UnGodly Holiness Part Two - Declergification

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. - Matthew 9:36

Imagine for a moment...

It was a routine play... the quarterback takes the snap and tosses to the running back, who just happens to be your son. He cuts to the inside and disappears beneath a pile of linemen. Everyone gets up, except for your son.

You rush out onto the field. The trainer tells you his arm is broken. Relieved that it's not more serious, but still concerned for your son's well being, you load him up into the truck and head to the emergency room.

You arrive at the hospital, rushing in with your son.

"I NEED A DOCTOR!" You exclaim.

A Nurse at the door responds, "Here at the PostModern Method Hospital, we aren't realy big on titles... but here, let's plug you in to this lifegroup here and your peers will help you overcome the problem."

See, it doesn't make sense in that context either.

Declergification is the process by which a church removes all ordained pastors and deacons and becomes totally run, and led, by lay members. The intent is to eliminate the office of pastor and deacon.

There is a movement within Emergent and Postmodern Christianity to remove all titles from the church. Many even want to declergify the church, meaning they want to see the church reach the point where there is no formal leadership, no formal titles, no formal pastor, and no ordained deacons or ministers. They would like to see the church just be a collection of people who gather, study the Bible, share testimonies and fellowship. While on the surface this might sound like a utopian church, in actuality it is neither practical nor scriptural.

While we can argue whether it is more fitting to call the pastor of a church pastor or elder, we should be able to agree that God's model for the New Testament church called for organized leadership. I mean, if God's will were for the church to go without pastors, then what did Christ spend 3 1/2 years training the apostles to do? Just "be" the church? I think not. Christ was very specific in John 21 of what He wanted the apostles to do. He explicitly told Peter to "Feed my lambs." Peter was specifically told to feed the flock of God. It's no surprise that Peter emerged as the leader of the 12 in the Book of Acts.

The commandment to "feed the flock" was extended to all elders (read, pastors) in I Peter 5. The job of an elder is to feed the flock (the church). To feed the flock means to teach the church the Word of God. This is demonstrated in Acts 6:2-4:

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples [unto them], and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

One has to wonder if one reason our churches are in the shape that they are in is because our pastors or elders have been pulled from the Word of God and made to serve tables... in some cases by taking on too much side work at the church (mowing, cleaning, and other non-spiritual type work) and in some cases, literally waiting tables at the local cafe to make ends meet. I digress.

So, elders (pastors) have the exhortation in I Peter 5 to feed the flock of God... to teach the word to the church. However, it doesn't stop there. Elders are also to take the oversight thereof (I Peter 5:2). This means to step into a leadership role in the church. It means that a pastor is not only to teach the church, he is also to give it leadership... both Spiritual leadership and leadership in its ministries. He is also called upon to be an example (I Peter 5:3).

This scripture is in direct opposition to the idea of not having a pastor, and it is also in direct opposition to the practice in some denominations of stripping the pastor/elder/minister of all leadership roles and placing him ONLY in a position of teaching. There are some denominations where the church is led and governed by a board or committee of lay people, and the pastor only gets to teach and preach. They might let the pastor in on the board meetings, but he has little, if any, leadership or oversight.

Not only does I Peter 5:1-3 give instructions for pastoral leadership, you see this process in action in the book of Acts. In addition to that, I Timothy 3 clearly gives qualifications for the men who desire to fill the office of pastor and deacon. Not only does the first chapter of Titus reiterate these qualifications, Titus is reminded in Titus 1:5 that he was appointed to ordain elders (pastors) in every city. Establishing church leadership was just as vital to the mission of the early churches as getting people saved.

As for pastoral salary, scripture gives indication that pastors are to be supported financially. They are not to get rich from the ministry (I Peter 5:2), but they should have their needs met. How else could the apostles, the first pastors of God's church, stay in the word unless someone were feeding them. Paul praised the Philippian church for meeting his needs in their time of poverty, told the Corinthians not to muzzle the ox that treads out the corn (I Corinthians 9:9), and even apologized to the Corinthian church for making them an inferior church by failing to teach them to support their clergy (II Corinthians 12:13).

I've barely scratched the surface. Scripture discusses the need for pastors, ordained ministers, deacons, all of which could fall under the heading of "clergy." Scripture not only discusses the need, it gives instructions for ordaining clergy and what the clergy should do. While individual members of the clergy may have strayed from their God-called purpose and God-given duty, that hardly warrants direct disobedience by eliminating the clergy from the church altogether.

If the emergent and post-modern Christianity movements really want to set up utopian churches, they would be well of to go to the examples and instructions clearly given in the scriptures. Anything other than that is an apostate religion.

A church without clergy, where every member contributes to the dialogue in a "Bible study" that has no leadership is like kids on a playground playing the parachute game. The parachute game is a game where a parachute is laid out on the ground, and a ball is placed in the middle. The kids surround the parachute, grab the ends, and pull, resulting in the ball being bounced into the air. But as the kids pull on the parachute, the group moves, without solid direction, and wanders aimlessly on the playground until one of the kids collides with an object.

Churches without clergy will wander aimlessly as well, being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

Jesus looked out upon the multitudes and saw them scattered as sheep without a shepherd. May God help us if that scene ever describes the institution of the church.