Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

November 13, 2018  Robert Gonzales

In an article entitled “Ministers All?” R. Scott Clark rejects “the ‘every member’ model” of church ministry as having “a lot more to do with democratic populism than it does with the biblical view of the church.”¹ Along the same lines, T. David Gordon rejects the notion that pastors should equip saints for works of ministry and attributes the view “to the egalitarian, anti-authoritarian, populist Zeitgeist [i.e., ‘spirit of the time’].”² James Renihan likewise warns against the “every-member-ministry” view, calling it “the triumph of Plymouthism,” which, “in its worst application … obliterates any distinction between members of the church and promises a kind of egalitarianism. Churches become like huge shopping malls,” says Renihan, “full of stores with ‘Help Wanted’ signs. Choose your place, find a position, and do it! The work of ministry is yours to do.”³ Despite the credentials of these Reformed scholars, I find their tendency to overemphasize the importance of the ordained man and to underemphasize the importance of the layman imbalanced, to say the least.

Below, I attempt to rebut their arguments and offer a biblical defense of lay-ministry…

Continued at Source: Equipping the Saints