The apostle Paul’s requirement for elders to have faithful children is routinely set aside in the church by means of fanciful exegesis. The overseer must “manage his household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Tim. 3:4-5). Submissive how? Sitting in the pew quietly and not getting anyone pregnant is not enough. “If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to he charge of debauchery or insubordination” (Titus 1:6). Clearly, the submission is to Christ. (more…)

From Matt Chandler’s Foreword to Larry Osborne’s recent book Sticky Teams:

I’d been trained for ministry by a group of brilliant, godly men who taught me hermeneutics, Christan history, how to decline and parse Greek words, Hebrew, systematic theology, courses in Pauline literature, the Old Testament prophets, and preaching. I devoured every bit of it and learned quickly that I had a knack for theology and preaching. . . . (more…)

Luther attacked the sacrament of ordination which is one manifestation of a false sacred/secular divide. How many pastors teach in such a way that nothing they ever affects or applies the way people behave at work? If a minister is a different sort of person altogether, saying “spiritual” things for a limited spiritual realm, then it makes sense that religion one compartment of a compartmentalized life. The faux sacrament of ordination is bad business, “designed to engender implacable discord whereby the clergy and the laity should be separated farther than heaven and earth, to the incredible injury of baptismal grace and to the confusion of evangelical fellowship. This is the source of that detestable tyranny over the laity by the clergy who, relying  the external anointing of their hands, the tonsure and the vestments, no only exalt themselves above lay Christians, anointed by the Holy Spirit, but even regard them as dogs, unworthy to be included with them in the Church. ” Outside of Catholicism, these attitudes are still prevalent where ministers think they have spiritual exaltation, preferred benefits, or entitlement access, and titular dignity above other brothers and sisters. Ironically, Luther’s greatness came from minimizing his own. This sort of power give, rather than grab, is the mark of all reformers and reformations.

One of the basic duties of an elder is to “manage” the church. The Greek word proistemi has a broad range including to place over, oversee, superintend, care for and give attention to. Management has become one of those blase disciplines studied by drones at university who have no soul to choose anything else. (more…)