One of the first questions people may have about church is, “who runs it?” In other words, they want to know who the leader is.
LEADERS ARE EVERYWHERE
They are running businesses, schools, and sports teams. It’s only natural to have leaders amongst your church gatherings, right? But in the traditional church, leadership has been taken to a whole other level. Known as the “clergy”, this role has caused quite a few headaches for church. Clergy is just a fancy word to explain those in the church that are considered “in charge”.
In this article I want to outline some of the major problems with this idea of “clergy”. In regard to leadership, I believe that it is taught in the Bible. But the modern church has done great harm in elevating the “clergy” to the detriment of all others.
The clergy creates a hierarchical, top down system
The traditional church have made a select few in charge of it, with the majority of members further down the chain. Even though they would agree that Jesus is the senior minister, and that there is a priesthood of all believers, in practice it is much like a pyramid system.
Some churches may even be run by someone not even present at the gathering, such as a bishop, who may occasionally visit. Those who are considered leaders will do the bulk of “church ministry”, leading to the next point.
The clergy creates two tiers of Christians:
Clergy and Laity
The Clergy are usually “paid” to do some sort of ministry. Laity is reserved for anyone else that does ministry in a casual way. Technically a “minister” is one that serves and shares, but this term has now been reserved only for the clergy.
People may say, “we haven’t had a minister for 3 years”, which comes across as them saying that “no one is doing any ministry”, which is not true.
A problem that this two-tier system creates is that those who are laity may feel like they are somewhat less of a Christian, that they are not taking their walk of faith seriously. Or, even if they think they are serving well, there is still that feeling that their “ministry” is of a lesser form than that of the “minister”.
There may even be that push from ministers to get the laity into being clergy. Some lait feel that if they are to take their Christianity seriously, then they need to go to Bible college and train to become a “fully-fledged Christian”, a Clergy. Even though many churches would say that the ministry of the laity is just as important, then why does the clergy get “paid” for their ministry?
The clergy stagnates participation
There are many gatherings where the minister is doing literally everything in the program. Praying, leading the singing, announcements, preaching, and even running the technology. It can look like a one-man-show.
This perpetuates this idea that he should get paid to do this, as he is doing everything. It also perpetuates the ideas that he is the only one that is a minister. Why? Because no one is allowed to serve or encouraged to serve inside or even outside the church service, unless it goes through him.
Some denominations make it difficult for laity to serve in areas due to it only being reserved for “ordained” people, (those who have gone through bible college, gained particular degrees), even to the point that the minister may get in trouble if he lets them.
Every church would agree that it should be Christ-led, but it sure does look like it’s Clergy-led. It is their plan, their preparation, their participation. Jesus is somewhere in the picture but he is not designing the plan.
One reason that churches do this is that it makes the service more stream-lined and controlled. The clergy know what is being taught and can guard doctrine in that way. The church is precious and must be looked after in an orderly way by experienced leaders. But all of this is at the exception of the congregation being part of the work of the body
The clergy elevates the sermon as
the highest ministry
The sermon is seen as the main work of the minister. Usually done once a week, the sermon is a message to the whole congregation at once. Usually it is done in a monological style, meaning that the congregation must be silent for the duration of the sermon. Sometimes there will be question time, but it would be the clergy answering the questions.
Due to the importance of the sermon in feeding the congregation the clergy may take between 15-30 hours of preparation in the week leading up. The clergy would struggle to do this on the side of a full time job, and hence, to protect the importance of the sermon, clergy must be paid for the work.
Sermon preparation may well be the driving stick to the “minister’s” week. They may do various other ministries, but are ones that will orbit around the sermon. There is a place for sermons, but to elevate it to the highest form of ministry is unbiblical.
The clergy are told to stand out
The clergy are to be “seen”. Usually this will come across in what they are dressed in, with some denominations making the clergy look like royalty. Even when the church is not happening the clergy may be seen wearing something that is different to the community. There is no push for the laity to do something similar, so this shows the high importance to being a clergy.
They may even stand out by certain titles given to them. You may have to address them as “pastor John” or “elder John” or “father”. One of the worst is to insist that they are the Senior Pastor. Even though evangelical churches believe in the Priesthood of all believers, in practice it does not look like it. The clergy may be known as “priests” and that the laity are “not priests”. They would not really say that but looking from the outside in that is what it looks like.
Clergy may be known by how they enter the gathering, coming in last walking down the aisle. They may sit right at the front facing everyone else. They may be on a high pulpit looking down at the people. It is clear that the design and the traditions of the building shows that the clergy are to stand out.
It creates clergy into idols
If a certain pastor is propped up too much above everyone else, they may become a certain celebrity. What then happens is that people cannot fathom doing church without them. It becomes evident when the pastor leaves a church and then the church either dwindles in size or closes. Many people may even go to the pastor’s new church showing that it was always about him rather than Jesus or doing any real ministry to the community.
It makes church think that they cannot do church without a “paid minister”. Instead of the laity stepping up and doing more ministry, they may “pay” someone to come in and do the job for them until they find a new minister. Once that person comes the congregation thinks that they are back on track and finally doing church again.
I have heard many people say, “I go to John Johnson’s church. He is my pastor.” If a church is so big they may add, “I’ve never talked to John Johnson, but he’s a great pastor.” A pastor was not designed to be like this, and can only make the congregation idolise them or make them full of pride.
This may lead to many pastors being burnt out, because they are doing everything. Or that they sell out, because they want the fame and fortune that comes with it.
The church was never meant
to be run by one guy.
So there are a few points about the clergy and why it can be a major problem for the church. Just to be clear, I am not against leadership in the church. The Bible teaches leadership. But the type of leadership that restricts the body to a select few is not biblical and will not make the church flourish and change the world.
At best it controls everything.
At worst, it controls everything.
Place Jesus as the leader and let him use
the full body of the church for ministry.