What if . . . ? -- Ephesians 4:11-13

Ephesians 4:11-13

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

http://scottsauls.com/2016/04/25/pastors/



Recently I read a blog by Pastor Scott Sauls from the Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. The blog, entitled "Thoughts on the Rise and Fall of Pastors," dealt with what Pastor Sauls believes are some of the reasons that pastors, more and more often, are failing morally. Though in the blog, he doesn’t outline in detail how he defines moral failure, my assumption would be that he is discussing adultery and/or pornography.

Sauls states:

"Studies show that pastors experience anxiety and depression at a rate that is disproportionately high compared to the rest of the population. Due to the unique pressures associated with spiritual warfare, unrealistic expectations from congregants and oneself, the freedom many feel to criticize and gossip about pastors with zero accountability (especially in the digital age), failure to take time off for rest and replenishment, marriage and family tensions due to the demands of ministry, financial strains and self-comparison, pastors are prime candidates for relational isolation, emotional turmoil, and moral collapse."

I agree that, in most congregations, the task of pastoring can be daunting. But what if pastoring was never meant to be a singular responsibility? What if Christ didn’t establish the church to be managed from the top down? What if salvation was always meant to be worked out, by leadership and by the congregation, as a team? What if we have shot ourselves in the foot by expecting one man or one woman to be the end all?

Church in America has become a corporate structure. The vast majority of churches, in order to be "non-profit," are corporations which, by their very nature, require a Chairman or President to be "in charge." But even if we go all the way back to the Reformation when the Protestant movement was created, the norm known by believers was the idea of a top-down hierarchy (and patriarchy) that ignored the very idea of teamwork and collaboration.

But what if that was never God’s intention in the first place?

Ephesians 4 outlines the idea of a team of leaders whose sole purpose is to equip each other and the remainder of that local church for the works of service. And while there are infrequent other passages that deal with the ideas of qualifications for leadership, there is nowhere in scripture that says one person is in charge of the church and decides or determines everything that is to happen. Christ gave the leaders (4 or 5 types, depending upon how you want to divvy up the Greek in verse 11) to equip to Church to do the work. And that doesn’t mean that the leaders themselves aren’t also recipients of this equipping. All of us are members of the Church. So while I may be a prophet, I can learn so much from the evangelist because all of us are commanded to do the work. No part of what the Church does was ever intended to be a solo occupation except, perhaps, prayer in certain situations. We are stronger when we learn together, when we "do" together, and when we worship together.

Paul outlined what a church service should look like in 1 Corinthians 14: "When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. . . . Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weight carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn that everyone may be instructed and encouraged." (Emphasis mine. Verses 26, 29-31 NIV). Paul’s instructions clearly make church interactive with people using their gifts for the edification of the Body. Church was never meant to be "us" and "them," performers and audience, active and passive. We are commanded to be civil and courteous, but to be a group, a team of members who all take responsibility for what the Church does, both in the "worship service"and in all other activities.

Church was meant to be a team effort.

God provided salvation as a team. The Father sent the Son who died for us and then sealed us with the Spirit. In essence, there is a sense of God working as a team (within Himself) and He is asking us to work, not in isolation, but as a team. Ironically, it is also this "team-ship" that moves us into maturity and unity in the faith. Verses 12-13 (Ephesians 4):

" . . . to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

What if we, as a Church, haven’t reached unity because we are failing to do church as a team? What if the very isolation of our leadership has thwarted God’s plan for maturing us in the faith? What if our weakness is due to the fact that there is this "us" and "them" mentality permeating our worship as believers?

What if we were never meant to do it alone?

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.