BAPTIST’S BELIEF IN PERSONAL CONVERSION AND MINISTRY

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Dan Nelson

05/13/2022  · BAPTIST’S BELIEF IN PERSONAL CONVERSION AND MINISTRY

The Priesthood of Believers is not Ministry for us by Clergy Part 6

I have set forth the clear teaching of God’s Word that we are all individually responsible for our salvation and we are personally obligated to come to faith in Christ. We need to understand this commitment, no matter how young or old we are is essential and no one can make it for someone else. We can lead children and others to Christ though and help them trust in Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.The next tenant that ties into personal faith is a personal ministry we have in Christ. Since there is equal footing at the cross, there should be no barrier in serving the Lord. This term that has been referred to through the years is the priesthood of all believers. Practically, it means that we all serve in various areas that need no representation either as in sponsorship salvation but personal participation. Again, pastors and spiritual leaders are given by God to the church so that the church does ministry as the body of Christ. We also are free in different areas of Christian growth and service.The church needs to have ministers and not just one that serves in the place of members.-The Clergy equips but does not serve in the place of peopleThe Pastor is to equip the members to serve in ministry. The church does not pay an appointed clergy to do ministry for them. They instead call these leaders to work on helping the congregation fulfill their ministry and spiritual growth. There should not be any “Lone Ranger” service in the church done by the pastor. Sometimes the pastor does things that if he does not do, it will not get done. But the pastor’s intent should be to involve everyone in ministry as they serve as priests to God and in their ministry to others.Although a pastor should be called to lead a congregation, there should also be those who minister with him so that a lot more ministry is accomplished than he cannot do himself. The idea of every member of the congregation being active in ministry is not only a biblical concept from the body analogy Paul uses in I Corinthians 12 but is also rooted in Baptist history and practice.Michael Haykin revealed in the London Baptist Confession 1689 that there would be no retreat from the fact that theministry was … firmly subordinated to the immediate authority of the covenanted community. In summary, he says, “Christ has entrusted to individual congregations the authority and right to order their lives together as believers. The understanding of the local church displayed in these articles places upon church members a great responsibility. 1The church worked with the Pastors and leaders. They did not just do ministry for them. Haykin continues, “These responsibilities and expectations did not stipulate what the church could do for the members, but what the members could do in the church.”2The leadership was to stimulate the growth and proper function of its members and should be supported as those who keep watch over their souls.-We have a priesthood in these areasBaptists believe and have believed throughout history that no priest should be designated to be the only one that can pray, hear confession, be the sole authority, and minister for a specific congregation.We instead believe in the priesthood of believers in which we all minister as priests to God as stated in I Peter 2:5 and Revelation 1:6.This designation and function apply to the ability to interpret the Bible (I John 2:27, Acts 17:10-11), pray without a need for human intercession in our behalf (I Timothy 2:5), minister with us instead of for us (Eph. 4:11-13), and share our faith personally in evangelism (Acts 2:46-27). The Bible teaches this in many areas and was the reason for the success of the early church after the Holy Spirit baptized them at Pentecost.Until the priesthood of believers is put into practice and not just believed, will the church experience the growth and fulfillment of what God has done and wants to do in our churches.We need to serve with the right attitudeAn effective ministry was realized in Baptist history through the opportunity the church offered all its members. Pilgram Marpeck, a leader and writer of the Anabaptists saw all the church involved in ministry and not just its leaders. “The church and its role were central to what Marpeck’s writing and teaching revealed. His Anabaptism was grounded in ecclesiology. He sought to build congregations whose goal was to live out of the Sermon on the Mount on a day-to-day basis. These churches were an extension of the incarnation of Christ.”3This Baptist belief of every member as a priest to God is made possible because of an absence of hierarchy over them by leaders above them and outside of a specific congregation. It is a needful New Testament practice to equip members for ministry and for every member to have a specific ministry in that particular congregation.1Michael Haykin, Kiffin, Knollys, and Keach-Rediscovering our English Baptist Heritage. (Reformation Today Trust: Leeds, England, 1996), 38.2 Ibid3 Donald F Durnbaugh,. The Believer’s Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestantism. (The Macmillian Company: London,1968), 85.