The third lecture in the Rev John Hodge Series was delivered at the Immanuel Methodist Chapel in West End delivered on Sunday 19th August 2013 by the Rev Joseph R Lloyd. The subject of the Lecture was, the “The Ministry of the Whole Church”.
The four lecture series is based on fundamental themes of the Protestant Faith of which the Methodist Church is a part. All the lectures are being delivered by retired Methodist Minister residing in Anguilla.
John Hodge, an Anguillian Methodist layman, pioneered the work of the Methodist Church in Anguilla and St Martin. He was later ordained as a Methodist Minister becoming the first black Methodist Minister from the Caribbean.
In the Lecture Rev Lloyd explained that the‘Ministry of the Whole Church’comprises clergy and laity in full, working hand in hand.
He said that in the N.T. particularly in the letters of St. Paul mention is made of gifts of the Spirit which are given liberally for the building up of the Body of Christ, the Church.
The N.R.S.V. of the Wesley Study Bible he said is emphatic in declaring that an abundance of spiritual gifts existed in the Corinthian Church. But the church faltered in using these gifts wisely. John Wesley helps us discover the content and meaning of 1 Cor. 12 by pointing to Paul’s description of:
(1) The unity of the body of Christ, verses 1 – 27
(2) The diversity of members and offices, verses 27 – 30 and
(3) The excellent way to exercise gifts, verse 31
Laypersons are included and contribute to the body’s unity through gifts and graces used in leadership.
Wesley fostered lay leadership in small groups called classes, thereby demonstrating the meaning of
1 Cor. 14: 20 – 21, that many members making one body need one another.
Rev Lloyd explained that each of us have been uniquely gifted with the capacity to make a contribution to the work of Christ. We are never intended to live in isolation but to work together to become a great force for God and the advancement of His cause. As Paul reminds us the body of Christ “is not one member, but many” (1 Cor. 12: 14).
The Senior Catechism of The Methodist Church speak of the Ministry of the Church as the continuance of Christ’s own ministry through the whole membership of the Church.
Christ offered Himself as a servant or minister and opened the way to God for us. All Christians are called to continue Christ’s ministry by serving in the church and in the world. The ministry of the Church is exercised as Christians respond to God’s call and discover and use the gifts which the Holy Spirit has given them.
The ordained ministry is only one of the many ministries recognized by the Church. Not all these ministries are recognized by ordination: for example, in the Church Local Preachers, Sunday School teachers, Youth leaders and Pastoral Visitors are recognized and commissioned in different ways. There are also administrative and practical ministries which often receive no formal recognition.
Everything he said was against those ordinary men and women who spread the good news. In the main they were slaves, outcasts, nobodies. Who would have believed that the disciples were likely to stir the world? To turn it upside down?Ordinary fishermen, a tax collector. They attempted great things for God and expected great things from God. The more we read of the Acts of the Apostles and become enlightened by their success story, clearly, the result was not due to these ordinary men and women alone. The Holy Spirit was at work – prompting, guiding, energizing and empowering.
Looking at the Church today and witnessing the lethargy, inactivity, and what could well in many instances be termed stagnation, there is a need to pray with the utmost earnestness for a fresh outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon us, His Church.
He explained that the Spirit which renewed and empowered the Apostolic Church is present with us today.There seems to be a notable awakening universally to the role of the laity in the life and witness of the Church. Within recent years lay movements have become increasingly active in many churches and have been considered a force to be reckoned with. They have posited with the utmost confidence that the ministry and the laity are a unity and as such must endeavour at all times to let this thought be pre-eminent – exemplified by action.
He opined that the full impact of the work and witness of the church in its entirety has waned and continues to wane because of the lack of the importance of laity in the church and the role which inevitably they must play if revolution must begin in earnest and continue to be pivotal in the life of the church.
If we keep our ears to the ground, particularly when adverse things happen in society, and see the reaction of people or listen to their comments, it becomes clear that the vast majority of lay persons exclude themselves.Often when disaster has taken a toll on the community the question is posited. What is the church doing? Clearly, rank and file are not included. In the majority of cases only the clergy are targeted or clergy and officers of the church.
From its inception, Caribbean Methodism has seen the importance of the ministry of the whole church. Clergy and lay have worked side by side, hand in hand to present the claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ to men and women, thereby mobilizing the church in its entirety.
In every congregation there is an abundance of talent which goes untapped and under-utilized. Very often persons with such gifts, graces, and abilities feel overlooked and may very well consider themselves to be unimportant and inconsequential. Unwilling to assert themselves voluntarily, they eventually drift away and such assets are lost to the church.
Rev Lloyd said that Douglas P. Blatherwick, Vice-President of the British Methodist Conference in 1956, made a pertinent observation: “One of the fundamental errors is that our age still fails to realize that the church cannot succeed until the laity plays its full part.”Everything depends upon the laity (and ministry) knowing that the church is ordinary men and women living out in the world, and that the Church does not depend solely on bishops or ministerial leaders.
The fact is there to observe – in the first drive of Christianity it was ordinary folk (laymen and women) who together with the apostles were the dynamic leaders. He said in Acts 8 The Early Church is persecuted in Jerusalem. All the members were scattered over the countryside of Judea and Samaria. ‘Those who were dispersed by this action went throughout the country – preaching the Good News of the message as they went.’ (The Young Church in Action by J.B. Phillips)These ordinary men and women somehow felt it was their sacred duty to share blessings which they had received.
T.W. Manson observes he said that, “The Christianitythat conquered the Roman Empire was not an affairof brilliant preachers addressing packed congregations.The great preachers came after Constantine the Great; and before that Christianity had already done its work and made its way right through the Empire from end to end.
The Reformation, with Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli as spearheads in Europe, saw a new emphasis upon the proper places of the laity in the Church – and the ordinary person began to count.
But perhaps the most significant development in the church in Britain was the rise of Methodism. In England at that time, John Wesley not only preached the Universal Grace of God; he was led to see that the only chance for the spread of the Gospel in the new society was by the use of laypersons. This was not easy for him; he was prejudiced. But he soon understood that the Spirit of God could and would work mightily through laypersons. So it was, that lay preachers were used in their hundreds.
But those days are not all in the past he said. All the best thinking in the Churches today is stressing the need for the whole churchto be active. Where it is heeded spectacular things are happening, and will continue to happen.
He noted that prior to mass electrification, energy for domestic cooking was got from use of charcoal or other ingenious methods. A person with a coal-pot of dead coals would go to a neighbour who had a vessel of live coals and procure one live coal and cast it among the dead coals. That live coal was effective in touching the dead coals causing them one by one to glow with radiance. All coals now teemed with life. Similarly, in the church community, when one person becomes alert and alive by the awakening and energizing of God’s Holy Spirit, touches the life of another, a chain reaction results. The entire community becomes alive.
As he closed Rev Lloyd challenged those present by saying “May each of us who has experienced change and transformation in our lives by God’s renewing Spirit, pray even now, “Lord, revive your Church beginning with me!”
The next lecture in the series will be at BethelMethodist Chapel at South Hill on 22 September where the presenter will be the Rev. H Clifton Niles the Subject will be “Salvation By Faith”
28 August 2013
