A recent comment from a friendly reader referred to me as “Pastor Tom.” The comment was made as a compliment and was taken as such, but it did get my thinking about the whole layman/pastor/priesthood thing.
My little sister goes to a church that has decided that there really isn’t any difference between pastors and laymen*. They use the verse that says that we’re all part of the priesthood. I’d quote the verse, but I’m typing this during my lunch break at work so I don’t have a Bible handy. You’ll just have to live with vague paraphrases. Anyway, armed with said verse, they go about their merry way with a congregation full of pastors that aren’t really, at least by training or profession, pastors.
There are two things I really don’t like about this. First, it undercuts the actual pastors’ (and by that I mean the people who preach and lead the church) authority. The shepherd of the church needs to be able to actually herd the sheep. I know that analogy is a bit overused, and even a bit antiquated, but it works so I’m using it. Herding involves leading and leading involves correcting those that aren’t following. This may be a surprise to some people, but not only will a good pastor confront members of his church who are sinning, he’s morally and ethically obligated to. But if everyone in your church is a pastor, who’s responsible for who? As a member of a church, do you instantly become responsible for all the other people around you? Well, yeah, but not to the same extent that a preacher is.
Which brings me to my second complaint. It (this whole-church-pastorship thing) forces a large responsibility on a bunch of people who don’t know about it, aren’t willing to accept it, or aren’t capable of living up to it. Pastors are held to higher moral standards than their congregations. They’re to be blameless and above reproach. And while Jesus doesn’t expect anyone to be perfect, He does expect his pastors to do better than the lot they lead. Of course, you could argue that all Christians are called to be perfected in Christ and so arguing about who’s required to lead a better life is a bit silly. So we’ll leave that point and move on.
Pastors are responsible for their congregations. That’s in the Bible in a few places, but, once again, you’ll have to take my vague paraphrase for it. And while their congregation is supposed to be perfect in Christ, their congregation is also very human. And they sin. It’s what humans do best, even good humans. Who in their right minds would willing take up the mantle of pastorship in order to be responsible for a bunch of willful, sinful, obstinate people? In other words, who would lead a church made of people like me?
Not me, of that you can be certain.
So there you have it. That’s why I’m happy to be a layman and why I respect those who are pastors or priests or ministers.
Oh, I almost forgot to add that the verse about how we’re all priests is really referring to our unlimited access to God, which used to be something reserved for the Levites (Old Testament priests). The Levites were the intercessors between sinful men and perfect God. But now we have Jesus the Christ, the perfect intercessor, so we don’t need the Levites for that. At least, that’s what I figure that verse means. Especially when taken in context. Let me know if I’m way off base.
*I use layman or laymen to refer to people who are in the church but are not the pastor/priest/what-have-you. It’s a gender specific term that, in today’s world of political correctness, has the possibility of making the female portion of my readership (does 10 or so people qualify as readership?) feel a bit excluded. To those that feel excluded I have this to say: the term applies to you too. Frankly, I just think the word layperson sounds stupid.
** If you want to make a preacher’s day, ask them a few theological questions so that they can talk about Jesus. Generally, their faces will light up like a little kid on Christmas. These people get fired up about Him. Seriously, it’s kind of scary.
My little sister goes to a church that has decided that there really isn’t any difference between pastors and laymen*. They use the verse that says that we’re all part of the priesthood. I’d quote the verse, but I’m typing this during my lunch break at work so I don’t have a Bible handy. You’ll just have to live with vague paraphrases. Anyway, armed with said verse, they go about their merry way with a congregation full of pastors that aren’t really, at least by training or profession, pastors.
There are two things I really don’t like about this. First, it undercuts the actual pastors’ (and by that I mean the people who preach and lead the church) authority. The shepherd of the church needs to be able to actually herd the sheep. I know that analogy is a bit overused, and even a bit antiquated, but it works so I’m using it. Herding involves leading and leading involves correcting those that aren’t following. This may be a surprise to some people, but not only will a good pastor confront members of his church who are sinning, he’s morally and ethically obligated to. But if everyone in your church is a pastor, who’s responsible for who? As a member of a church, do you instantly become responsible for all the other people around you? Well, yeah, but not to the same extent that a preacher is.
Which brings me to my second complaint. It (this whole-church-pastorship thing) forces a large responsibility on a bunch of people who don’t know about it, aren’t willing to accept it, or aren’t capable of living up to it. Pastors are held to higher moral standards than their congregations. They’re to be blameless and above reproach. And while Jesus doesn’t expect anyone to be perfect, He does expect his pastors to do better than the lot they lead. Of course, you could argue that all Christians are called to be perfected in Christ and so arguing about who’s required to lead a better life is a bit silly. So we’ll leave that point and move on.
Pastors are responsible for their congregations. That’s in the Bible in a few places, but, once again, you’ll have to take my vague paraphrase for it. And while their congregation is supposed to be perfect in Christ, their congregation is also very human. And they sin. It’s what humans do best, even good humans. Who in their right minds would willing take up the mantle of pastorship in order to be responsible for a bunch of willful, sinful, obstinate people? In other words, who would lead a church made of people like me?
Not me, of that you can be certain.
So there you have it. That’s why I’m happy to be a layman and why I respect those who are pastors or priests or ministers.
Oh, I almost forgot to add that the verse about how we’re all priests is really referring to our unlimited access to God, which used to be something reserved for the Levites (Old Testament priests). The Levites were the intercessors between sinful men and perfect God. But now we have Jesus the Christ, the perfect intercessor, so we don’t need the Levites for that. At least, that’s what I figure that verse means. Especially when taken in context. Let me know if I’m way off base.
*I use layman or laymen to refer to people who are in the church but are not the pastor/priest/what-have-you. It’s a gender specific term that, in today’s world of political correctness, has the possibility of making the female portion of my readership (does 10 or so people qualify as readership?) feel a bit excluded. To those that feel excluded I have this to say: the term applies to you too. Frankly, I just think the word layperson sounds stupid.
** If you want to make a preacher’s day, ask them a few theological questions so that they can talk about Jesus. Generally, their faces will light up like a little kid on Christmas. These people get fired up about Him. Seriously, it’s kind of scary.
Comments
And can you please, for the love of God (pun fully intended) put me in contact with these pastors who love hard questions? Because I'm not finding them.
I think I enjoy engineering more than I would pastoring. I've also decided that all good pastors are either insane, called by God, or both. That sort of career path would require the audible voice of God for me to consider it.
That said, I kinda like the title. I wonder if that means I'm being prideful? Probably.
As for preachers, they're shy at first. They spend a lot of their days getting attacked for being who they are. Once they're sure you really want to know the answers instead of using your questions as weapons against them, I think you'll have trouble shutting them up.
If that fails, I'll put you in contact with my dad. He's a retired preacher who loves a chance to talk about his life's work and life's love.
I'll grant that 2000 years later, no one around has learned directly from Christ in the "talked face to face in the flesh" sense. What I won't grant is that people with a passing familiarity with Christ should preach in his church.
It seems like more and more people are opposed to the very word religion, but you have to remember that it was God himself who gave it to us. The problems only start when we start worshipping religion itself rather than the God that religion was designed to bring us closer to.
When I told my dad, who was a pastor, that I had decided to be a pastor I was expecting to hear, "Good" at least. Instead he dropped his head and said, "Oh Jeff, don't do it. It'll rip your heart out." He was right but I had to do it. Oh well.
great post, well worth a thinking blogger award, which i may well point your way soon - if i can just get my bottom in gear to do so!
merry mama - ask me hard questions, go on! I'm a pastor...
and i'm looking at jobs in the USA!
I can't be a pastor. It'd mean a pay cut. It's un-American to accept a pay cut.
Alastair,
Glad you liked the post.
America needs more good preachers. If you're coming to preach, you should. If you're coming to sell used cars though, I'm afraid we have enough of those.