Introduction
In our mission statement we say that we believe we are called to be “transformed disciples, following Jesus, using our gifts, so that our people might be saved.” I want today to think more deeply about what it means to be a church where we all seek to “use our gifts”.
It has long been an MCC value to affirm what is technically called the “priesthood of all believers” and it is generally seen as a Protestant value against what is perceived to be a Roman Catholic fault. But what does it actually mean? To really understand this we need to think a little bit about Church History.
A Quick Look at Our History
In the Early Church there was no easy to see and understand pattern of ministry. The Spirit seemed to anoint different people for different jobs in the Church. Early on the Apostles realised that they couldn’t do all the tasks of leadership by themselves and they asked the congregation in Jerusalem to elect people to serve as deacons, or servants, of the congregation. These people then had a distinctive ministry of service in the first Church allowing the apostles to get on with preaching and evangelism.
As the Church grew it became clear that some people were called to be apostles. These were those who had responsibility for leading and guiding a number of churches. Others were preachers and teachers, others had the gift of healing, still others the gift of discernment. The pattern we see in the New Testament is of a community of people amongst whom the task of being Church was diffused. The Church grew when the people realised that being Church was a mutual responsibility and when each played their part.
However, it became clear that leadership was needed in order to administer, or manage all these different gifts. By the end of the Second Century, however, a pattern was emerging of overseers, or Bishops, being in charge of the Church assisted by deacons. In the next hundred years the Church grew rapidly and the idea grew that there could only be one bishop in a town, so the bishop ordained people as priests, to lead congregations in their city. Deacons were still used but the pattern emerged of a professional caste of clergy who were called and ordained to lead the Church.
This pattern continues today in most of the church. In the Reformation there was a reaction to the idea that we needed a professional caste of people in order to be Church and the idea of the “priesthood of all believers” grew up. This was a radical attempt to get back to the first structure of the Early Church. What happened however, is that Protestant churches still had a professional caste of clergy, called pastors or ministers, but still left most of the work of the Church to this caste.
In the last 40 years or so there has been a growing realisation in all parts of the Church that this is not the model of ministry which the New Testament speaks of and is not an efficient form of ministry.
The Church uses clergy as its professional workforce. We speak of people being ordained as “going into the Church” and there is an assumption that the laity pay the clergy to do the “work of the Church” for them.
This means that we expect clergy to preach, lead worship, celebrate the sacraments, visit the sick, worry about the budget, beg people to serve on committees, be public spokespersons for the church, serve as personal chaplains, always be nice, evangelise, administer the work of the church, have an ideal home and personal life, and think of ingenious ways to promote church growth. Of course many clergy buy into this assumption and still pay lip service to the idea that every believer is a priest by virtue of their baptism.
What does it mean?
For me the notion that we are all priests because of our baptism and our belief in Jesus means that God has given each and every one of us certain gifts. These gifts are to be used in that strange thing called “ministry” or what we might see as the work of the Church.
By “ministry” or by the term “work of the Church” I mean a lot of things. I mean evangelism, pastoral care, music and the performing arts, preaching, leading worship, listening, giving, helping, compassion, publicity, prayer and a million other things that go on to nurture and help God’s people grow.
I heard of a Church in the Anglican diocese of Ripon which was having trouble getting a new priest. They asked the bishop to come along and discuss with them their problem. So the bishop asked them to list the qualities they wanted in a priest. They said that they wanted someone who was a good preacher, but who didn’t preach too long, a good listener who didn’t judge, but someone who didn’t have liberal views on sexual ethics, they wanted a good theologian, but someone who could be accessible, they wanted someone who would lead them but not tell them what to do, someone who would be a good chair of meetings, but not cut people off in mid flow, they wanted someone who would be creative with music and liturgy, but not change anything. Their new priest had to have an exemplary family life and his family had to be leading members of the church and a shining example to others. He had to be easily available to members of the church, not mind using his home for ministry, and the home had to be well kept. The new priest had to be very good at sick visiting and available for them day or night.
Eventually the Bishop finished writing down the list of qualities they wanted and commented wryly that until he ordained the Archangel Gabriel they were unlikely to get all that they were looking for!
Now partly this congregation were being unrealistic about what they wanted in a priest. Partly they wanted the priest to be an ideal Christian as that would relieve them of the responsibility of having to be that themselves! But mainly, they had got it wrong. They expected the priest to do the work of the church, and not do it themselves.
Gifts Are Given for a Purpose
Gifts are given to every member of the Church to be used in Ministry. When these gifts are used together the Church becomes effective. So we see from the passage we heard read to us today that in the Church God called and gifted some to be apostles – those who would have a ministry of support and encouragement for a number of local churches. In our denomination this apostolic ministry is seen in a number of places, but especially in what we expect of our Elders. Paul goes on to say that some are called to be prophets – those who can declare God’s will in a situation. When we protest against injustice we are being prophetic. Some are called and gifted to be evangelists – those who are called and gifted to share their faith with others. Some are called to be pastor-teachers – those who are called to lead God’s people and to manage the ministry of the church as well as to teach the faith. These people are called, says Paul, to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the Church might be built up.
Our reading today does not give an exhaustive list of gifts – there are several lists Paul has in the New Testament. But it does show the idea of different gifts being used together, by different people, to allow a church to function as God intended.
So What Do We Pay the Clergy For?
You may listen to all this and wonder what clergy are for then! Why do we pay clergy if the ministry of the church is a shared one? Some denominations believe that there is no need for clergy – the most famous example being the Quakers who have no paid ministers and see leadership as diffused within the body of the local congregation, or meeting. However, most churches still see a need for clergy and see this from the pages of the New Testament.
If we think clergy are to be the ones who do the ministry of the Church then we get it wrong. If we see clergy as the only ones who can lead and preside at the sacraments I think we get it wrong as we limit God.
Clergy are called to be managers, or to use the Biblical word, administrators of the Church. They are to lead and to manage the different gifts that are within the church to ensure that the work of the church is done. We are to lead and teach the people not because of our ordination, or because of the costumes we wear, or the position we hold, but because all these things are supposed to be signs that the wider body of the Church has recognised certain gifts within us.
The particular gifts I bring to this congregation are there to supplement and administer the gifts that are here in everyone else. If you relied on me for music you would really value Neil and Philip and Craig a lot more! If you relied on just me for pastoral care you would value John, and Ed and Andy and Smiley a lot more. If you relied on just me for evangelism you would rely on Pontus and Darren a lot more. But if you left the musicians to evangelise you might not get very far! If you left the pastoral care people to organise a business meeting we would be there all night (we’d feel ok about this as we would be well cared for!). The gifts and skills God gives us are to be used together in creative works of service.
Often in MCC we mistake the evidence that a particular person is gifted in certain ways with evidence that God is calling them to be ordained. Local churches are the primary places where the people of God can use their gifts and skills to make a difference. We only need one pastor but we need lots of evangelists, and healers, and prophets and musicians, and caring people. It would make no sense if we ordained all these people, as we believe that we all share a ministry, we all share a priesthood.
A Vision of a New Kind of Church / A Vision of the Early Church
More than any other church I have ever seen or encountered, MCC has the potential to really live out this idea of a New Testament pattern of ministry. The fact that lay people are allowed, after training, to celebrate communion is really radical, and because we see this week after week, we forget how radical it is. The fact that lay people are allowed, after training, to preach is radical. The fact that one of our elders, or bishops, is a lay person is radical too.
We are in a church which tries to take seriously the NT pattern of ministry where people have a role not because of their ordination but because of their gifts and skills which have been drawn out, honed and polished and used to glorify God in the Church. This is a vision of a new kind of church, but it is also the vision of the Church in the New Testament.
Now this vision can sound very attractive, but also very scary. Like the Jewish people on the Exodus with their new found sense of freedom, we might like to go back to traditional patterns and ways of being. What is familiar is safe, what is new is often scary. It is easier to employ a cleric to do it all for us. It is easier to let those who are really clever, really special do these things, than believe we have the gifts and skills to do things well too.
A Challenge
I want to leave you with a challenge. I want to encourage you to discover what your spiritual gifts and skills are. Those of you who have joined in the last year will already have done this. But for the rest I want you to take the little spiritual gifts booklet away with you and answer the questions. Having done this and filled in the score sheet you will find a draft list of gifts. Then I want you to do the difficult bit – I want you to ask others who know you well if they see these gifts in you. So if you get the gift of leadership – ask people around you if others seem to follow your lead – if they don’t you are just going on a long walk. If you think you have a gift of counselling, but after talking to you couples split up dramatically, it may be that you don’t have this gift! By asking others to tell you what they see within you we take more of a risk, but we also find out more about ourselves.
When you have done this, match the gifts and skills to various ministry areas within and without the Church. Ask God if you are doing all that you should be doing within this community.
God gifts the Church all the gifts and skills it needs to fulfil its purpose. The problem is getting the members of the Church to unwrap and use the gifts they have been given. My challenge to you this week is to engage more fully in that process of unwrapping.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.