On Ministry

Stephen Cottrell’s On Priesthood: Servants, Shepherds, Messengers, Sentinels and Stewards is one of the most helpful and challenging books on ministry that I have read. I just wish it had been around a long time ago. I like these five categories of ministry which he places very much in the context of ministry belonging to the whole people of God. The priest, or minister, has a particular role – but all are called to discipleship. However, I like, too, his recognition of the big role that ministry should take, not because it makes ministers important, but because it gives them important responsibility. He states that he believes “that the incarnational and sacramental pattern of the Christian faith means that as Christ himself is the sacrament of God, God made visible and tangible to us in flesh and blood like ours, then it is Christ himself who ordains and sends out particular ministers, not just to lead and serve his Church (though, as we shall see, this is a primary part of ordained ministry), but also as evangelists and prophets to teach and preach, to hold the powerful to account, and to speak of God’s kingdom of justice and peace in a world of ever increasing confusion and hurt.”

We, who are ministers, have got a lot to do, and Cottrell recognises that. “So in the Church, the task of leadership is to serve the whole Church and build it up so that each person may discover the part they are called to play in witnessing to Christ and building the kingdom, and to be ready for the inevitable sacrifices that go with a life following Christ, and for the conflicts and persecutions that may come. Leadership in the Church is not an easy thing.”

The task is to take on the five roles, but do so in a way that enables and encourages the whole people of God to play their part in the life of the church. “The task of the priest is not to be the lead player, not the first violin or the concert pianist, but the conductor, harmonising and utilising the gifts and creativity of the whole.”

What does this mean? “So priests must love the people they serve. They are the ones for whom Christ died. They must teach the people they serve to play and love the music of the gospel. They must feed them with word and sacrament. They must make the words of the psalmist their own: ‘O sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the assembly of the faithful’; ‘How good it is to make music to the Lord …’ (Psalms 149.1; 148.1).”

Lots to think about.  Lots to challenge.