MINISTRY AND THE PEOPLE
OF GOD
The Rev. Harold Shepherd, CD, M.A., S.T.M., LL.B., LL.M.,
Ph.D.
Sermon from April 17, 2005
In today’s church, different
denominations have different models of ministry. The
catholic tradition that includes Orthodox, Roman Catholic
and Anglican churches among others have bishops, priests
and deacons. Reformed churches have pastors or ministers.
Some make a clear distinction between clergy and laity,
whereas others do not. What can we make of this?
The starting point in reflecting on the nature of ministry
in the Church is Jesus’ ministry. In John 20:21,
Jesus says: “Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, so I send you.” God has empowered the Church
to continue Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming the
Kingdom of God. It does so in a representative capacity.
According to Paul, we are the body of Christ. He writes in
I Corinthians 12:12-13: “For just as the body is one
and has many members, and all the members of the body,
though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the
one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free- and we were all made to drink of
one Spirit.” As member of the body of Christ, we each
have our own part to play, similar to the various parts of
human body. Paul writes: “Now you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it. And God has
appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing,
forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of
tongues” (I Cor. 12: 27-28). In Romans 12: 4-8 Paul
writes: “ For as in one body we have many members,
and not all the members have the same function, so we, who
are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are
members one of another. We have gifts that differ according
to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the
exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the
leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in
cheerfulness.” For Paul, every Christian has been
baptized into the body of Christ. As a result, we each have
a contribution to make that varies according to the gifts
that God has given us. The collaboration of these
ministries allows the Church to represent Christ in the
world.
But, can one still distinguish between ordained and lay
ministry in the Church? Paul appointed leadership in the
churches he founded. For example, Paul begins his letter to
the Philippians with a greeting “to all the saints in
Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and
deacons.” The Greek word for bishop is episkopos and
denotes an overseer or supervisor. The deacons are those
with servant or service ministries within the Church. In
the Acts of the Apostles, episkopos (supervisor or bishop)
is used synonymously with the presbyteros- elder. For
example, in Acts 20:17, Paul gathers the Church elders
together, buy verse 28, refers to them as episkopoi-
bishops. The term “elder” is well-known within
Judaism in general and the Hebrew Bible in particular.
Elders were originally clan leaders who also settled
disputes at the gates of the cities. The term was used to
denote leaders in the synagogues. In early Christianity,
Churches, just as synagogues, had elders who exercised
leadership in the community. The were also known by the
Greek term of episkopos- overseer, supervisor or bishop. It
was not until the early second century that the office of
bishop and elder were separated into distinct ministries
(e.g. Ignatius of Antioch). The elders were responsible for
the local churches and the supervisor/ bishop had oversight
of a regional grouping of churches. The catholic tradition
developed distinct ordination rights, titles and vestments
to distinguish these two distinct orders of ministry. The
reformed churches rejected this view- arguing that there is
only one ordained ministry- that of pastor, minister or
presbyter. Clergy acting in supervisory roles at district
or national levels of church governance are doing so in
their capacity as ordained ministers, not as holders of a
higher ordained office. In the catholic tradition, bishops
hold office for life (or at least until mandatory
retirement age) whereas in the reformed tradition,
supervisory positions are usually for a fixed term. In the
catholic tradition, only bishops can ordain or confirm. No
so in the reformed tradition. In the view of some, the role
of the clergy is mediate the Kingdom of God through word
and sacrament. The congregation are the recipients of this
largesse. A different approach can be found in Ephesians 4:
11-13: “The gifts he gave were that some would be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for
building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of
Christ.” God has given some leaders the gifts
required to equip the people of God for ministry. The work
of ministry is what each Christian contributes according to
ability. Every Christian has some role to play in the body
of Christ, be it exhortation, hospitality, giving or
compassion. What is your gift?