Barriers to Ministry in the Episcopal Church

By Thomas E. Lippart

Calling for Ministry

St. Paul did not stay in any city or congregation longer than 3 years. He was a non-stipendiary disciple. His full time work was as a tentmaker. During his spare time working as a missionary, Paul prepared a community of people to continue without him. When Paul left, the community had complete charge of celebrating the Eucharist, preaching, teaching, baptizing and pastoral work. It was not necessary for Paul to return for confirmation or ordinations or to celebrate or preside at any other sacramental rite. Paul saw himself as one who equipped the saints for ministry.

Paul said the church community had sufficient spiritual gifts within its membership. The spiritual gifts were already in existence in the members. The community's responsibility is to recognize the gifts and call into service leaders from among its members. Everyone in the church was characterized as having a share of the ministry of Christ. Paul used the parts of the human body as the example of the varieties of ministries.

Self selection versus identifying gifts

It is not my purpose to call into question the ministry of any priest of the church.

My purpose is to point out the narrow view that results from the process. The Episcopal Church has mainstreamed a self-selection process for priests and deacons. The church celebrates few other ministries. The church community does not search for the gifts of all of its members and then train and commission them according to their gifts. The ordinary baptized person can relax. Nothing much is expected of them.

A candidate for holy orders is asked: "Have you lived a good life?” The question focuses on avoiding scandal rather than on gifts for ministry.

It is as if ordination confers the gifts, rather than the church identifying gifts that are already in the members. It is incorrectly assumed that gifts not conferred by ordination are surely received by education at the seminary. The clergy are ordained to be the bearer of all of the spiritual gifts. This creates a power gap between those who are just baptized and the clergy. Some of the word pairs that portray this power gap: ordained/non-ordained, sheep/shepherd, called/ not called, father/ children.

Credentials are Rationed

It is wrongly believed that clergy are the only persons with the credentials to make the church a church. A congregation without a priest is said to be a 'vacant parish'. A priest who comes to celebrate at a church without a priest is called a 'supply priest'. Our language powerfully describes an attitude toward the laity. A parish is described as vacant without a priest. The implication is that ministry does not happen there.

The priest has become the professional Christian and the laity have become the consumers or the helpers of the one who is 'the minister'. The ministry of the laity is something they do at church or in some way connected to church members. When the bishop lays on hands to confer 'holy orders' priests and deacons are credentialed for ministry. When the bishop lays on hands in Confirmation it is assumed that no credentials for ministry are conferred.

This concentration of all credentials and of all spiritual gifts on the professional clergy impoverishes the leadership of the church.

Competitive versus Cooperative model of ministry

Clergy come to Christian ministry as champions who have overcome the testing process of the church. The candidate for ordination has won through a competitive process rather than through an identification of gifts. The priest works with a Vestry … as an advocate for his/her agenda. It is the priest's job to lead the church. Local collaborative ministry among the whole community of Christians who each share in the ministry of Christ is not common.

Lay Ministry

Use of the word "Lay" as a qualifier automatically sends a message: second rate, amateur, or a watered down version of the real thing. As long as we use qualifiers like "Lay", we are separating this ministry from the ministry done by the professionals. Few of the gifts named in I Corinthians 12 are commonly associated with the ministry of the laity today. They certainly were in Paul's time. Ordination is not the foundation of ministry. Baptism is the foundation of the ministry of Jesus. Certainly professionals have a ministry and a role in the church. A professional priest is a teacher and enabler to equip the saints for ministry.

The life of every person is part of the ministry of Christ. The Ministry of Christ that happens in the church building is a tiny, minuscule, piece of the larger picture of the ministry that every member does every day.

Parish Education of Adults Public schools have a systematic plan that leads students to graduation. Having graduated, a student receives a diploma or some university degree which gives instant recognition of having certain qualifications. In the church we have a variety of education programs year after year but they usually qualify you to do nothing that you couldn't do before.

For example: a person can graduate from the University of the South program called Education for Ministry or from the Stephen Ministry program. What ministry are you now qualified to do? One answer would be to teach others the same program. Graduation is not recognized as qualifying you for any ministry you couldn't already do. Graduating from the usual church education programs qualifies you to be a well-educated person sitting in the pew.

In the church we often characterize the people as the sheep. There was a time when women were not capable of becoming priests. Sheep are not capable of becoming shepherds. You can teach and teach but the student will remain an unqualified (but highly educated) layperson. No one is recognized as a person with gifts for the ministry of Christ unless they are ordained. There is nothing in the church system that would enable a student to 'graduate' ... unless we remove them from the system, send them for 7 years of university and seminary study and then send them to a group of people who don't know them. The congregation is not oriented to recognizing, calling, training, graduating, commissioning or ordaining persons for the variety of ministries of Christ. Dioceses often do not support this type of ministry development. This is a systematic problem in most parts of the church. This insures that the ministry of Christ will be the work of seminary-trained clergy who have been ordained. We will not think of lay people as being ministers of Christ or having their own unique ministry according to their gifts.

Alternatives

The barriers to ministry in the Episcopal Church are not set in stone. The Canons of the Episcopal Church already provide for dioceses and congregations to develop a variety of locally affirmed ministries.

Here’s how barriers to ministry came down in Escanaba, Michigan

Twelve years ago our bishop came to the congregation and then to the Vestry and invited us to form a group of people who would enrich our ministry.

The Vestry said yes. Looking at the names listed in our parish directory, the Vestry noted 80 people whom they had observed actively using God given talents in the ministry of Christ. From that initial list the vestry invited many people and twelve persons accepted the call to further develop ministries that others saw in them. The diocese provided a consultant who met with the group twice a month for 3 hours.

Using criteria provided, the Vestry called people for ministries of:

Preaching
Coordinators of Priestly Ministry
Presbyters (priests)
Coordinators of Diaconal Ministry
Deacons
Education Coordinators
Ecumenical Coordinators
Stewardship Coordinators
Music Coordinator

After three years of study the diocese tested the group. Those called to ordained ministries were examined according to the Canons of the Episcopal Church. All of the members of the group were examined together and passed. The entire group was commissioned by the bishop for their various ministries. Some were ordained.

These people are not trained to replace seminary-trained priests. Nor are they trained to do the ministry that all Baptized persons are called to do. The purpose of this group is to support the ministry of every member of the congregation. At baptism we are called to follow Jesus. Baptism is a call to ministry in the name of Jesus. When fully commissioned by the bishop, these people became the ministry support team.

Carl, called to preach, works in the office of the register of deeds. Liz, called to be Deacon, teaches school. Roxy, a Deacon, is a retired homemaker. Audrey, coordinator of priestly ministries is a homemaker and Deacon. Peg, a preacher, teaches school. Steve, a preacher, is in charge of maintenance at a bank. Dave, a priest, is sales manager for a local packaging firm. Karen, Stewardship coordinator, works for a local bank. Mary, a Stewardship coordinator, works at a local bank. Shirley, a priest, is a homemaker and works with Roxy to lead services in nursing homes. Leila, a Deacon, is a retired department store sales person. Leila works with Audrey and Lay Eucharistic Ministers to bring the sacrament to shut ins. Together members take turns as education coordinator.

The focus of the team is to support the ministry of people who are ordinary members of the church.

The seminary-trained priest oversees the ministry support teams of several congregations. The diocese and its Ministry Development consultant support continuing education for the congregation and team.

Vision

The common view of ministry is consumerism: ministry is purchased from the professional provider. (This creates dependency on money and imported clergy)

Our Goal is to transform our congregation from being a community gathered around a minister into a Ministering Community.

The Diocese of Northern Michigan is one of many dioceses that are active in developing the ministry of the whole congregation.

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The Rev. Thomas E. Lippart is a retired priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan.