We are called to different things, people often make mistakes about what they are called to do (I know I did) and then there is the inevitable (we are sinners after all) competition for the perceived "glory spots." These things are all huge problems when trying to run a church that believes in the ministry of all believers.
Then there are those that do not "pull their weight." Or more likely those that just have not dove in sufficiently to feel a call. Not to mention the people that don;t do things very well. All problems. I admit it.
But here is what I do know. The way we do church now does not uphold this ideal laid out by the apostle. We make church something we attend instead of something we do. We relegate very talented people to clean-up after the pitch in duty. We hire more and more and more staff, clearly indicating that you do not have "a ministry" unless you are getting paid - and driving talented volunteers further down the food chain.
There are a lot of problems that comes with really believing that we are all called to ministry - a whole lot. But I really would like to see then solved instead of doing something different to avoid them.
There is a problem, however, in what is often not stated when somebody says that a minister has a calling. The unspoken presumption is that only “special” people have been called by God into ministry, folks like pastors and missionaries. The vast majority of Christians, ordinary Christians, if you will, are by implication, the “uncalled.”Mark then goes on to urge people to find a way to serve - good message. But here is my question - What would a church that truly believed we are all called really look like?
This view of calling misses the plain teaching of Scripture, which reveals that every single Christian has been called by God. Notice how Paul addresses the recipients of 1 Corinthians: “I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.” Those who have been called are not some subset of the believers in Corinth, but rather the whole bunch of them.
I don't know for sure. We are called to different things, people often make mistakes about what they are called to do (I know I did) and then there is the inevitable (we are sinners after all) competition for the perceived "glory spots." These things are all huge problems when trying to run a church that believes in the ministry of all believers.
Then there are those that do not "pull their weight." Or more likely those that just have not dove in sufficiently to feel a call. Not to mention the people that don;t do things very well. All problems. I admit it.
But here is what I do know. The way we do church now does not uphold this ideal laid out by the apostle. We make church something we attend instead of something we do. We relegate very talented people to clean-up after the pitch in duty. We hire more and more and more staff, clearly indicating that you do not have "a ministry" unless you are getting paid - and driving talented volunteers further down the food chain.
There are a lot of problems that comes with really believing that we are all called to ministry - a whole lot. But I really would like to see then solved instead of doing something different to avoid them.
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