A SERVING CHURCH

The calling of the people of God

The whole people of God is called to incarnate and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as saviour and liberator for all human beings. All the baptized have received the commission to serve and witness in the world. The whole Church, every congregation and each individual Christian must pass on the apostolic message (Matt 28:1620; Mark 16:1420).

All Christians have been consecrated to service through baptism. They have been called to represent Christ in the world and make him living among people. Christian people can discover Christ in their neighbour and can themselves be a Christ for others. In the word of God and in prayer they are given a deepened knowledge regarding the nature of God and what obedience to his will can mean in fellowship with other people. As participants in the great liberation, the people of God offer their praise to God in all of his creation. That praise is a testimony to people of the dominion of God.

Everyone who lives in faith becomes instructed by the Spirit and receives insight about the truth. Every Christian becomes equipped with special spiritual gifts, given in such a way that together they become useful for the whole congregation (1 Cor 12:411). Therefore it is stated: As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Pet 4:10) and For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). God equips us for the work which he has determined for us and he has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit (2 Cor 3:6).

It is the whole people of God which, with different gifts of grace, together administer God’s manifold grace. The Church of God on earth is built by all together to serve the world to which the Church is sent. This is the ministry in the Church of Christ which is usually called the priesthood of the baptizedandbelieving.

The common ministry in the Church

In the Church of Christ, therefore, all Christians have been called through baptism to serve one another and the whole creation. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13). Just as the members of the body exist in order to serve each other and give service to the whole, the same applies to the members of the body of Christ. The part played by one is just as important for the whole body as that of another. It is through the multiplicity that the unity functions. The First Letter of Peter speaks of the Christians as living stones built into a spiritual house and as a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Pet 2:5).

The common ministry for the gospel, to which every Christian is called, is described in the New Testament as a sacrificial ministry. The First Letter of Peter speaks of the Christians as a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet 2:9) and a holy priesthood who are to offer spiritual sacrifices. The Greek words hieréus, which means sacrificial priest , and hieráteuma, which means sacrificial priesthood and laós, which means (fellowship of) people are used. When it is stated in the Revelation to John that Christ has made the Christians priests to his God and Father (Rev 1:6), the word hieréus is also used. Accordingly in the New Testament this word is used not only of the heathen and Levitical sacrificial priests in the old covenant but also of the Christians and of Christ as the great high priest (archieréus), who offered himself for the redemption of mankind (Heb 4:14, 8:1, 9:11).

The sacrifice which the Christians are to offer is not an offering of atonement. This has already been made by Christ as high priest, when he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (Heb 9:12). Christ has consecrated himself as a sacrifice for man’s sake (Jn 17:19) and this sacrifice cannot be repeated. The essential sacrifice of Christians is of another kind. They must present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Rom 12:1), they must place their entire life at the disposal of God. This is done through thanksgiving, praise and service in love (Heb 13:1516), prayer (Rev 8:34), support for the needy (Phil 4:18) and testimony which will lead to people’s conversion (Rom 15:16).

This sacrificial ministry is performed by the Christians in the priesthood of the baptizedandbelieving. All Christians are called and consecrated to this through baptism. There is no spiritual ranking. All are priests who shall offer themselves as living sacrifices before God.

This is the significance of the Christian laity. Through baptism all belong to the people of God and are called to the common ministry of the Church. The Swedish word lekman (layman) is derived from the Greek word laikós, (not found in the New Testament), which means belonging to the people . Already at the time of the New Testament, the word laós, people, was one of the designations for the Church. A person belonging to the people of God and who is a citizen in the kingdom of God is a laikós. It is regrettable that layman has often come to mean someone who has not been ordained as priest or is ignorant and unqualified. This, however, does not change the original and proper meaning of the word.

The particular ministry in the Church

In the Church there is not only the common ministry, to which all Christians are called through baptism. There is also a ministry, to which the Church calls men and women and sets them apart through ordination. From its very earliest beginnings the Church has set apart individual Christians, through prayer and the laying on of hands, for this particular ministry in the Church. Paul describes the ministry to which he was called as a ministry of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:1820). Among those who are called and consecrated to the ministry of reconciliation some are entrusted with the word of reconciliation. Others are called to care for and have spiritual oversight over the congregations, yet others to have special responsibility so that faith becomes active in deeds of love.

The particular ministry in the Church is a gift from God and, at the same time, a commission which the church assigns through prayer and laying on of hands in ordination to the ministry of the Church.

Servants for the gospel of Christ – this is the designation given to those who are sent out into the particular ministry according to the Church of Sweden Manual for Ordinations approved in 1987. In our tradition we have often spoken about the preaching ministry , since the call is to present the sanctifying gospel in word as well as deed. When one speaks of the ministry of the Church one emphasizes the fact that the particular ministry belongs to the basic structure of the Church and that it is required if the people of God is to be built up in faith and equipped for service and witness in the world. Ministry and service have the same basic meaning and are intended to denote the New Testament word diakonía (Lat. ministerium), mentioned above.

In international ecumenism the term ordained ministry of the Church (Swedish vigningstjänst ) is often mentioned and the holders of any office are called ordained ministers. The intention is to refer to two conditions which apply to the ordained servants of the Church. First, as with all other members of the Church, they share the common call to service through baptism. Second, they have a special divine commission which requires a special induction; they are ordained into a service in the Church which is essential for the basic mission of God’s people in the world – to administer the gospel.

The threefold ministry

Jesus Christ called and sent his apostles. Thereby the whole mission of the Church into the world began: Jesus said to them again, ’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ (Jn 20:2123). Jesus equipped the apostles with holy spirit and the power to forgive sins. The sending which they themselves received was passed on by them to new generations. In the apostolate the origin of the ministry of the Church is to be found. The ministry is thus a gift of God to the Church. As a part of the basic structure of the Church it will ensure that service for the gospel is executed.

The ordained servants of the Church have the commission, on behalf of Christ, in word and deed, to proclaim the gospel and to strengthen unity with Christ: He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me (Luk 10:16). In this way they have become engaged for God’s continued actions with his people. They exercise their ministry in the Church as a part of the fellowship of the Church and for the Church as serving its members. The ministry of the Church is sometimes called the ministry of the Spirit. This does not mean that the gifts of the Spirit are exclusively attached to the ministry, but that it is exercised in and through the Spirit in order to vitalize and strengthen the gifts of grace in the congregation.

The New Testament does not provide an explicit and clear pattern for the formation of the ministry of the Church. The activities which the apostles according to Christ’s commission established in the new Christian congregations were, from the beginning, executed and led in different ways at different places. The responsibility for the varied activities in the congregations was taken by people with differing functions and gifts. Out of the multiplicity of forms, the Church came in time to develope three commissions within its ministry, namely those of the episcop [ The word episcop is used to cover the development from the time when one of the presbyters began to supervise other presbyters until the time when the supervisor emerged as a recognized bishop.]

, the presbyter, and the deacon.

In Phil 1:1, 1 Tim 3:17 och Tit 1:79 is found the term epískopos, which, in the Swedish New Testament of 1981, has been translated as congregation leader and which has the original meaning of one who has oversight or superintendence over something . The holder of this position had the responsibility to lead the congregations, which also is apparent from the special obligations that were imposed on this person. In the letters mentioned above the term diákonos also appears, which is translated as coworker . If the information in the New Testament about episcops and deacons is rather meagre, more is said about those who are called presbyters. The Swedish word präst , priest, is derived from the word presbyteros, which in the New Testament of 1981 has been translated as elder . From the beginning there was no clear distinction between the tasks of the presbyters and the episcops , but gradually the episcops became supervisors of the presbyters. The presbyterate had a responsibility for the doctrine, as can be seen from the meeting of the apostles in Jerusalem. Together with the apostles and the whole of the rest of the congregation the presbyterate arrived at the decision of the meeting (Acts 15, 16:4). The author of the Second and Third letters of John introduces himself as presbyter, and the First letter of Peter describes presbyters as shepherds for the flock of God (1 Pet 5:12). In the letter of James they are assigned the responsiblity the congregation has for healing the sick with anointing and intercession. Acts 14 tells how Paul and Barnabas appointed presbyters in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. Titus was directed by Paul to appoint presbyters in every town in Crete according to the apostle’s instructions (Tit 1:5). Timothy, who had been installed as church leader at Ephesus, received the same commission and was instructed not to be hasty in the laying on of hands (1 Tim 5:22).

The indications given to us in the New Testament show that the common ministry in the Church was exercised in interchange with the particular ministry. The ordained ministry of the Church and the priesthood of the baptizedandbelieving cooperated with their different tasks. Everything was directed towards the same goal: the glory of God and the edification of the congregation as a living and organic fellowship in Christ.