The Church’s Function
I “butted in” on an overheard conversation the other day, and the thoughts that the topic inspired have been thundering around in my head like a herd of wildebeest, looking for the way out.
Note to self: Butting in on overheard conversations is rude and you need to stop it. Even if the conversants are people who are pretty much your friends. They won’t continue to be your friends if you keep butting in.
I don’t remember the exact words that were said, but the gist of what I overheard was that the church needed to do more to reach unbelievers.
The problem is (as I interrupted to say) that it is not the job of the church to reach unbelievers. Evangelizing is the job of the individual members of the Body of Christ. Christ gave some very specific commands to various groups of His followers. To Peter he gave the specific command to “Feed my sheep.” To the larger group of disciples, Christ gave the specific command “Go and teach all nations, baptising them … and teaching them to do what I have commanded you.”
“Feed my sheep.” This injunction, given specifically to Peter, but in the company of six of the other disciples, is a direct command to nourish believers. The Shepherd’s sheep are those who are already in the flock. The Shepherd has assumed responsibility for their well-being, and they look to Him for care and direction. He assigns to another believer (a more seasoned one) the task of feeding those sheep. Thus, it is the responsibility of the local church and its clergy (whatever names they may be called by) to feed the believers.
“To feed” is to provide nourishment so that another being can live, grow, and be healthy. Therefore, to “feed the sheep” of Christ means to provide spiritual teaching and encouragement that will empower the believer to become more like Christ, to subdue a sinful nature, and to witness to others about the transforming power and liberating grace of God as purchased for us by Christ’s sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection
“Go … teach … baptise” — commonly known as “The Great Commission” — is the command given to the entirety of the disciples of Christ, just prior to His ascension to Heaven. It is, clearly, a command to proselytise. To share the gospel with the world. There’s nothing really difficult to understand about the instruction. The disciples are to travel around the world, telling people the things that Jesus told them, and baptising into the Church those who believed and were willing to follow the commands of Christ.
Now, it seems to me that if the command to “feed the sheep” was given to one particular person (or to a select group), while the command to “go, teach, baptise” (i.e., “spread the word”) was given to several people (or the entire group), then it is logical to say that “Feeding” is the responsibility of those who have been specially selected for that task, while “Spread the Word” is the responsibility of all who believe.
If I have rightly understood the Word, then, it is the responsibility of the clergy and the local church body to minister to the needs of believers. They are not to shut unbelievers out, but they are not to cater to them — they are to focus on empowering and equipping those who are already saved.
It is the responsibility of individual believers to reach out to unbelievers with the truth of the gospel.
I think that is one reason that the local church is struggling. It is trying to do someone else’s job, and its own job is being neglected. It is not the church’s responsibility to evangelize, but far too many churches are focusing their programming and ministries to “reach the lost.” I hear it so often, in so many churches. “We need to do more to reach the lost. We need to attract unbelievers so we can help them get saved.”
But that is not the church’s job. And bringing unbelievers in can make it difficult to maintain the commitment to Truth that is so very necessary to properly nourishing a spiritual life. When we bring in unbelievers who do not understand why we have certain standards, we end up having to choose between offending an unbeliever by condemning something he sees no harm in, or compromising the spiritual walk of the believer by soft-pedaling our objections (thereby making it seem “not such a big deal”).
So you have Christian people who aren’t really sure how to live Christian lives, who don’t know how to keep growing in the faith, who continue to live sinful, defeated lives because the church is focusing on doing someone else’s job. Because, instead of teaching believers the Truth and giving them the foundation for building a strong, unshakable faith, the church is trying not to offend the unbelievers that it is trying to turn into believers.
And you have believers who are afraid to share the Truth past the most basic gospel message. Believers who are afraid to say “that is a sin, and you need to ask God to help you fight your inclination to do that.” Believers who aren’t even able to identify something as sin. And believers who cannot stand against the most rudimentary attacks against their basic beliefs. Who, when an unbeliever challenges them, collapse in self-doubt and confusion.
And you have unbelievers watching them, thinking “Why should I join them? They aren’t that much different than me except that they go to church on Sunday. Why add another obligation to my already full schedule? I don’t see the point.”
I’m not trying to condemn the church for trying to reach the lost. I’m just saying that we need to start dividing our responsibilities properly. Those who are driven to share the gospel should be directed to evangelism and missions, where they can share the gospel and bring new sheep into the flock. Those who are driven to teach Truth and to help others understand just what it is that Christians believe should be directed into the pastorate, where they can nourish the flock of Christ. Our seminaries should help each pastoral candidate to identify his motives for seeking ordination, and should help direct each candidate to the group of responsibilities that best fits his (or her) strengths, motivations, and abilities.
And when the clergy is rightly divided and properly fulfilling its roles, the mass of believers will begin to grow strong. It will swell the ranks of evangelists and the ranks of the pastorate, and the gifts of God’s Spirit will find their right use again. And both the Church and Evangelism will see a better and more abundant harvest.