BLOG 10.29.12: “THE DANGERS OF AN UNCONVERTED … WHAT?”
In 1740 a Presbyterian preacher by the name of Gilbert Tennent created something of a brouhaha in the ecclesiastical scene by preaching a sermon on: “The Dangers of An Unconverted Ministry.” This question has been revisited over the years and often hijacked to refer to all of the different components of the church (seminaries, etc.), that become pathological when they are not formed by a passion for the centrality of Jesus Christ, and for his mission to declare the gospel of the kingdom of God to every people group in all the earth.
I have a question and it has to do with an assumption behind Gilbert Tennent’s sermon, namely, that somehow we have a church that is clergy-dependent. If the church is dependent upon its church professionals, then that is a serious subversion of the essence of the church. After all, the church is probably 95+% non-clergy. If only the clergy/pastors/church professionals are the one’s responsible for the church’s integrity, life, orthodoxy, mission, etc. … then I don’t read my Bible very well.
If the pastors (the “ministry”) are unconverted, as Tennent suggests some are, then what is the responsibility of all those other baptized members of the Body of Christ?
There may have been a day when only the clergy were those educated in Bible and theology, but no longer. As I have been saying in these past several Blogs, there are Biblical resources available to any interested believer in Jesus Christ today that would have made the “giants” of the past envious. There are books, web sites, on-line resources, etc. that give any believer the information with which to engage in a fruitful and transformational life of true discipleship.
And the present crop of pastors and teachers should not be immune to the evaluations and critiques of those “laity” whom they are ostensibly equipping for their own 24/7 ministries in the daily stuff of life. Remember: every person by virtue of his or her baptism is ordained to a life of ministry as he or she demonstrates the image of the Son of God in daily life. Every believer is called to the mission of God. And if the ostensible pastor-teacher of a community is not communicating such, then he or she needs to be held accountable.
Early on in my own career, when I was confident that I was God’s gift to a large college class that I was teaching, I delivered a lesson that came fresh from some graduate studies I had done in the theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I was so proud of how well I did … until three of my student friends approached me with this: “Bob, We don’t know what in the hell you’re talking about.” That may have been one of the most helpful pieces of pastoral theology I ever received, like, if my folk don’t know what in the hell I’m talking about then the problem is mine, not theirs. I need to engage them in dialogue until it is clear.
The other episode was when a friend and I walked out of what had been a bewildering “worship service” and sermon, and his question to me: “What did all of that have to do with anything?” Then he said: “I think I’ll email the pastor and ask him that question.” Frankly, it would do a lot or us pastors good to get that kind of feedback.
The Christian community, which is called the church, needs to be converted, and the pastors are one part of that. There’s nothing like pastors and churches that take Jesus Christ seriously and are profoundly converted to him.
Peace!
