Ministry is an Act of the Church

Summary from Willimon text...

I find it a little humorous that the first recorded act of the apostles after the ascension of the risen Christ into heaven is a meeting. It seems a little dampening on the magnificent and majestic event that has just occurred to then go straight to a business meeting of the apostles. The election of Matthias as a replacement apostle. This however serves as some sort of testimony that there is no church without leadership.

There is no doubt that ordination is gift of God. It is however a gift of God given through the church. Clergy arose because of the church's need for leaders and leadership.

The clergy are not more important than the laity. Willimon puts it this way, "The clergy as not a patrician upper crust set over the plebeian laity. The essence of priesthood is primarily relational and functional more than ontological." Quite simply: the clergy is about whom it serves and what it does, rather than what it is.

The difference between a minister who visits, preaches, and baptises, and any other skilled layperson who performs these same functions is the minister's "officialness". The minister's functioning are authorised by the whole church.

Next Post: To be a Minister is to be tied in a unique way to the church, the believing community in Christ.

Ministry is an Act of God

After reading sections in William Willimon's Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, I am going to blog what my understanding of this is and what I have drawn from it. I shall be doing it in dot point so it is somewhat understandable.

• The idea of service (which essentially is what ministry is) is one of God's - not ours.
• The Trinity is creative and communicative. Divine creativity is the basis for both the church and its leaders.
• The concept of 'Calling' can be given an example through the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. He is blinded by light, and for 3 days is isolated as someone who can neither eat or drink. People sometimes describe their calling to ministry as something they never thought they would do. Saul as someone who threatened and persecuted the first followers of Christ - he is then called by Christ to minister to them.
• The same can be seen with Ananias. Fearing to go near Saul/Paul, God reaffirms what he wants Ananias to do by saying "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and Kings".
• My interpretation of the two points above is that ministers are instruments of God's divine creativity. We are called for a reason and a specific purpose and task. In Paul's case he is called to minister to the Gentiles.

• Ministry is not a profession. It is a vocation. Ministers cannot be paid for that is generally expected of them. They must be called in order to do it.
• We all struggle with what is is that God is exactly calling us to, and what it means to be called.
• Willimon says "Time and again, amid the challenges of the pastoral ministry, this divine, more-than-subjective authorisation is a major means of pastoral perseverance. To know that our ministry is first and finally validated not by our feelings, or even by the judgments of the Bishop [Presbytery], but by God; this is great grace!"
• Acts 5:29 "We must obey God rather than any human authority"
• We are representatives of something much bigger and more significant than our denomination.

Next Post: Ministry is an Act of the Church

Continuity

Since my last post was back in December and it is now towards the end of January, I am sure most of those who read this (if any) must have realised by now how incredibly punctual I am with blogging. Maybe because since my last post I have spent Christmas in Armidale, New Years with friends in Sydney, valued time with my Mother and a little more precious time with my girlfriend before heading back to Chiang Mai.

I think that going back to Australia was a good thing for me in some way. I was able to see people I loved and cared about and have a small taste of that Australian culture I missed. I do admit, that when the time for me to go came around I wasn't as sad to leave as I thought I would be. After all, It was only 3 and a half months more and then back to Australia for good (or for the meantime :P ).

So since coming back I have been quite busy. I was pretty sick for the first five days, 2 and a half of those days were spent in hospital. I am very happy to be much better now. Work at the CCA has also been a little more busier than it was. A LOT of letter writing, getting together deadlines and paperwork, and many other assembly-related items are of course what fills most of my days. I continue to be amazed at the extent of work the CCA is involved in and how strong the Ecumenical Movement is in Asia.

Before I left, Anita suggested I get a copy of a book called "Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry" by William Willimon. Not to set any particular reading but to read at my "leisure". I haven't read the whole book, from what I have read it is very deep but very interesting. The introduction summed up Ministry in four (4) points which I found very useful. These points were:

1. Ministry is an act of God
2. Ministry is an act of the Church
3. To be a pastor/minister is to be tied in a unique way to the church, the believing community in Christ
4. Ministry is difficult

Over the next few blogs I am going to try and give my understanding and thoughts on what each of those four (4) headings mean to me and to be a Minister.