Comments on Anointed One or Empowered Many

Bill Huffhine commented on 'Anointed One or Empowered Many'

2008-08-11T00:44:07Z

Hey Pete,

Thanks for your thoughts. A healthy community of Christ followers should certainly have elders in their midst. I contend that the role of those elders is to inspire, equip, encourage, and release. But their role should never be that of corporate command and control.

pete z. commented on 'Anointed One or Empowered Many'

2008-08-10T23:10:48Z

one last thought:

the local quaker meeting has a lot of youth. after all the parents burnt out providing programming, they hired a friend of my as a fulltime education person. how does that not make sense for a faith community?

pete z. commented on 'Anointed One or Empowered Many'

2008-08-10T23:08:01Z

I really think the problem is viewing paid ministers as a theological issue. It is a sociological/institutional question. As a divinity student, when I am in fulltime ministry, it will not because I have any more authority than laymen but I will have expertise, education, and the willingness to take responsibility and be faithful. I think a faith community's decisions should have a balance between democratic voting of members and a council of proven leaders both paid and unpaid. if one person is the one who usually speaks in worship, it is not because they hear from god anymore than any other member.

but throwing out a professional class of ministers is dumb. I don't really want to be a part of church where no one in leadership has any training in chaplaincy or in the basics of historical critical readings of the bible, or no knowledge of the major theological movements of this century, or no knowledge of the history of both the big church movements (catholics/lutherans/baptists) and small ones (hussites/anabaptists/quakers)

I don't think if 5 white dudes start blogging and reading a few books by N.T. wright and mclaren that they make a good long term educational plan for a faith community.