IDENTIFY PEOPLE WITH PASTORAL GIFTS

[PACE]

Our church is not unique. There are lay people like these in every church who are gifted for caring, capable of loving, available to "be there" and perhaps even waiting to be called into this kind of ministry. Every observant pastor will be able to identify members of the congregation who are ready caring for people. They are the ones to call together in developing a Lay Pastors Ministry, thereby making possible for all people who are pastorally gifted and available the opportunity to engage in this significant ministry.

The Scriptures do not restrict pastoring to the ordained clergy. Peter was not an installed pastor. Yet, Jesus told him, "Tend my sheep“ (John 21:16). True, he had been with Jesus for nearly four years, but many church members have been "with Him" longer than that.

The elders to whom Peter gave this charge, Tend the flock of God that is your charge" (I Pet. 5:2), were not people with seminary degree. The Corinthian Christians to whom Paul wrote the following words were not trained professionals: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (I Cor. 12:7).²

THE PRESENT-DAY RENEWAL

The Scriptures not only open pastoring as a ministry for lay people, but actually call them into it. The clergy-dominated Church came near freeing lay people for this ministry in the Reformation by proclaiming the "Priesthood of Believers." However, this principle proved to be only a slogan, It did not come to life until 400-plus years later when God began raising up many programs to equip lay people for ministries, such as pastoring, which previously the clergy had kept to themselves. In the sixteenth century Reformation, the Church gave the Scriptures to the laity; in the present-day renewal, the Church is giving the ministry to the laity. What a challenge it is to be participating!

STUBBORN RESISTANCE

The centuries-long traditional role of the clergy and laity (the clergy doing the pastoring and the laity receiving it) is woefully inadequate to care for the people in our churches today. Yet, to open the pastoring ministry to lay people by developing as structure for them meets with stubborn resistance, fortified by centuries of deeply embedded practice. The resistance is threefold:

1. The clergy resist because they find it threatening ("I am the pastor.").

2. The laity resist because they feel neither capable nor worthy ("Who am I to pastor another?")

3. The membership resist because they pay the pastor to do this, and besides, "he's the on who is called" ("When I'm sic or need counsel, I want a real pastor.").

We have found, however, that this resistance is not strong enough to hold out against the pastoral care given faithfully by gifted, equipped and commissioned lay people. Lacking the advantage of acceptance because of seminary training and ordination, lay people quickly earn acceptance as pastors by doing it.

ASSUMPTIONS PROVED

"Lay people can pastor," and "members will accept pastoring from lay people" were two of our assumptions when we began to develop our Lay Pastors Ministry. Reports from our lay pastors consistently prove these assumptions to be true.

To develop this ministry, we called together 15 lay people to work together with one of the other pastors and me. We called this a "Ministry group."

We decided to do a pilot project to test our assumptions. We needed to put his ministry together by field experience as well as arm chair planning. The pilot project was to last six months. Five members of the Ministry Group volunteered to pastor five to ten families for that time.

The first to report on his home visits was Charles Marsh: "I had no trouble arranging the visit. The Petersons were glad to have me come, even though they didn't know me and I don't recall ever having seen them before. We talked about their family, his job and the weather. I told them about the Lay Pastors Ministry."

I could tell by the tone of his voice, the look in hi eyes and his earnestness that Charles was as turned on to pastoring as I was. He continued, "These two were ready to leave the church. They felt unnoticed by the staff and others. They objected to some things about the preaching. We talked about these things. I assured them that I would report heir objections to the preaching staff. They felt good about our getting together in another two or three weeks. We prayed before I left. I can hardly wait to get together with that young couple again!"

The follow-up to report is that the Petersons not only renewed their commitment to the church, but two years later became aly pastors themselves.

For Charles, the six-month pilot project stretched to seven years. Only his death severed the relationships he dad developed during his lay pastoring years.

De we need to ask, "Can lay people really pastor?"