Posted on November 29, 2008 - by Stephen Murray
Paid Pastoral Staff? A Calling to the Ministry?
Andrew Hamilton has an interesting post, something I haven’t thought very hard or long about. In it he asks this question:
“Can anyone provide a compelling biblical argument for the existence of paid pastoral staff within a local congregation?“
It’s an interesting question. He concedes that you could probably make more than one good pragmatic argument for paid pastoral staff he then also mentions his own experience of calling to ministry as perhaps a compelling argument. That got me thinking even more. If I re-phrased his question then we have another question that is often taken for granted or thought very little about:
“Can anyone provided a compelling biblical argument for the existence of a subjective call to the ministry of a local congregation?“
Life is becoming more and more complicated the more I study the Bible – the questions just keep on coming, and often they’re questions that impinge upon me directly – like questions about paid pastoral ministry. Anyone got any thoughts on these questions?
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Stephen Murray
Christian, husband to my beautiful Robin, missional dreamer, pastor, church planter, Arsenal, Sharks and Springbok supporter, surfer (in the real sea), patriotic South African, Capetonian. Find out more about the church planting work I'm involved in at my support blog.
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November 29, 2008
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Chris Ebden said:
Stephen I remember JB Krohn gave a talk on Acts 13:1-4 which dealt with the second question
“Can anyone provided a compelling biblical argument for the existence of a subjective call to the ministry of a local congregation?“
It seems as if in that scriptural case men were not set aside subjectively but rather set apart by the Holy Spirit through the counsel of a worshiping community. It was this confirmation which lead to the laying on of hands and then the sending off of the men chosen. This obviously is not the case in all parts of scripture but it got me thinking about that approach because it doesn’t seem to be a common approach in our times. It seems far more likely in our times that individuals speak about their subjective call to a particular ministry. That doesn’t answer your question but it was one part of scripture that I hadn’t often considered in relation to the call to ministry.
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November 30, 2008
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Shane Vander Hart said:
Regarding wages – 1 Timothy 5:17-19
I don’t think a subjective pastoral call can be defended biblically. Even with people who “feel called” if there isn’t anyone in the Body affirming that calling I can’t help but wonder if they are really called.
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December 1, 2008
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martynkilian said:
Wow Stephen your statement,
“Life is becoming more and more complicated the more I study the Bible – the questions just keep on coming, and often they’re questions that impinge upon me directly”
is actually quite scary.
Shouldn’t our study of scripture be leading us to greater truth, understanding, clarity and ultimately simplicity(not easy but well prioritized) of life – as we get more in tune with God’s agenda.
A good question to ask is, “Does God really care about all the stuff we fuss about?”
I like to think of both pastoral ministry and calling in the context of the Kingdom.
Everyone has a calling in the context of the kingdom we are all called to extend the kingdom into our sphere of influence. In my case (being a pastor myself), i know that it is my calling to exhort, model and teach people how to better live out the kingdom. So practically that has put me into this position of “full-time” pastor. But i could also fulfil the same calling while working secularly. However, having all my time devoted to serving the church, i am better able to help people along this way.
So i guess what i am saying is that we should be pragmatic in our thinking around these issues rather than trying to be “theologically correct”.
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December 2, 2008
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Al said:
I think you are in a good place questioning the practices of the modern-day church, Stephen. We need a radical reformation of the local church and our ideas of leadership if we are ever going to see the NT community that you are so passionate about. A questioning mind with an open Bible is a prerequisite for someone with church planting aspirations. On the other side of those questions awaits the assurance that you are building on the true foundation, not human traditions.