Leadership South: Priesthood of Believers

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Priesthood of Believers

The International Coalition of Workplace Ministries in the USA has posted an article by Eric Swanson, which proposes ten paradigm shifts for the Church (see http://www.icwm.net/articles_view.asp?articleid=1395&columned). An interesting observation (paradigm shift no. 3) is that, if churchgoers are not given the opportunity to minister, they drop off in time. I think this is true. But there’s an interesting twist. Swanson writes: “In the typical church, lay people are asked to serve in five or six capacities: Teach a Sunday School class / Work in the nursery / Lead a home Bible study or small group / Sing in the choir / Be an usher or greeter / Serve on a board or committee.” These “five or six capacities” go unquestioned by Swanson, except that he notes an important need to add “ministering to ... the needs of a community”. This is good -- yet why such a short list of “five or six capacities”? There would seem to be a big gap here. There’s a multiplicity of things that churchgoers can do besides: leading the prayers, giving spiritual messages, welcoming guest speakers, preaching the sermon, and so on. We ourselves do this within a fairly “traditional” context. Not to speak of what people can do in groups. QUESTION: Why is it that Swanson’s list is as short as “five or six capacities”? Why, apparently, does he not see so many more?

2 comments:

Steve Hayes said...: But isn't that Swanson's very point -- that many churches do not see beyond those five or six ministries?

I remember one church where i was a student, and while I was home for the vac there was a new minister, and when I arrived back at university I was old by someone else that the new minister was complaining that the church members were not doing things like those 5 or 6, and the person who told me said that the minister did not seem to see that many members of the congregation were active in Christian service working for NGOs and various other things, and that there were many more ministries than flower arranging.; December 8, 2008 at 5:36 AM
Thomas O. Scarborough said...: Swanson refers to “five or six capacities” of lay people (which he lists) as being inadequate, then adds “ministering to the community” (apparently to complete the list). Yet it seems to me like a game of hopscotch where one jumps on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and over the top of 6, 7, 8, 9 (which one shouldn’t), then lands on 10: “ministering to the needs of the community”. Why jump over the top of 6, 7, 8, 9, which I call “a multiplicity of things besides”? If Swanson is saying that many Churches do not see beyond 5 or 6, why does he only add 10? Does he have an inadequate view of lay ministry? Is he caricaturing a particular kind of Church?; December 21, 2008 at 5:27 PM

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Welcome

Again and again I have heard that access to Christian leadership thinking in the Global South is awkward. Not only is it hard to obtain the materials, but they are relatively few, and often they are published in languages other than English. Often, also, seminaries in the Global South will not use home-grown materials, but will import books from the Global North, teaching them in the context of their own Global South ethos. But apart from this, there is a real problem of parochialism in the Global North. If you are a seminary student in the Global North, take a look at your required reading. It is likely that 90-100% originates in the Global North.

I have served in leadership at local, regional, national, and international levels, with varied experience. I recently completed an MTh at the South African Theological Seminary in Johannesburg, and an MA at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California -- both in the fields of Christian leadership. When I started this blog, I considered that, being in the middle of my research, I could share some of the ideas and issues I am working through -- and perhaps engender some discussion.

In my experience, I would consider that the views of this blog are typically Global South. I consider that my colleagues in ministry would share many of these views. However, it stands to reason that this will not be so in every case.

I have used abbreviated references in some posts (e.g. Jinkins M 2002:23), which refers to the author, initial(s), year of publication, and page. In most cases, this should be sufficient for readers to locate the source.