The purpose of the church

What is the purpose of the church?  People could write an entire book on this topic.  I don't have enough room in this blog entry to fully explore the subject but I at least need to get some thoughts out of my head.

First of all, I'd like to start with a story about the early church.  The first leaders of the church were faced with a small dilemma.  People were complaining about how food was being distributed.  When they realized that there was a lot of work to do that required boards and committees they said, "It would not be right for us to give up our work of teaching God’s word in order to be in charge of getting food to people" -- Acts 6:2.  They elected some people to handle the work that they considered trivial while the leaders focused on teaching.

What does this say about the purpose and organization of the church?  The main point is that preaching and teaching God's word is the most important work to do.  Feeding hungry people and (presumably) other social ministries are secondary to feeding people's souls.

The second interesting fact in this story is that the early church leaders did want godly and competent people to take care of meeting the physical needs of others.  "So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men who have a good reputation. They must be full of wisdom and the Spirit. We will give them this work to do." -- Acts 6:3.  The question is, how do we organize ourselves to accomplish both of these goals?

Does today's church (and I am thinking of my personal church first, then the synod my church belongs to) have the same priorities as the early church?  One way to answer that question is to look at what percentage of resources (both called workers and volunteers) is spent on teaching vs. "waiting on tables".  Verse 2 of chapter 6 in Acts says there were 12 apostles.  They appointed 7 people to handle the trivial work.  That works out to 63% of the workers focused on teaching and 37% on the other work. 

Today's churches have various boards and committees to keep the church running smoothly.  For example, Boards of Elders, Education, Evangelism, Trustees, as well as committees for Worship, Technology, etc.  Should any of these be considered part of the teaching ministry if the people in these groups do not directly teach but rather support those who do?  Or, are the people on these boards and committees part of the team that does the trivial work?

It might be splitting hairs somewhat to try to classify people this way but it is also easy to feel like we are doing what we are called to do when we do busy work.

Another consideration is to think about who is qualified to teach.  Should all members of a congregation take part in teaching or is that only the province of called Pastors and Teachers who also have some kind of formal degree?  Obviously, the Pastors need to lead the worship services, preach the sermons, administer the sacraments, etc.  Formally trained teachers should be in the school classrooms designing curriculum and being responsible for the education of the children.  

There is a place for the other members of the congregation to participate in the teaching ministry.  Lay members can assist the Pastors in the service, sing in the choir, and help teachers in the classroom.  Lay members can also lead bible classes or Sunday school, teach their own children about God's ways, or witness to their friends, neighbors, and co-workers with their words and actions.  The church leadership should focus on empowering the laity in these specific areas after ensuring that they can carry out the main ministry.

What about other groups like the Board of Trustees, Technology, greeters, ushers, the church librarian, parish nurses, etc?  They do not directly, nor indirectly teach.  Are they needed at all?  As the verses in Acts say, these people are needed and should be competent, but their work is not as important as the teaching ministry.  The number of people who do this work should be a percentage of the whole.

Finally, it is hopefully obvious by now that the church should not be heavily involved in "social ministry" like soup kitchens, coats for kids, and helping the poor.  These things have a place in the church but a small place.  

On the other hand, helping people meet their physical needs is definitely a calling of the individual Christian.  God gives us stuff so we can help others, Christians first, but anyone in need, ultimately.  This is another discussion for another post.