What is the ordained minister's pastoral task in an age of uncertainty? (part one)

A Renewal of the Tent Maker Tradition

What is your image of an ordained minister? No doubt you picture someone employed full time by the church as a leader of a congregation, with pastoral and pulpit responsibilities. But was this always the case and is it the only mode of ordained ministry? As a former Salvation Army officer, I struggled for many years to redefine the seat of my ordination outside officership until I realised that ordination was far greater than the constraints of denominational constraints. Currently I am an ordained non-stipendiary minister within the British Methodist Church with pastoral care of three congregations as well as the Principal of an Independent Specialist College for young people with leaning difficulties. If you like, I am a minister of the tent maker variety.

Dual Vocation
Tent Maker ministry is a relatively renewed ‘order’ within the church, although the term itself comes from Paul's insistence on supporting himself whilst conducting his mission of proclaiming the gospel to the gentiles. The idea of a professional elder-ship, wholly supported by the church, took some time to become a regular feature of the emerging Christian community of the first century.

Although the subject of much discussion, I am concerned that this renewed mode of ministry is often seen as financial expediency rather rediscovering a particular mode of ministry. Whilst much of the official rhetoric gives ascent to non-stipendiary ministries as equal importance within the church, in reality it is often seen as second best by both ordained and lay members. An example of this surrounds my own circumstances where people have asked, "so you are going to be a part-time minister", or “ will you ever see yourself going on to be a proper minister?” I want to challenge the popular view that Non-stipendiary Ministers are only ordained for the time spent in 'church' work as this seems to point to a suspect theology of ordination and an impoverished view of the ministry for the whole people of God.

The use of the term secular work in respect of a Christian's day to day employment would seem to indicate that there are ‘no go areas’ in which the faith and ministry play a secondary role. Ruth Ethchells, former principal of St John's College Durham, described a true layperson as one 'whose centre is outside the Church, in the world'. If we further expand this idea to include the strongly held concept within the Methodist Church of the priesthood of all believers, there would appear to be ‘no place where pastoral ministry cannot be exercised’. Placing this concept within the context of non-stipendiary pastoral ministry exercised through day-to-day employment gives a renewed emphasis to ordination.

The Priesthood in Context of Presbyterial Ministry
The priesthood of all believers is the framework through which all ministries, whether lay or ordained, are exercised within the context of the church and its ministry in the world. Central to this ministry is making the gospel credible and thus enabling people to believe that 'the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross.' Newbiggen further advocates that the only hermeneutic of the gospel is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it. If the location of this priesthood is considered to be the church in the world and that being the church, whether at work, play or worship, is its reason for existing, is it not also true that the presbyterate should be assessable, enabling and sustaining this work?

Central to ordination within Methodist Church is what the Statement on Ordination (1974) that calls the focal and representative nature of this ministry. Wallwork says that through ordination the ministry of the whole people of God is focused and represented. Whilst I go some way in agreement with this concept I do not feel that this belongs exclusively to the ordained ministry. After all the word minister, often translated as presbyter in the New Testament, has also been translated as huperetes meaning under-rower. Paul used this to describe himself in Romans 1:1 signifying that ministry is wider than leadership in the traditional sense.

The concept of the representative, focus and priesthood is often misunderstood when applied to ordained ministry. Depending upon a Christian's tradition, the image of the priestly office will differ greatly. Cranmer understood the word priest to have its root in the word presbyter and this word became interchangeable with ‘prester’, possible after John Prester, a legendary Christian King and priest of the Middle Ages. Through usage, the word Prester eventually became Priest. Michael Harper urges the need to drop the term priest and restore the presbyterate to its rightful scriptural position. The presbyter’s ordination does not in itself indicate a greater degree of holiness but through Christ's call given in a particular gift, further enables the whole church to exercise the common priesthood. Of this Patrick Rodgers argues, 'if it is Christ's ministry (royal, prophetic, priestly, serving) which is to be pursued in the world, it does not seem probable or in accordance with his own attitude towards 'lay' humanity, that a mere fraction of the membership of his body will do it justice.' He also questions '... if the clergy do not teach, do not pray, do not love and endure, do not recall Christ, what are they there for?'


Defining Pastoral Care
The Deed of Union of the Methodist Church uses words as such Steward, and Shepherd to describe the call, vocation, life and responsibility of the Presbyter. This is very much in line with Wesley's sermon based up Hebrew 13:17 where he speaks of "pastors... who guide and feed a part of the flock of Christ." The words steward and shepherd, deeply rooted in Jewish thought, also reveal something of the nature of a ministry of word and sacrament. This task is the care of souls , the conduct of worship and the oversight of church order . Wesley continues by considering the presbyter as having a dual role of both ‘under-rowing’ and oversight expressed in terms that the steward employs all that she/he has through ‘the poor, whom God has appointed to receive by looking upon ourselves as one of that number of the poor.’

For Paul Johnson, such pastoral care is "a religious ministry to individuals in dynamic relationships arising from insight into essential needs and mutual discovery of potentialities for spiritual growth." But how is this dynamic expressed through the presbyterial ministry? Ordination has been described as the setting apart of an individual for the task of eldership. However, the concept has led to a false understanding of the ordained being somehow, separated and removed from the people. If presbyterial pastoral care has a hallmark it is surely incarnational in essence and participatory in practice. The 1968 Anglican/Methodist unity report spoke of ordained ministry as " ...distinctive...a special form of participation. It is in this way that the priesthood of the presbyter should be understood... as both Christ's ambassadors and the representatives of the whole people of God."

Defining what is meant by the whole People of God is perhaps the most difficult aspect of this statement when considering what it means to be incarnational in terms of the ordained ministry. Nathan Niles suggests, "becoming incarnate in society is moving onto a group's "turf" - its social territory and living fully among people in a way that they can understand".

The Pastoral Task Beyond the Fold
Throughout Church history, many attempts have been made to identify and define the essence of human spirituality, the seat from which humankind can begin to realise the incarnate Word of God. Justin Martyr spoke of the logos spermatikos, the germinal logos, as that which potentially unites humankind to God. It gives the potential to realise the divine and that this same seed potential is found in all. Calvin described this as the “sensus divinitatis” (sense of divinity) found in the nature of everyone and Karl Barth speaks of "other lights" that might, unseen by us, appears in other religions. He was careful to say that all, irrespective of belief structure would necessarily reflect the "one great light" of Jesus Christ. In 1886 William Herrman suggested that 'the only God that can reveal Himself to us is one who shows himself to us in our moral struggle as the power to which our souls are really subject'.