“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the sanctuary of God, God will destroy him, for the sanctuary of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:9-17, LSB)
What a privilege to join God in His work of building His temple. These verses remind us that there are two types of workers and various building materials available for use. Some use inferior materials to throw up the structure quickly and easily. We should take up the best materials and seek to build up the kingdom of God with the greatest zeal and utmost care.
In thinking about the issue of a waning pastoral workforce in the near future, what struck me was that this is both a challenge and an opportunity. I come from the Methodist tradition. Without committed, self-taught, zealous laymen who served in the absence of ordained clergy and kept the ministry surviving and thriving, the expansion of Methodism in America would have faltered.
Here is a statement on these beginnings:
Faced with growing evangelistic and pastoral responsibilities, Wesley and Whitefield appointed lay preachers and leaders. Methodist preachers focused particularly on evangelising people who had been “neglected” by the established Church of England. Wesley and his assistant preachers organized the new converts into Methodist societies. These societies were divided into groups called classes – intimate meetings where individuals were encouraged to confess their sins to one another and to build up each other. They also took part in love feasts which allowed for the sharing of testimony, a key feature of early Methodism. Growth in numbers and increasing hostility impressed upon the revival converts a deep sense of their corporate identity.
Methodism, Wikipedia
There was a time in my denomination when people proclaimed loudly and proudly, “We are a layman’s church!” I remember many faithful, strong, committed laymen who were engaged in the ministry of our church. They were a driving force, standing alongside the strong, committed, faithful pastors. Our denomination would have been unable to move forward with remarkable success during those years without the involvement of these laymen. During these 40 years since, we have ceased to engage laymen in the ministry of our churches. Only a very few laymen are involved in the work of the church. Most laymen’s groups have become merely opportunities to eat and fellowship together. Certainly, this is needed, but more is also needed of our men.
The challenge before us is one of raising up leaders to carry on the work of the ministry. The opportunity is to raise up, train up, and sign up a new generation of laymen to fill the gaps left by the resigning, retiring, or removing of current pastoral leadership.
In the early 1760’s Methodist lay preachers traveled to the colonies. These British immigrants were not motivated by religious desires when they came to the New World, but merely sought to improve their economic welfare. However, Methodist laymen founded the first societies in America.
Methodist circuit-riders in America, 1766-1844 William A. Powell Jr., University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository
The laymen, as much as the circuit-riding preachers, laid the foundation of the Methodist church in America.Too long has been the concept of the pastoral role that the pastor should be DOING the work of the ministry. WRONG! The Scripture gives a different definition of that role.
“And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16, LSB, emphasis mine)
A challenge to the laymen: GET INVOLVED IN THE MINISTRY OF YOUR LOCAL CHURCH! The need is great, opportunities abound, and the times are calling out for committed Christian men and women to engage in the building up of the body of Christ.
A challenge to my pastor friends: START IMMEDIATELY TO IDENTIFY, ENCOURAGE, EMPOWER, and EQUIP COMMITTED LAYMEN TO JOIN YOU IN MINISTRY!
The Apostle Paul challenged his young associate in ministry, Timothy:
“You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:1-2, LSB)
REVDANS 