Messed-up Ministries and Lazy Laity
By Cara Baker
April 16, 2001
On
my mom’s side of the family, everyone either became an Apostolic minister or
married one—except my mom. My mom and my dad had careers, and other than
faithful church attendance, had nothing to do with the ministry.
I
grew up being taught the value of education and earning a living. Still, being
constantly exposed to the ministerial life through my extended family, I learned
to greatly value and respect working for God through His church. I was taught
that going to church was the most important part of my life (although now I
realize living for God is the most
important part of life). Therefore, I thought ministers and evangelists must be
God’s most important people. And although I saw how financially difficult,
emotionally draining and physically exhausting the ministry was, I desired to be
in it.
As
I got older and began to attend church conferences, I felt somehow I was missing
out because my parents weren’t ministers. The Preacher’s Kids (PK’s)
always knew the most people and had the most friends. They got to sing and
testify on stage. Everyone wanted to date them. I felt inferior. Apparently I
didn’t have the right last name.
I
don’t know how many times I’ve met people at conventions who seemed
unimpressed to meet me until the person introducing them to me would mention who
my grandfather, uncle or cousin is. Similarly, I have a friend in ministry who
is from a prominent Apostolic family. When he meets people, he will only use his
first name. He’s seen how different people treat him if they know his family.
It’s superficial special treatment. He’d rather be anonymous.
Ministry
vs. Laity
Indirectly,
through its rhetoric and the lifestyle it encourages, the church has fostered
the idea that ministry is a better calling than all others. As a result, we’ve
developed a misconception of the purpose of the church (equip the laity) and our
individual roles (to be salt and light). “In reality all Christians are in
full-time Christian service,” writes author, songwriter and producer Charlie
Peacock in At The Crossroads. “A few
callings, primarily those of pastors and missionaries, have defined this phrase
for us, and as a result, have limited the impact of God’s people everywhere
and in everything and have led to the confusion over the idea of ministry.”
Most
Christians who do not preach from a pulpit do not consider themselves ministers.
Even worse, church leaders do not consider them ministers either, and fail
weekly to prepare their congregation to engage the culture as working
Christians. “If the church has failed to influence the culture as she should,
it may well be because she has failed to equip workers to do the work of God in
the culture,” write Doug Sherman and William Hendricks in Your Work Matters to God. “Not simply to teach Sunday school
classes, or to oversee church finances, or even to volunteer in ministries to
the poor or the elderly—tasks that certainly must be done. But to be
Christ-followers and Christ-bearers in driving trucks, practicing law, making
travel reservations, processing insurance claims, writing novels, constructing
houses, ringing up sales, issuing traffic citations, repairing cars, etc.”
I
realize God has a purpose in the way I was raised to value education and career.
He gives me gifts for writing and communication that I am responsible to
develop. My everyday work is no less significant to those in the ministry.
Moreover, I am responsible to develop a spiritual life as deep as those who
minister for a living. Workers often excuse themselves from their spiritual
responsibilities like prayer and study because they don’t have to preach every
Sunday.
Environment
is everything
I
always cringe when I hear worship leaders and ministers pump and prime the
congregation to leave their problems outside and focus on God. True, our mood
shouldn’t affect the intensity of our worship. But if I leave my problems at
the door, then I will pick them right up again when I leave. If I can’t find
answers at church, where am I going to find them?
About
60 percent of a person’s life happens on the job, Sherman and Hendricks say.
Most of the remaining percentage goes to personal and family time and even less
goes to spirituality and church attendance. However, Sherman and Hendricks say
most church teaching addresses these areas in opposite proportions: “a very
heavy emphasis on religious matters, some help in regard to marriage and family,
but little that speaks directly to the workplace. The result: millions of people
go to work everyday unaided, disillusioned, and unchallenged by the Word of
God.”
But
Paul describes the purpose of the “five-fold ministry”: “to prepare God’s people for works of service.” (Ephesians
4:11-12) I Peter 2 gives direction for the “new clergy,” or lay people:
“to function as God’s agents not only in the workplace but throughout our
culture,” Sherman and Hendricks say. “The job of professional clergy, then,
is to produce and equip new clergy.”
I’m
responsible for doing God’s work in my sphere of influence, while my church
leaders are responsible for preparing me to get His work done. “Your local
church plays an extremely strategic role in determining how you as a Christian
worker will approach your work,” Sherman and Hendricks write.
“Environment
can make you or crush you because you will think according to your environment,
how you’re taught,” says David Peters, pastor of the Apostolic Lighthouse,
Kingsport, Tennessee. “The only way [a person with an average job will] be
proud of himself … is if he’s in a church that teaches him to dream big.
Some churches will imprison you and keep you where you’ve been all your
life.”
If
a pastor has a problem with desiring control over his congregation, he will not
free them to do God’s work. The church people will feel like the pastor is the
most spiritual among them and the only one qualified to perform God’s work.
Their role becomes diminished and their potential for ministry will be zapped.
Career-minded
Apostolics may be skeptical of a minister who does not value career, does not
speak the career person’s language and does not hold the career person’s
degree. To the same effect, a non-Apostolic will be skeptical of the career
person’s Christianity until he or she sees evidence of a life truly changed.
That change may begin at a church altar, but it’s only effective when taken
out of the church and into his or her world.
So
one day when I walk into a convention center and 500 Holy-Ghost filled people
know my name and offer me a smile, I hope to goodness there are at least 1,000
people in the world who know me even better.
Next week:
Preparing to do God’s work
ninetyandnine.com
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2001, Cara Baker
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Associate
Editor Cara Baker is now Associate
Editor of Publishing Development at Providence House Publishers in Franklin,
Tenn., where she uses her gifts to do God’s work.
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