Adam McLane of Youth Specialties recently blogged about an all too common functional reality: the priesthood of the believers being in embraced in theory, but not in practice. He writes:
Most people on church staff have no idea how to turn the reigns of their ministry over to the church. It seems counter-productive to lead without holding the reigns. The attitude is generally that church staff are the experts, seminary trained, denominationally ordained and battle-experienced to do the work. And the people in the pews won’t do anything even if you asked them to. On most church staff’s the concept of the priesthood of all believers is taken figuratively, dismissed as impossible in the literal sense.
Hogwash.
There is an inverse relationship in the church today between the increase in church staffing/overall spending and the decrease in the number of people we reach per capita.
So What?
There are many formulas designed to suggest what percentage of a church’s annual budget should be dedicated to staffing and equally larger number of mathematical methodologies for ascertaining the proper staffing levels for clergy, program staff and support staff. While paid staff are often an important part of the life of a congregation, their role must be to empower every participant to be engaged in ministry (rather than doing that ministry for them or on their behalf).
- Growth in programs for church members (and active participants) tends to grow in proportion to the growth of staff. Growth in members (and/or in the total number of people actively involved in the life of a congregation) tends to grow in proportion to empowered laity living out their faith in their respective contexts. Do you agree or disagree with these generalized remarks? Why? What implications do they have for your church?
- In your congregation, what “jobs” are reserved for clergy or lay church staff members (the priesthood of the staff)? Are there activities that members (and other participants) of the congregation should be leading (the priesthood of all believers) but don’t because of the cultural expectation that this type of responsibility is for staff? What percentage of the job description of each member of the pastoral and program staff relates to activity that empowers others to do ministry?