Embracing Our Spiritual Potential

If God is the giver of every good and perfect gift, then it would be unwise to keep the gifts of God hidden. Having been gifted and called to ministries that are as diverse as the persons who have received these gifts, it is incumbent upon us to discern the nature and purpose of these gifts in our lives.

The place to start this process of discernment is to first remember that we belong to a community of faith.  We're not lone rangers in this work of ministry.  From there we can begin to affirm in our own contexts the word that described the experience of the Corinthian church.  That community, according to Paul, was enriched in every way through gifts of "speech and knowledge of every kind." They didn’t lack any “spiritual gift as [they waited] for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:4-7). If the church grasps this message, that they do not lack any of the gifts, then the next step is for God’s people to discern and discover the nature and use of their own gifts, so that they might join together as one body in service to God.

Embracing our spiritual potentialities, our giftedness, is to affirm that we are created in God’s likeness, with a mandate to love and serve God. The implications for churches, especially Mainline Protestant churches, that the people who make up this church would discover their spiritual gifts are incredibly significant.  If the people of God would claim the sense of empowerment that comes with this discovery it would be transformative for the life and mission of the church.

The reticence that some may have in adopting such a quest is understandable.  That is because it runs against the long held belief that ministry is something that ordained clergy do, while the laity should see themselves as the recipients of such ministry. But the potential benefits to churches who embrace the possibility that their people might discover the spiritual gifts that are present within the body is too great to ignore. Not only might the people who inhabit our churches grow spiritually, but churches might grow in their ability to engage in community transforming ministry that brings hope and healing to a fragmented and broken world.  I have heard Jim Wallis make the statement: “Religion is personal, but not private.” In making that statement Wallis was speaking about the political implications of faith – of religion’s place in the public square, but that statement covers the entirety of the life of the Spirit. 

Gifted people are people who engage the world where they find it. Ministry in churches that embrace their gifts will touch not only the people within the church it will touch the world outside. The faith of the gifted will touch political, social, environmental, issues. There is no area of life that the church’s ministry does not touch, for the people of God are gifted by the Spirit so that they might be one body, with one purpose, to share the love of God with all people.

Excerpted from Gifts of Love (unpublished mss. alt.)

Ministry as a Shared Vocation

By recognizing that we are all gifted by the Spirit we find in this realization a call to ministry. This recognition also serves to narrow the gap that often exists between clergy and laity. Yes, clergy do ministry but they are not the only ministers. It is also inappropriate to assume that the work of the laity is any less a form of ministry. I don’t wish to negate the place of the clergy. Pastors serve a very important function in the life of the church, but what they do in church and community is not the totality of the church’s ministry. Another way of asking this question would be: What aspects of church life should be considered off limits to lay people? So, whether we teach Sunday school, visit the homebound, lead grief groups, serve meals to the homeless, march for civil rights, evangelize our neighborhoods, preach; what we are doing is ministry.

Whatever form ministry takes, it is by definition an act of service. The Greek word for ministry (diakonos) can be translated in a variety of ways, but its most important nuance is that of servant. Jesus offers us a very pertinent model of servant leadership when he bowed down before his disciples and washed their feet (Jn. 13).

There is a second defining image of ministry, that of priest. Traditionally a priest is a religious professional who acts as an intermediary between humanity and God. The message of the gospel is that in Christ we no longer need human intermediaries. Jesus, who is now our high priest, serves as our mediator and point of access to the throne of God. However, even as Jesus is our high priest, each of us has been made a priest of God who is called to intercede not only for ourselves and for our neighbors as well (Heb. 10). Because we are part of the royal priesthood, a form of priesthood eloquently defined in 1 Peter 2:5-9, eliminates the clergy as necessary, priestly intermediaries, and empowers each person to join in the priestly service of intercession. Therefore, as one of the founders of my own tradition once wrote, "whatever constitutes the worship of God is the common privilege of all the disciples as such." [Royal Humbert, ed., Compend of Alexander Campbell's Theology, (St. Louis:  Bethany Press, 1961), 175.] As disciples of Jesus, baptized by the Spirit, we are servants and priests for all people, and thereby we are freed to join in the full ministry of God.

There is one caveat that I should add. To say that all are servant ministers and priests does not mean that we all have the same roles and callings. There is the need for freedom because freedom is the catalyst for change and new opportunities to serve. There is also a place for order – chaos and anarchy are not necessarily helpful to the cause of Christ. The gift lists themselves suggest that some are called to ministries of leadership. The ship needs a pilot if it is to navigate difficult waters. As we discover our gifts and join in the community of faith in service, it will become evident that some among us have specific gifts and callings for leadership roles. There is a place for the religious professional as well, as long as both clergy and laity understand that such a calling does not relieve the laity of their ministerial callings.

Excerpted from Gifts of Love (unpublished mss.)