Reaffirming the Clergy-Lay Distinction

As a child of the 70's, I grew up on the "ministry of every believer" constantly being emphasized in church.  This occurred in concert with the cry to elimate the clergy-laity distinction that had so characterized the church of the past.

Revelation 1:6 (NAS) -- "and He has made us to be a kingdom of priests to His God and Father..."

I rejoiced in this, that all believers were now priests unto God in Christ, thus elimating the need for human intermediaries.  And yet human intermediaries remained: the pastor, who spoke on God's behalf at weddings and funerals; the prophet, who revealed God's heart to his people; the teacher, who illuminated and explained the mysteries of the scriptures.

And while scripture affirms the egalitarian nature of the body of Christ (e.g. 1 Cor.12:12-13), it also abounds with examples of individuals, uniquely called and placed in positions of leadership and responsiblity for others.

1 Timothy 3:1 (RSV) -- "The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task."

Hebrews 13:7 (NIV) -- "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account..."

The paradoxes of scripture have always fascinated me, and this one is no exception.  The ministry of every believer is a critically important doctrine that still needs to be expounded upon within our communities of faith.  Yet, I'm wondering how modern, cultural individualism, may have undermined the uniqueness of the clergy.

Six years ago, I entered the Free Methodist family of faith.  One of the things I love about our denomination is the balance between having equal numbers clergy and laity in its administrative boards at every level (local, conference, national), while at the same time strongly affirming its episcopal form of church governance.

After 30 years of pastoral ministry,  I've come to more deeply appreciate and be awed by the unique privilege of serving as a minister/pastor/priest.  I celebrate the diversity of "ministries" that God calls the members of his body to, and I've never let go of the belief that while we all have different occupations, we share a common vocation as ministers.  However, the scriptures present a clergy-laity reality that is not radically egalitarian. Men and women do occupy positions of responsibility for others, and are vested with an authority to carry out that responsibility.

Yes, we live in an age of horrible abuses by members of the clergy (mental, spiritual, sexual, financial).  But such offences should spur us on to redeem the holy offices of deacon, pastor, bishop, rather than dispense with them.  In the corner of God's kingdom where I grew up, we need to re-affirm the sacredness of the clergy-laity distinction -- not for the purpose of marginalizing or victimizing others, but in order to affirm and nurture the godly, competant leaders our spiritually-hungry society needs.

Comments

[Art]

Yes. I have felt like my calling to be a pastor had become insignificant and commone. "Everyone's a minister" we now say (but, I'm the only one in my church doing any ministering?). The pastor is "one of the guys."

I am "one of the guys," and I hope others will "minister," but I have been divinely called, appointed, and ordained to shepherd a flock, lead a church, and preach the Word. NOT everyone is called to do that. NOT everyone can do that. I am sure NOT everyone wants to do that :)!

[Faith]

The question for me is: is the distinction between clergy and layity done with an attitude of exclusion or benificiating(is this even a word?). When the distinction is made in order to exclude it should be rethought, because that was not what Christ was about. We should seek out and reaffirm the ways in which the distinction is made for the benifit of others. Most often it is a heart attitude though, just like many other things.

[Duncan Macleod]

I've been ordained as a Presbyterian minister since 1992. However, in that time, I've been working in national and state roles. In my local congregations my ordination has often been secondary and I have functioned as a leader despite being ordained. I've been reminded that being given a commission by the church does not remove me from the people. In my local church at present, I'm supporting the leaders of house churches in their role, so that they can disciple, pastor and teach in their own context.

Our church also has an equal proportion of lay and clergy at it's regional, state and national gatherings. But what happens is that clergy have a higher impact on decisions made at these levels.
I'm presently part of a conversation on ordination, specified ministries, and the ministry of all God's people, in the Uniting Church in Australia. We have a web site at http://assembly.uca.org.au/converse/ that is designed to resource conversation on the issues you raise.

[Pastor Art]

If we take seriously Eph.4:11f concerning the 5 - fold ministry offices as The Church's directive defining “leadership - clergy” in the body of Christ this conflect would fade. There is I think an overlooked element in the instruction. Those given the tasks are "gifts" to the Church as equippers. We often mouth these words speaking them like the TV or radio disclaimer guys at the end of commercials fortheequippingthesaintsfortheworkofservice.

We like to pontificate the words of Peter that we are a “royal priesthood”. The truth conveyed through Peter’s pen lies in Deut.19:5-6. The intent of Yahweh's choosing - delivering Israel meant each member of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s, decedents were to be priests. However the task fell to Moses and the Tribe of Levi by default. Peter declares, we restored through Christ must understand we are a Royal priesthood.

The reformation made the Body aware again of our status. When we study the priesthood of Yahweh displayed through the Tribe of Israel our dynamic for living opens up. We are ALL priests Deut.19,1st Peter 2 The priesthood were not just men sacrificing at the Alter. Every aspect of livelihood were among there ranks. The butcher the baker the candlestick maker (to use an old nursery rhyme). This included teachers etc seen in the 5 - fold list. As with any community, some members work within the community to prepare said community to serve as a part of the productivity the community needs to survive. There in lies the paradox of “clergy and laity”. Maybe if we changed our terminally and activities invalved to Biblical categories the “gap” would not be.
Pastor Art

[FrMatt]

What we often fail to recognize is that the truth of the matter lies in a dynamic tension between the preisthood of all beleivers and those uniquely called to the office of the priesthood. Israel was to be a Kingdom of priests served by a priesthood. It is the same today. We are a pristhood of believers to the world who are in turn served by a priesthood. This has been the classical understanding of the priesthood, it just got lost and the priesthood of all believers was obscurred because, for the most part, Christian Europe lost a sense of the mission of all believers. Once we lose our sense of mission we lose our notion of priesthood.