For many of God’s people the “stage and pulpit” era of ministry is fortunately drawing to a close. Whether it will end by virtue of persecution or simply because God will abolish it Himself within their hearts remains to be seen. For many it will simply be the clear voice of the Spirit on the inside that says” Come out of her my people”.
Even though the one-man clergy-controlled churches appeared as early as 150 AD it cannot be seen in the Bible at all.
The idea of having one pastor preaching week after week and for him in some elite deployment to “shepherd” the church is not found in the New Testament. It is a man-made construct that we do not see in the Bible.
One of the main problems with this system is that it is like having a platoon of soldiers but only the Lieutenant has a gun. Only one guy is really functioning optimally in his gifting. The rest are second-tier and only for support or to spectate. This obviously limits the output and power of the group dramatically.
Fortunately, we have one or two modern parables that cast a lot of light on how the church can and should work.
In the classic banking system, each bank has one ledger (and some backups) in which all records are kept. This ledger is regarded as "the truth" and the “authority”. There is only one ledger. The backups are copies and under the control of the bank and carry no authority within themselves. The backups are dumb slaves of the master recordset. Somewhat like tithers.
With blockchain, we now find a way to distribute the record of the truth over many peers and find that this system is must less vulnerable to fraud, deception, and corruption. There is no single point of failure anymore but multiple peers who all carry the “truth” inside them.
For the church, this shows us a powerful parable of how we can ALL KNOW THE TRUTH without having the clergy, the pastors, the priests, or the dominus controlling the local church. Please note, that does mean chaos or lack of self-control or the fruit and working of the Spirit, quite the opposite!
The clergy system and the one-man control we find in the typical Western local church has decreased processing power and created a single point of failure (the pastor). Most pastors are on burnout because of this crazy system anyway.
Many baby Christians think their pastor is wonderful just like a little child thinks their mother is wonderful and that they will always be safe if mommy makes all the decisions. In real life, this doesn’t work and the child must grow up, become part of the adult world, and take responsibility for the truth and for the movement and reality of life.
It is necessary at this point to understand the difference between Fathering and Mothering
Back to computing. In previous generations, a computer had one processor.
Now computers have multiple cores and we have found ways to coordinate the various cores without chaos or conflict. It's called parallel computing and multiplies the processing power by 8 or by 16 or whatever you like.
This parallel computing also solves a number of other problems like overheating and redundancy. The overheating and redundancy has strong implications for the overworked burnout pastor.
Also included in modern technology is that cell phones now have 4 or 5 cameras all contributing to one picture. And the picture is obviously richer and better for it.
The Holy Spirit has always worked through multiple leaders and multiple ministers and multiple pastors without any human having supreme authority or veto power over others.
One of the great unique claims of the Bible is that it was written by more than forty different people over a period of 1500 years without conflict. God has always used plural leadership and plural ministry.
The pastors in the Bible were part of the elder's teams, made up of many mature Christians, some of whom would be Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist & Pastor-Teacher, none of whom has more authority than "truth working though love " just like normal elders and none of whom will be a paid professional. Being gifted and anointed makes one a teacher and coach, not a controller and captain. Lip service to the priesthood of all believers is not going to cut it.
See New Testament Leadership
Under the mantra “God is a God of order”, we have had many pastors, aka, DOMINUS dominate local churches and run them like their personal ministries and domains, or worse like a business.
The baby Christians can be taxed of course and the spiritual creche is quite lucrative financially and egotistically. The overworked pastor is convinced that Jesus cannot do it without him. This is a perversion and obviously also prostitution. Just because God has not wiped the commercial churches out does not mean He is happy with it. Please remember the dark ages lasted for a thousand years and only then did Martin Luther and the reformers bring significant worldwide light. Note: the Reformation is a work in progress.
Even though huge swathes of immature Christians believe in tithing and sit in a docile and submitted or disengaged emasculated manner, listening to sermons week after week does not mean this pleases God, or that is it is correct or that it was like that from the beginning.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.34. “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
1 John 2:27
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
” (Matthew 20:25–28, NKJV)
This is probably a scary article and concern of anarchy and chaos might arise, but do not fear. God’s technology has always included plural leadership and plural ministry with the only supreme authority in the local church being Jesus Himself.
This can be discovered and practiced in a very easy and very orderly fashion.
For practical hope and understanding, see below
New Testament Church Leadership
Each member of the church must minister