The Pyromaniacs folks, namely Dan Phillips, have a great post up titled Things a pastor isn’t: The Minister. The subject is whether or not the pastor is the minister of the church, the one in the church expected to do ministry on behalf of the people.

This is one of my great struggles as I look for a church. It seems to me to be far too common, particularly in the smaller churches, that the pastor is the one expected to do all of the outward ministry of the church. He is the one that teaches and preaches. He is the one that does all the hospital visits. He is the one that goes to visit the shut-ins and the visitors. He is supposed to be the one reaching out to the lost. Etc, etc. Others might go with him from time to time but the pastor is the one expected to “do the work of the ministry.”

As Dan points out in his post, while the pastor does indeed participate in the ministry, his primary calling is not to “do ministry” so much as “equip the saints to do ministry”. That is, the pastor as a Christian does ministry as all the saints do ministry. The pastor as pastor is called to equip the saints to better minister. When a church has an expectation that the pastor will be doing more ministry than everyone else the church has a wrong view of ministry, the pastor’s calling, and their own calling as believers. If anything I believe the example in Scripture is of the body taking up more on the work so those called to preach and teach can focus their time on just that work. Consider how and why deacons were established. It was so the leaders of the church could focus on the ministry of the word – that is, teaching and preaching and spreading the gospel in a society that had not heard of Christ:

Acts 6:1-7

6:1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. (ESV)

Waiting tables is not slighted in the passage, the point is that the Twelve were not called to that work. Far from being expected to be the ones taking care of the physical needs of the body (I believe the work would include most of the things I listed above), a new class of people were established precisely to fill this function. Though it is not mentioned in this passage, it is widely recognized that the office of deacon is the one that carries out this task. In too many of our churches deacons equals leadership of the church. Deacons were never established as a leading body but as a serving body, ministering to the needs of the church so those called to teach and preach could focus on that work.

How does all of this play out in the church today? I’m not sure yet. But I pray God leads me to a church where the balance is healthily and properly established.