Zondervan—Church & Ministry | Church Life | Church Growth
Although the early church started out with this beautiful concept of the priesthood of all believers—with every member an active minister and good works carried forth in all directions—during the last couple of centuries, most churches have retreated to the Old Testament model. Here’s how it often plays out:
A group of a hundred people get together, decide to form a congregation, and “hire a minister.” …Then they say to their new minister… ‘Preach. Teach. Marry. Bury. Make hospital calls. Visit members. Counsel the confused. Evangelize the community. Raise money. Print the bulletins. Do announcements. Pray for the sick. Then, come year end, we’ll get out our report cards and determine whether you have met our expectations. If you have, we’ll sign you up for another year. If not, we’ll hire someone else.’
…The congregation hires “the clergy” to do the ministry.
So the church ends up with a few overworked professionals, paid by the tithes and offerings of the congregation ot fulfill the whole gamut of priestly functions, while everybody else remains passive observers, their gifts and talents atrophying from disuse.
This is the most widely practiced ministry paradigm in existence today—and it doesn’t have a shred of biblical support. Tragically, this approach has left many contemporary churches in shambles: weak, unorganized, and powerless. And unfortunately, it’s a tough mindset to change. (pg. 62)
When I read these words in a book written by Bill Hybels I was a little taken a back because if you didn’t know who wrote it or aren’t aware it could sound very much like something from Emergent Village. Hybels published this book back in 2004. It makes me wonder how much more we have in common with each other than we truly realize. From much of the rhetoric that gets thrown out in bloggy-land you’d think we were arch-rivals. Hopefully we can begin to find more of a middle-ground and set aside our differences for the greater good of the Kingdom.
I was impressed with this book and although at times it felt “elementary” and “simple” it was a good refresher with great reminders not only for myself but for the church at large. I enjoyed many of the stories and it certainly gave a great glimpse into the world that is Willow Creek Community Church.
here are a few articles i’ve been chewing on for the past couple of weeks that have certainly peaked my interest…
» Ripping MP3’s illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit ::: it seems the recording industry has begun declaring it illegal to take your CD’s and import them onto your computer… this constitutes an unauthorized copy. it looks to me as if they’re just trying to get people to stop buying CD’s altogether.
» A Business-model for Saving Souls ::: a look at Willow Creek’s methodology by the Chicago Tribune. it also gives a glancing look at the consumer-Christian mindset of church-shopping.
» A Force for Good ::: The new and liberal world of evangelical Christianity… a look at the Emerging Church. I still can’t completely figure out why the emerging church gets labelled in the “liberal” camp as if it is somehow the left-wing, counter-opposite of the Religious Right. Sure there are differences and reasons, but it can’t be broadly categorized in a fair way.
» Does Your Religion Dance? ::: Behold, the most dangerous issues facing modern faith: it’s inability to evolve, nakedly. Mark Morford is a op-ed columnest for the San Francisco Chronicle and often times presents a very interesting and controversial perspective on faith that certainly will either make you laugh, angry, or perplexed…
* based upon this story I predict Jin will be the next character on LOST to die.
* steve mccoy has listed a tremendous page of links of tim keller resources. i’ve been listening to keller a lot lately… he’s really good. (and that’s an understatement!)
* disappointment with willow creeks conclusions in the wake of their REVEAL survey. i completely agree with this conclusion and is something that i too have been thinking about—he just says it a whole lot better!
* be sure to check out and welcome new blogger and fellow leadership resident bret koontz to the wonderful world of blogging!
ryan burgess, the brother of one of tracy and i’s friends, just graduated from the united states coast guard academy last weekend. president bush was in attendance to greet the graduates and shake their hand as they walked across the stage. ryan, being from texas, thought: “hey, we’re both from texas—texans don’t shake hands, texans hug.” so, he positioned himself next to bush for a good ol’ texan side-hug. rueter’s picked up on the picture and newsbloggers posted it with a “you write the caption” challenge…
this will probably be one of those pictures that gets passed down from generation to generation… i think it’s priceless.
adam at igneous quill has named me a “thinking blogger”… thanks!
with that honor comes the opportunity for me to name my “top 5″ bloggers who make me think… now, this isn’t as easy as it looks because i’m somewhat of a “blogger” snob and don’t really participate in too many other blogs in the blogosphere, but i thought i’d give it a shot anyways. so, my top 5 bloggers who make me think (in no particular order).
For those listed above who have been tagged, and only those tagged, your task is as follows:
» Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
» Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme
» Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
for those not listed above—don’t take it personally you might just be in the blogroll… anyways, please share your top 5 in the comments section… i’d like to find some new blogs that make you think and that i might actually participate in!
(if you’ll notice, 2 of my top 5 are acts 29 guys… interesting.)
