Our next episode of the Closer Than You Think podcast on Substack continues our ten-part series on the book, You Don’t Have To Do That. This episode looks at the role of pastors or clergy. Most of the church structure as we know it in Christian circles in this part of the world is based upon a clergy/laity distinction. We have pastors or priests and then all the rest of us. Is this the best way to set up the church? Is this conducive to spiritual growth? Why does it seem that we are constantly hearing stories of abusive leadership in big churches? Here we go, digging into chapter 5, “The Ordinary Are the Ordained.”
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You Don't Have To Do That
Moving Past What Is Wrong with Religion to Embrace What Is Right with Jesus
Episode Notes (taken from endnotes in the book for chapter 5)
One can see in the New Testament that preaching of the “Word” or preaching the gospel occurs before, and without, any formal office of pastor existing. The point is not that there aren’t people sometimes set apart for this purpose, but that it is not meant to be left as the permanent job of one individual in a church community. The epistle of 2 Timothy may come closest to making a case for a kind of pastoral position.
The Lord’s Supper is sometimes called by other names (i.e. Communion, Eucharist, Passover Meal). The Gospels describe Jesus bringing new context to the Passover meal with his disciplines in a unique, one-time event. There is little in the New Testament outlining responsibilities or designating roles in relation to serving the Lord’s Supper. What we do find, significantly, is that it is indeed a meal. There is no record of it being an isolated activity apart from a meal, so this common practice today of including a moment for a bite of bread or a wafer and a sip of wine or juice is foreign to the New Testament. Once we put it in the context of an entire meal, even with all its symbolism from the Passover, we see that it is a shared experience. 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and John 21 imply the breaking of bread along with eating or drinking other items together. People are serving one another.
When studying various New Testament passages related to baptism, it is fascinating to see how many different kinds of people baptized other people, and that no two accounts seem to be identical. Not one of the baptism accounts or teachings in the Bible involves a designated pastor role, yet today it is common for church institutions to require pastoral licenses or credentials to perform a baptism. Scriptures related to this topic include Mark 1:1-13, Luke 3:1-22, Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:22-4:2, Acts 2:36-41, Acts 8:9-17, 26-40, Acts 10:34-48, Acts 16:11-15, 29-34, Acts 18:5-8.
I acknowledge that 1 Peter 5 uses “shepherd” in some translations and directs some believers to provide oversight, but even in this passage there is emphasis on the distinction between human shepherds and Jesus as the “Chief Shepherd.” Furthermore, the guidance is about resisting the desire to rule over others and remaining humble.
Recommended Reading
The Barna study cited in this episode can be found at Barna Research - 2021.
(Intro music created by J*nx.)
(Outro music is “Epic Trailer” by Scott Holmes Music.)
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