Template talk:Clergy of Christ

Thessalonians 2:9 Book of Acts that Paul's day job was as a tentmaker (skenopoios, Acts 18:3).

in 1 Corinthians 4:12, Paul writes, "we grow weary from the work of our own hands." And in 2 Corinthians 11:27, he includes "toil and hardship" among the dangers he faced as an apostle.

By working as a tentmaker, Paul was able to offer the Gospel to people "free of charge" (1 Corinthians 9:18). But Paul did not just bring the gospel but actually provided a service. He was not a lone itinerant preacher.

His daily life was not like that of the typical ordained person in our day who works for a church. Rather, Paul's life was much closer to the experience of the people we call the laity.

The image of Paul the worker and lay minister helps break the power of one of the strangleholds that keeps the body of Christ from thriving. I'm thinking here of what might be called "clergyism." This is a view of church and ministry that puts the ordained clergy in the center. It minimizes the importance of the people of God and their potential for ministry. It weakens the church by implying that what really matters is what the pastors, priests, and preachers do. By suggesting that the real ministry comes from the clergy, clergyism rejects the biblical notion of ministry and strips the people of their calling and duty as ministers of Christ. The Danger of "Clergyism" February 08, 2012 by Mark Roberts