Perhaps this slow dissolution of the power of the church and of the clergy of the church can offer us opportunities to minister in new and exciting ways. If the church, and not just the clergy, is the Body of Christ, then consider the implications for our ministry. Church professionals are still important because they have been given the privilege of training and the separate time to focus on the care of the church. Only now the heart of the revelation of the will of God is contained not just in what they do but in the life of the whole body. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body…the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…” (1 Corinthians 12:15, 22)
Hans Kung notes that “not until the third century do we find any distinction between ‘clerics’ and ‘laymen.’” (The Church, Hans Kung; p. 170) This was in the time of Constantine when the church moved from a persecuted minority to the official religion of the state. But up until then it was clear that all members were an equally valuable part of the one Body of Christ. This would suggest that what our members are involved in throughout the week at work, home and play are the major arenas of the church’s ministry.
An important trend in the evolving picture of the church in the last forty years has been the restoration and recognition of the critical nature of the ministry of the laity in the church. If the church is the Body of Christ, then the major part of that Body consists of what is referred to as laity. The professional staff does not bring the Word of God to them but at most helps them to discern the Word.
It is among the laity, in their lives and relationships, that the Word of God is incarnated for the continuing revelation of Christ to the world. It is this same laity who either make or do not make a witness to the faith as they live in the world. The professional staff and the programs of the church have a major responsibility to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4;12) in the world that God loves. Yet it is in the ministry of the laity where the love of God makes consistent contact with the larger world which God loves and wishes to heal.
Yet despite the theoretical recognition of the ministry of the laity, most lay people do not experience themselves as being at the center of ministry within the church. We speak of people entering full-time ministry meaning those who become professionally trained to fulfill their tasks within the church. As Alban Institute Consultant,Ed White, continues to remind people, by our baptism we are all called to full-time ministry. Yet most lay people assume that at best they are engaged in part-time ministry when they volunteer at the soup kitchen or help at a night shelter. It is rare that they recognize that by their baptism they are called to be engaged in ministry wherever they are all the time.
