2. Churches should have less paid staff

This is a continuation of a couple of previous posts.  The first is here.

I think that churches seek to have too many paid staff.  I fear that we're turning ministry into a professional venture and that we're pushing the layman out of the ministry of the word.  I don't understand the reasoning for our model of ministry and I think it's unbiblical.

I don't understand why we should pay people to tell others about Jesus.  I don't understand why we're
professionalising being a Christian.  I do understand that we need ministers who are paid.  But we have to understand that we don't pay them to do a job.  We pay them so that they don't have to have a job.  We seek out men who are leaders in the church community and we pay them so that theyhave time for the local church that they wouldn't have otherwise.  These men should be leading a team of other men who do work so that together the church is administered, the gospel is preached and the community is looked after.  I don't really see why, in your average small church, we should have more than one paid minister. I don't see why themain ministry of that minister has to be preaching.  This idea has some basis in the Bible, but that doen't make it biblical.  If you have capable lay preachers then let them preach.  If a minister's a talented preacher then by all means prach every week, but if not then do what you're good at and let others do what they're good at.  I've seen too many great ministers who are wondeful at looking after and encouraging Christians struggle each week to preach to think that this works.

I think that too many ministers and assistant ministers and youth ministers and children's workers only really serve to professionalise something that is all of our responsibility.  They create in groups and out groups. 

I don't like the idea that the leadership of the church is the responsibility of a few and that there is so much opportunity for pew sitting from church members. 

I think that the sharing of the gospel is everyone's responsibility.  I hear ministers and church leaders lament that their parishioners aren't telling people about Jesus, but they're not sharing the responsibility of teaching within the Christian community with their parishioners. 

I think we should have a hard look at the way we do church.  I think that we talk big about spurring one another on, encouraging one another and sharing the load, but then we hire men and women to do what we should all be sharing together.

There's a place for paid ministry.  But do we really need so many?