Ministry is hard work
Recently David Mathis, from Desiring God, posted “Real Ministry Requires Hard Work”.
In it he noted all the “labouring” type words associated with the ministry in the New Testament. “Good pastors,” he said, “must be labourers (1 Timothy 5:18), hard workers.”
1 Timothy 5:18 draws attention to the fact that the honour an elder is held in will result from the way he works: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching.”
In a previous post, I encouraged us as elders to look for honour through our work, not just through our office. I drew attention to 1 Thes 5:12-13, where Paul tells church members to “recognise those who labour among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake”.
The specific work of ministry referred to in this verse is that of “admonishing” (mg. “instruct, warn”).
The BDAG lexicon expands on this as: “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct”.
Nouthetic Counselling
The Greek word for “admonish” is noutheteō.
Fifty years ago Jay Adams developed a whole method of counselling around this, and coined the term “Nouthetic Counselling”. (Competent to Counsel pp. 41ff).
Adams maintained that such counselling comprises three elements:
- It is counselling in the context that there is something wrong in the person being counselled, that needs to change.
- The way you help the other person to change and discipline his life is by word of mouth.
- The purpose or motive behind nouthetic counselling is to benefit the one being counselled; it is not simply to confront and condemn.
Back then much so-called “Christian” counselling had become unduly influenced by “modern secular psychologies, pioneered by Sigmund Freud” that excised any “mention of sin, of God, of the necessity of a Saviour, or the promise of eternal life.”
Adams, with his renewed emphasis on the primacy of Scripture in counselling, broke on the counselling scene like a breath of fresh air. He went on to help found the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF).
Like any new movement, it was “largely prophetic and therefore polemic” to begin with, and needed to be developed and refined to address the human dilemma in a more nuanced way.
As a result, in recent years, CCEF has “moved in a direction of increased sensitivity to human suffering, to the dynamics of motivation, to the centrality of the gospel in the daily life of the believer, the importance of the body of Christ and to a more articulate engagement with secular culture.”
Of course, “admonishing” is but one aspect of the work of ministry.
But even if this were all there was to an elder’s work, 1 Thes 5:12-13 highlights that it is work. Along with all else that is involved in an elder’s duties, it is hard work.
David Mathis may lament “The Plague of Lazy Pastors”, but as often as not there is the opposite problem: pastors who work so hard that they burn out.
Sometimes this is because pastors feel they have to “do everything” – or, at least, be “in control” of everything.
What is the answer?
Sharing the Load
The answer is in the following verse, in 1 Thes 5:14 “Now we exhort you, brethren, admonish those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.” (v 14)
Paul shifts the focus from the “work” of the leaders, to the work of the “brethren”, i.e. all members in the church. The work of all members includes “comforting”, “upholding”, “being patient” and, yes once again, “admonishing”.
Adams notes: “Whatever nouthetic activity may be, it is clear that the New Testament assumes that all Christians, not simply ministers of the gospel, should engage in it.” (emph. mine)
Sometimes our “admonition” of one another may be indirect – as when we are singing hymns, whether publicly in worship, or just working alongside one or two others: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col 3:16)
At other times, eg. in a case of church discipline, the “admonition” by members may be more direct: “As for you, brethren… if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” (2 Thes 3:15)
It is important that, as leaders, we don’t think we always have to be “in control”.
Rather we should express confidence in the members of the church to be able to engage each other this way.
“Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Rom 15:14)
One of the joys I experienced as a pastor, was to look around the congregation after worship, when most people stayed for anything up to an hour to talk with each other. Conversations were going on everywhere – no doubt, some about the weather, but many “admonishing, comforting, upholding” and “being patient.”
I had a real sense, “I could never organise this, even if I wanted to. I am not in control here. This is not my church, I don’t run it. This is the Holy Spirit at work through all the members together.”
This is where leaders have to trust the Holy Spirit.
This is where leaders have to be willing to share the load.
The Work of Ministry
The title of this post is from Eph 4:12.
There we are told that the role of the pastor-teacher is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry…” i.e. not “the work of ministry” of the pastor-teacher, but “the work of ministry” of all the members!
Paul goes on to say that, as the members – all the members, including the leaders of course – work at their ministry, this produces maturity, which he defines as “the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (vv 12-13).
This is the secret of church growth.
It is as the members – all the members, including the leaders – work at their ministry, “speaking the truth in love” that we “grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (vv 15-16)
“One Another”
As Adams noted, “admonition” means helping another person by your words.
As I have noted elsewhere, words – “speaking the truth in love” – play a big part in our work in ministry, whether “admonishing”, “comforting” or “upholding”:
- “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb 3:12-13)
- “Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19)
- “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren… Comfort one another with these words… Comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing…” (1 Thes 4:13,18, 5:11)
But the work of ministry is not limited to our words: “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
Looking at all the “one another” instructions in the New Testament (excluding the negative ones) , we are told to:
- Love one another (16x)
- Greet one another (with a holy kiss) (4x)
- Admonish one another (2x)
- Bear with one another (2x)
- Exhort one another (2x)
- Forgive one another (2x)
- Be of the same mind toward one another (2x)
- Submit to one another (2x)
- Bear one another’s burdens
- Care for one another
- Comfort one another
- Confess our trespasses to one another
- Consider one another
- Edify one another
- Have compassion for one another
- Be hospitable to one another
- Be kind to one another
- Minister our gifts to one another
- Have peace with one another
- Pray for one another
- Give preference to one another
- Receive one another
- Serve one another
- Speak to one another
- Wait for one another
- Wash one another’s feet
Evangelism
The need for “every member” to be involved in the work of ministry applies also when it comes to evangelism.
A church which calls a pastor in the belief that he will be their evangelist, and hence solve their need to engage in evangelism, is doomed from the start.
For, just as the teacher-pastor’s role is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” to each other, so too it is his role to enthuse the saints to engage (along with him) in evangelism.
As I have addressed this before, here and here, I won’t dwell on it, except to remind you of Martyn Lloyd-Jones who, when he was once asked: “What is the chief end of preaching?” replied: “I like to think it is this. It is to give men and women a sense of God and His presence.”
Give the saints a sense of God and His presence, a sense of the wonderful grace of our Saviour Jesus Christ, a sense of the glory of the gospel – that is the best way to “equip saints for the work of the ministry” in evangelism.
All members are our fellow workers for the gospel.
Paul delighted to own as fellow-workers:
- not only apostolic delegates like Timothy (Rom 16:21, 1 Thes 3:2) and Titus (2 Cor 8:23),
- or leaders like Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), Aristarchus, Mark (Col 4:10-11, Philm 23), Demas, Luke (Philm 23),
- but also other church members, men and women, like Aquila and Priscilla (Rom 16:3), Urbanus (Rom 16:9), the Christians in Corinth (2 Cor 1:24), Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3), Clement (Phil 4:3), Jesus who is called Justus (Col 4:11), Philemon (Philm 1).
Whenever another member is added to the church, she should see herself as, and we should rejoice in, another worker in the gospel!
Practical Application
There is no such thing as a full-time church worker – if by “full-time” you mean someone who works for the church 24/7.
I don’t mean that a conscientious pastor will not seek to be there for you as he is able. As a pastor I had my share of odd-hour meetings and phone calls, and sat with another from 1:00 am till daylight as he poured out his tortured soul and confessed his sin.
But if you think your pastor can literally be available 24/7 you are not looking for a man, but God. Only “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psa 121:4)
Apart from which, even during normal hours, there will be times when THE pastor is simply not available, or is away at a conference, or taking a holiday.
Be realistic.
Also since most churches in the world today can only support a pastor part-time, he then has to hold a second job to support his family. (Thom Rainer notes that even in the affluent USA: “As many as one-half of the churches have a pastor who is bivocational.”)
And many other churches don’t even have a paid pastor – either because they are vacant, or no one is available at the time.
Under such circumstances, some despair.
But the church does not cease to exist if the pastor is part-time, or not there at all.
While it is a blessing, and to be desired, to have a fully supported pastor, in the end the church is made up of full-time Christians (including unpaid leaders) who are all fellow-labourers in this work.
How many such fellow-labourers do you need for a church to function well?
Obviously, there are many factors to be considered, not just (or even most importantly) how many wage-earners are in the congregation.
- One post I read suggested that 100 (!) would be good – which would mean probably 90% of churches in Australia are not viable (O.K. that was in another country – guess).
- A church planting organisation in this country thinks 35.
- But in our own denomination we do not normally even begin to question the viability of a church while there are more than 15 members – and even then it is not assumed a church should close its doors.
I do wonder how these modellers come up with the larger figures.
Are they talking about people who come along and warm the seats? Or, are they talking about genuine fellow-workers who have made a commitment to edify one another and share the gospel?
Because in the end, that’s what it is about: every member seeing himself/herself as a fellow-labourer, who is committed to “the work of ministry.”
I am confident that such, being “full of goodness”, are able not only “to admonish one another”, but also to “comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, and be patient with all.”
And, yes, even the most committed will still be a mixture of “able to admonish”, but also of “fainthearted” and “weak”.
Which means we all need to be ready to be both giving and receiving.
But that is the church.