#14
According to Eph. 4:11-12, the preparers are pastors and teachers.
Bona-fide means genuine, without fraud, Roget’s 21″ Century Thesaurus lists these synonyms: authentic, real, actual certain, factual, honest-to goodness, kosher, legitimate, official, true, and valid. Try any of these synonyms for the above title: Your are a real minister. Your are an authentic minster. You are a honest-to goodness minister. You are an official minister. Every lay person should be required to write on the chalkboard 100 times, I AM A MINISTER. I have a cartoon of a man with chalk in hand doing just that. The Church of Jesus Christ is in a mega transition. Church culture is being turned upside down as it grasps the biblical teaching about the following terms:
MINISTER – Every Christian is a minister, most are volunteer ministers, a few are vocational.
MINISTRY– every Christian is given spiritual gifts with which to do their ministry.
CALLING – 99% of the Christians in every church are not called to leave their occupation to become ministers, but are to use their ministry gifts where they work and live.
EQUIPPING – The 99% are to be equipped for their ministries by those whose ministry is to “prepare God’s people for ministry.” According to Eph. 4:11-12 the preparers are pastors and teachers. The church is to be a training center (seminary) for the 99%.
You may find yourself in the roster of ministers listed in Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12, or perhaps the list of ministries added to the church since 75 A.D. You are sure to find yourself in Romans 12:3, everyone of you, and in I Corinthians 12:27, each one of you, and in I Peter 4:10, each one. Lay Pastors, you are bona-fide ministers. I find you in Romans 12 as people given the gifts of encouragement and mercy, and in I Peter 5:1-4 as people assigned the task of being “shepherds of God’s flock.” You have been called, gifted, and equipped. Though not as prominent and not as “full-time,” you are just as authentic and kosher as those who go off to seminary, You will share equally “in the glory that is to be revealed,” and shall also “receive the crown of life which will never fade away” (I Peter 5:4)
There are no second classes Christians, only first class specialists. Lay Pastors are specialists in pastoral care – bona fide ministers.●
COMMENTS
in relation to YOU ARE A BONA-FIDE MINISTER
Marie Parma, Director Lay Pastors Ministry USA, says:
Mother Teresa wrote about an experience she had in London as she was walking down a street. she saw a man sitting all alone, looking so terribly lonely. she said, i walked up to him and i took his hand and shook it. and he exclaimed: “oh, it has been a long time since i have felt the warmth of a human hand.” and then his face brightened up. he was a different being. he felt that there was somebody who really cared about him. mother Teresa said, i never realized before that such a small action could bring so much joy.
The lay pastors ministry is one of small kindnesses. it is a concept of ministry that is designed to provide intentional care to the congregation…care by lay people working as partners with the ordained clergy in the good times as well as the difficult times of life. It is exciting to be living in a time when lay people are reclaiming their heritage in ministry. Mel steinbron sees us in a renewal. “in the sixteenth century reformation the church gave The scriptures to the laity: in the present-day renewal, the Church if giving the ministry to the laity.”
Dr. Steinbron, in his book, can the pastor do it alone?, tells the story of a 4 year old who was awakened in the night by a terrible thunderstorm. frightened, she called out…mommy, mommy. her mother seeing that this was a teachable moment, comforted her with these words. honey, when you are awakened like this, you can know that god loves you and cares for you. the little girl replied, i know that, mommy, but I need someone with skin on.
God’s love with skin on is what a lay minister is. someone who offers love and encouragement as a christian firiend…. Someone who can be a lifter of spirits, a kind word in the midst of rudeness, a pat on the back, a hand of support.
Here is what one of our families said about having a lay minister: “do you know of someone who brightens up your day just because you think of them? do you have a special someone who calls to check on you just because they truly care how you are? We do!
Most churches provide excellent care for their members when there is a crisis or a special need. but christian care… christian encouragement… needs to be more than crisis care. that is the strength of the lay pastors ministry…reaching out to all church members in the arena of daily life…offering encouragement and hope.
That kind of care is possible with a committed group of lay people who are willing to build a trusting and caring relationship with the families that are assigned to them.
There are five pillars of a caring ministry. four of them are from john Wesley’s writings. we have added a fifth. they are the concept of being: called • gifted • equipped • supported • sent
When god calls us he gives us gifts for ministry. it is the responsibility of the church to provide equipping and support.. as we are “sent” into ministry, we can be assured that the lord goes before us.■
Sangbok Kim (Korea) says:
The lay pastoral movement is not about pastors using lay people to fulfil their own pastoral assignments, but about pastors helping and training lay people to fulfil their spiritual assignments from God, so that they can become lay pastors who can build up the Lord’s church alongside full-time pastors. The church has long seen the reality that the tremendous resources and qualities of the laity are wasted because they are tied to the one-dimensional level of ‘service’ in the church. Sometimes pastors have seen the laity as a threat to their involvement in the pastoral ministry, which is the exclusive domain of pastors. To the extent possible, members have been encouraged to run errands for the pastor in the name of ‘service,’ which is convenient for the pastor. The more the members are trained and know too much or have expanded abilities, the less comfortable they are with the pastor. Others felt that pastors were sometimes troubled by laypeople who pretended to be knowledgeable, and that it would be easier for them to minister if the members were trained like pastors. Lay members were not expected to do much more than attend formal worship services, pay their tithes correctly, attend the occasional weaving meeting, distribute bulletins, serve on the offering committee, and cook noodles in the kitchen. Even the elders in the session thought they were fulfilling their responsibilities as elders if they met, discussed agenda items, and made policy decisions. They thought they were fulfilling their responsibilities.
The biblical concept of ministry. The biblical teaching on the laity, however, is different. There are so many people in the church who need pastoral care. Not just many, but all. Everyone is waiting for someone to care for them. The psalmist once lamented, ‘No one cares about me; no one cares for me’ (Psalm 142:4), but how many of these people are not cared for by the church and are marginalised or bounced from church to church? There are not a few who attend Sunday morning services and barely keep their spiritual lives alive. How many people have left the church because they are tired of waiting for tangible care? Jesus commanded those who love him to ‘feed my sheep’ (John 21:16), and the apostle Peter said, ‘Tend the flock of God’ (1 Peter 5:2). Yet the church is not doing a good job of caring for its flock. Because the pastoral ministry of shepherding the flock is seen as the exclusive domain of pastors, and a few pastors are trying to take care of a large number of flocks on their own. In a way, their hands are too full to close. The apostle Paul makes it clear that lay people should be trained and equipped to be pastors so that they can do pastoral work and build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). ‘…for he gave them as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ’ (vv. 11-12). It’s not just service.
It is ‘the work of ministry.’ The work of building up the church, the body of Jesus Christ, is the work of pastors and trained lay ministers. It is the teaching of Scripture and the pastoral philosophy of the apostle Paul that the pastor is the teacher and trainer, and the saints are to be trained and matured lay pastors. Pastors teach believers about personal faith and pastoral ministry in the classroom, in the field, and through their own lives. After the Apostle Paul, this view of ministry was not properly understood in Christianity for nearly two millennia, with spiritual ministry being the sole province of full-time pastors, and church members dutifully observing their performance once a week and offering praise or applause. It was not until the mid-20th century, in the 1960s, that a more active ministry of the laity began to take shape in the form of the Lay Pastoral Movement, a rediscovery of the Apostle Paul’s view of ministry. This view of ministry has seen much development and systematisation, especially in the United States, and is now affirmed by many theologians and pastoral researchers as the philosophy of ministry for the 21st century.■
Byeong, Melvin University, says:
As you might know, pastors are generalist and lay people are specialist which is urged by Prof. John Patton. How do you see it?
Lay people do not believe they are called by God but they do believe only their senior pastors are called 100 %. Dr. Melvid said here. Of course 99% of the Christians in every church are not called to leave their occupation to become ministers.
But actually they are to use their ministry gifts, caring gifts here, and do PACE ministry where they work and live. That’s why Dr. Sangbok Kim said lay pastors are specialists in the PACE ministry. That’s why Melvin said bona-fide!
Mrs. Yoon’s is the case. She was a member of Hallelujah church. One day pastor David asked her to help PACE ministry in their church; those days about 5,000 people were attending the church. She didn’t know exactly what the PACE ministry and also Lay Pastors Ministry was .However , she was dedicated more than thirteen years for this ministry, for her church, for God.
As we see the stories up to now, lay people find good things from this ministry, that is why I put ‘hope’ on this ministry. It gives them to church, and also they grow, and they loved what they are doing, so they felt real accomplishment. And their self-esteem became much higher than before, and in the other hand it gives them freedom to use their God’s given spiritual gifts.
When we talk about freedom of lay people, no need to get misunderstanding! Actually they are not bondage in the hand of pastor. Freedom here means they need to use their spiritual gifts. Everyone has spiritual gifts as we know, of course there are different opinions how many spiritual gifts in the Bible. For instance Melvin says 27 gifts; John Maxwell 24 gifts; James Garlow 20 gifts; Ronald 15 gifts; some says 20 gifts. Major differentiation is how to see Ep 4:11-12, some think those are also spiritual gifts but others don’t count them as a spiritual gift, also some distinguish spiritual gifts and ministry gift that is why many different opinions on the number of gifts.
For me, I have checked when I attended International Conference3 in the States many years ago, and then my major gifts were found that: wisdom, administration and teaching. I was not sure what my spiritual gifts were before. I assumed those gifts I have, but needed to get confidence myself, so lay people also need to know their gifts, and hope to use for God’s work. So that’s what we say ‘freedom’ to use their spiritual gifts for the given ministry.
And also we, pastor, have to help lay people to know what their gifts are. Mostly laypeople don’t know of their spiritual gifts, even they don’t know where are they in the Bible, of course it is not just all of their believing life, journey, but they need to know what it is, and also there are various spiritual gifts, because some think only 3-4 gifts in the Bible, and also used a few, but there are many in the Bible, then they understand every spiritual gift is equally important in the church. So there should not be misunderstanding on the issue of spiritual gifts.■
ADDITIONAL COMMENT
by BYEONG
The sooner the decision the better: Why! The reason may be simple. After making a decision, it can take tens of hours, months, or more, or a lot of energy, so it’s not wise to spend too much time and energy deciding.
Usually, the problem is not in the decision, but after the decision, which means it comes from a failure to practice. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think at all when you make a decision. If you look at books written by veteran experts, you will find they are very assertive about this. The decision is to be quick. Of course, it is not good to decide to do dozens of things.
People who don’t make a good decision and spend too much time thinking about whether to do this or that are indecisive. Even so, anyway, a decision must be made. Once the direction is set, and then people around you like to see it.
I don’t think it matters much whether your decision is right or wrong. The decision you prayed for and thought about is correct. You don’t have to worry too much about what others to think. However, using time and energy too much to pay attention there is a waste. All decisions are considered correct unless they are robbery.
If that is the case, we can proceed. There is no need to reflect on the decision after it has been made. It is wise to just proceed. You don’t need to ask anyone about the validity or future possibilities of your decision. On the contrary, it only hinders your progress. You just have to work hard to proceeding. A newspaper reporter once asked Rev. Robert Schuller how he was so good at ministry, and he said simply, “I just worked hard.”
Decisions are an instant, but its progress take years, and there will be a lot of time, and also trial and error to make into reality. But all comes after its decision. Of course, it happens after a decision, so it’s not a problem.
As there is a saying that well beginning is half done, it can be said that making a decision has already been achieved to some extent. This is because decisions are directly linked to execution. After making a decision, people around you not only look forward to and wait, but also start thinking about how to help you. You can take the first step of action after decision.
I am saying that it is more important to act, practice and proceed. The decision is just in the starting stage, so don’t hesitate too much at there.