October 31, 2013
By Phil Maynard
Weary Clergy and Idle Laity: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
One of the impressions I get is that many pastors are weary. They have been at this ministry thing 60 hours or more a week for some years and they are just tired. And no matter how hard they have worked at it, it never seems quite enough. It isn’t that they don’t care – they care deeply! But there isn’t enough time or energy to meet all the needs waiting for their ministry. I remember one pastor telling me years ago that he really didn’t want any more people in his congregation because he couldn’t keep up with the expectations for ministry by the people that he had then!
Several of my lay leader friends have shared their impression that lay people often feel underutilized and even – though few would probably put it so bluntly — a bit bored with the church thing. Many spiritually mature disciples have significant leadership skills, teaching abilities, mentoring know-how and the capacity for caring which have been developed through work and life experiences. And when they come to church they wind up handing out bulletins or going to meetings where minor decisions are endlessly discussed.
Something is wrong with this picture: over-worked clergy and under-worked laity. Pastors with excessive ministry expectations and laity with few. Worn out ordained servants and laity disengaged from ministry. Is this the picture of Christ’s Body ministering that we see in Scripture?
Certainly not! The picture in Scripture is one of every baptized disciple called and gifted and functioning in ministry. The ministries vary according to people’s gifting, but every fo