Not Dead Yet
Equipping the Saints for Ministry
For the ordained pastors, like me, looking for biblical justification for their career…there is some bad news. The word “pastor” is used once in the entire New Testament. Jesus never calls for pastors, bishops, deacons, or clergy of any kind. His only leadership structure was the apostles who were chosen by him and sent out to start new faith communities. The one reference comes from the letter to the Ephesians, and while it is the only occurrence, there are important insights for leadership in the church today.
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.
These Roles, Embodied
In this text Paul, or whoever the author might be, reaffirms both the unity we share in Christ and the diversity of gifts within the church. The leadership roles identified included: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Each of these leadership positions are necessary within the church and all have a unique role. The apostle is a leader who helps establish new communities of faith and exhibits innovative and entrepreneurial gifts. The prophet is a leader who speaks God’s word to God’s people, providing both words of encouragement and words of repentance for the church. The evangelist is one who is primarily concerned with helping individuals come to faith in Jesus Christ as differentiated from the apostle who seeks to establish faith communities. The pastor is one who provides spiritual nurture and care for the congregation they serve. The teacher is a leader who helps transmit the foundations of the Christian faith and build up faith. Each of these leadership positions are important and despite their differences, they all serve the same ultimate purpose: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” This Ephesians model of church leadership sees the role of church leaders to equip the people to do ministry. They are to facilitate ministry rather than primarily do it themselves.
For the Body of Christ to fully mature, the leaders of the church should focus on equipping and empowering the people to do God’s work in the world. In order to equip the saints two necessary conditions must be operational: all leadership gifts must be present, and the leaders must allow the people to serve. For the church to become NOT DEAD YET, it would be well advised to recover these foundational principles from the early church.
As a pastor, I was primarily trained to preach well, administer the sacraments, and care for the people. These tasks are embodied in both the pastor and teacher role. These are good and important gifts that must be affirmed. But these are not all the gifts needed for the church. We also need apostles, prophets, and evangelists. In my tradition, it is not uncommon to find some with a prophetic ministry focused on social justice, but it is much rarer to find the gifts of an evangelist or apostle. This might explain why many churches and denominations are in numerical decline! The solution is not to neglect the gifts of pastors and teachers for evangelists and prophets, rather to ensure each faith community seeks gifts in these areas. This may mean that an ordained leader may need to find lay people with gifts in the areas that are missing. Pastors must both understand their own gifts and limitations and seek to surround themselves with others who display gifts in areas where they are lacking. This requires deep humility and the heart of a servant.
