Saturday, January 23, 2021

A church to be proud of!

We have stopped referring to ministry leaders (like youth group, etc, being a 'ministry', and rightly so). They are now 'ministry coordinators'. I'd slip another category under that: 'ministry organisers'. You can also relevantly have convenors (e.g. of small groups) as well.

We also 'give' Bible studies, we don't 'lead' them. That's the Holy Spirit's work. The person who gives a Bible study might be a moderator. I'd reserve 'teacher' for the paid staff, of course.

The band gives us music or sings for us. They do not 'lead' us in song. Precentor is the old name for this function.

By the way, we sing, we don't 'worship' as though praising our Lord and teaching each other in song exhausts the idea of worship, when Paul reminds us that it does not.

These terms are congregational/body life affirming. 'Leader' is body life denying, disempowering and denying the multiplicity of ministries we are all gifted for. A coordinator, organiser or server is one of us, they are beside us and with us. A 'leader' is separate, different, more important, better. It has too many worldly overtones to be of any use in the church (congregation). 

Note that many words in the Bible translated 'leader' import something from contemporary culture that is not implicit in the original languages.

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