Today I spent a great deal of my time reading a book written in 1958 by a Dutch man named Hendrik Kraemer titled A Theology of the Laity. You are right if you are thinking to yourself that this is not a book someone would pick up and read for pleasure! I began last week to work on a Doctor of Ministry degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. And yes, I have been asking myself why I chose to do this when I had to stay up late one night reading and writing...with all the other things a busy pastor has to do. Ultimately the learning I will gain is important and will be very helpful in my ministry.
My current class is titled "Theology of the Laity" and its concern is how best to rethink the theology of the laity and thus mobilize the laity (the loose definition of laity is everyone in the church that is not ordained). Reading I Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about how everyone has a necessary place to serve in the body of Christ, somehow has not translated into most church folks realizing they have a valid ministry God has called them to in and out of the church. Our consumeristic society which trains us how to receive but not how to give, some faulty theological thinking throughout the ages as well as clergy who have propagated an us/them mentality are likely a few of the culprits.
The effect of a faulty theology of the laity can be seen when laypeople feel the nudge of the Spirit calling them to ministry and they feel somehow unfulfilled unless they become ordained. (For the record, the priesthood of all believers concept that was championed by Luther during the Reformation unfortunately has not resulted in laity being accepted as ministers in the true sense of the word.) The clergy/laity split causes lay ministry to be seen as lacking somehow, which is unfortunate--if the clergy could somehow set the laity free to do ministry where they are in the world, more of Christ's ministry gets done and ministry gets multiplied in places clergy will never go.
I am trying to rethink my own ideas and learning about the laity and would like to know what you think. How do we unleash the ministry of the laity in the church? How do we get people to live out their God given vocation without them having to become ordained? How can ordained ministers (like me) best help to facilitate more laity involvement in ministry?
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3 comments:
Looks good, Mike!
I studied some management in graduate school, and I remember an interesting definition of the layers of management. The CEO spends his time on issues that are years in the forefront. The General Manager covers issues that are months away. The line worker's job is to focus on the day-to-day.
I think this might help define the laity. Clergy are the upper levels of management within the church. They sights are set upon Eternity (as well as the future of the church community: building projects, outreach, etc.)
The laity are the line workers in the community. Their focus is the day-to-day, although some move into board positions where they are given a further view.
The problems I've seen in churches have been where pastors got bogged down in the jobs of the laity, or where laity had to take on the role of pastor and steer the church without a caption (this wasn't just from lay-bullying, but also from pastoral and district-level incompetence).
How about not calling church members laity anymore, and instead giving them titles more descriptive of their particular roles in the church? "Laity" has taken on somewhat of a pejorative meaning, possibly because it is always paired with the word clergy, the implication being that the clergy are the more qualified of the two because of their training.
I sometimes get the idea that pastors try to motivate the laity to do the work while also seeking to keep all the control in their own hands - much like JD's analogy of a CEO passing down orders to the line workers.
Empowering laity as ministers involves risks on the part of the pastor. Maybe someone isn't properly trained. Maybe they will make a mistake and embarass the church, or worse, do real damage to a person. It also may take the pastor out of the spotlight.
I'm not sure how to overcome those problems, but I can tell you from experience in a lot of different church congregations that if the members do not catch the vision, feel valued and empowered, they will not do the work. Line workers get a paycheck; church members don't. Their payback comes from feeling they are a valued member of a team, and from seeing the positive results of their work.
When I think of the word "layperson," I think of someonw who's not trained, not called - kind of a novice. I think that word should be done away with and replaced with words like "minister of worship," "minister of music," or more specific titles for groups (like our church's womens group which calls itself Women of Hope and has a specific ministry at Hope Clinic). Titles should be given which describe the job a person is doing, and non-clergy should just be called members or team members or church body or whatever else you want. Whatever meaning it originally had, the word laity now pretty much means someone who's not important.
Laypeople and Service
Do we make joining a church resemble joining a country club? We want our children to become a part of a group that will benefit them. Is this wrong? We choose our home church according to how much they have to offer us. Not how much can we contribute or "Will this church let me serve?"
In order to judge the success of a church or minister we look at numbers. What is the membership number? How many new members this month? What is ther offering this month? If we really want to change how laymembers serve, we really need to improve our measuring stick. You think we don't do this? Then why do most churches print the number attending church and amount of offering in the weekly bulletin? We could publish opportunities for service this week in our church and how many are serving.
Some churches won't let you become a member until you are serving. Some churches are more in a hurry to get your name on the membership role and then they talk about you serving. I wonder which church has more laity serving?
Maybe the Catholic church has the best ideas on worship and service. The worship hour is an hour for you to spend time with God. A holy time for you and God to spend time together listening for God's direction in your life. Isn't this what worship is about? All this "fellowshipping"! Does it improve our worship and service or is it a distraction?
As a part of God's laity I feel I need to use my talents and I need to recognize the Spiritual gifts God chooses to let me have as He needs them. The church should make available avenues to serve. As laity we should encourage one another, build one another's confidence up, look for the positive about one another and be open about our differences. Thus working together as laity to bulid God's Kingdom.
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