How did we jump from the proposition of the priesthood of all believers (which all Christian groups believe in), to the proposition that anybody and everybody can do everything in the church?

By this theory, you should baptise YOURSELF, and only yourself, because God forbid that anybody ELSE should be a “mediator”, right? Do you see the absurdity of where this shallow exegesis leads? As soon as you realise that you rely on others in the Church, the next obvious point is God instituted the elders, for the purpose of good order, to say who would and wouldn’t do what. This dates to the first century and Ignatius etc. It has nothing to do with denying a priesthood of all believers.

Another form of sacerdotalism, as already alluded to by some commentors here, is letting/having only the “preacher”/”pastor” give the teaching/sermon/message at the Sunday gatherings. This is a strange way to implement Paul’s order of service in 1 Corinthians 12-14 where “each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation” (14:26), and while there may be those who have the gift/position of “prophet” and should be allowed to speak their prophecies in turn (14:29-32), all the members of the church are encouraged to seek to prophesy (14:1-5) to edify the assembled body of brethren.

As long as low-church, anti- (or non-)sacramental Protestants continue to reserve the pulpit and the stage for the “pastor” and/or “elders” (and in many churches these days, the service really is a stage performance, first by the “worship team/band” and then by the motivational speaker – er, pastor), to the exclusion of the rest of the congregation during the weekly gatherings, giving the “laity” authority to preside over communion or baptisms is still, IMO, missing the mark by a long shot.

I’m pretty sure that you meant to say that Christianity has no caste system, not chaste system, yes?

Before I get bombarded with worried questioners, please let me put your minds at rest by clarifying that all sacramental activity, without exception, ie Baptism. Presiding at Communion, performing weddigs etc are cafrried out by the clergy members of the team. Lay preachers/teachers are licensed to perform baptism services.

I would like to close by just dropping into the mix the comment that this modus operandi helpes prevent those of us who just love the sound of our own voices from hogging too much of the limelight…because they are not always “centre stage”. It also gives preachers the opportunity to rest, listen, reflect and receive from time to time rather than merely give out.

I fear that many ministers would feel uncomfortable sitting down and listening rather than preachin, but we feel it operates well on many levels.

Might I just add that the great advantage of this method is that there a varitety of teaching styles/methods adopted in our system, and not just a “one style (ie that of the “minister and the minister alone”) must please all approach. Also, we rarely have to import anyone in to preach during periods of vacation/prolonged illness etc, although we do have guest preachers from time to time. It also seeks to be truly collaborative, involving a partnership between clergy and laity in the preaching/worship leading arena.

Can I just add that all three lay leaders/preachers/trainers have undertaken and successfully completed a three year training programme prior to licensing and also receive continuing ongoing training alongside the ordained ministers.

Hi Jugulum

“At the very least, an ordained minister uniquely possesses the regular responsibility for preaching to the congregation. He has the main teaching responsibility. (Though there might be a guest preacher from outside the church. Or even someone from within the congregation called to preach on occasion.) They also possess a measure of authority over the congregation, as Christ-like servant-leaders.

This depends on whether you see the position of the ordinand primarily as a one band or as the leader of a diverse team of preachers/teachers.

My gut feeling is that, in the States it generally is. Over here in the UK the situation is somewhat diffferent. The church teaching team that I am part of , which has evolved and developed over the past ten years or so, consists of four ordained members and three lay members, including myself.

The person who leads the service is always different from the person who preaches/teaches. Although the ordinands do preach slighly more than the three lay leaders, it is not by a large amount, although one of the lay leaders preaches less regularly than eveyone else out of preference and also because she is involved in leading worship, along with one of the ordinands. The leading of the worship serive is shared put virtually equally with no distinction made.

The Great Commission Church is definitely into the priesthood of believers – they “commission” pastors from the laity, don’t hire from seminaries (as a general rule).

Not a GCC member, but that is my understanding

I’ve heard the priesthood of all believers preached on many times, often to encourage others to action. However, I’ve yet to meet a pastor who would let go of his pulpit, although I’ve not experienced any issues with “laity” conducting baptisms or communion in the evangelical churches I’ve been involved in. But then again, these churches really don’t believe these 2 sacraments are anything more than memorials and testimonials, so what does it matter?

It would seem that at least by the practice in some evangelical churches, preaching is the only real sacrament and the priesthood of all believes stops a bit short of that…

[...] C Michael Patton writes a great article challenging Protestants who theoretically affirm the Priesthood of all believers but practically deny it by requiring items such as Baptism or the Lord’s Supper to be administrated by the Pastor only - Laypeople: Don’t Baptize – That is Our Job! [...]

Laypeople: Don’t Baptize – That is Our Job!

If I’m not mistaken, the Roman Catholic Church does allow and permit lay people to baptize others (in extenuating circumstances).