Fabulous Book!! - Could Be a Bit More Radical in Some Areas...

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	• Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God Greg Ogden Zondervan, 2003 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fabulous Book!! - Could Be a Bit More Radical in Some Areas...

This is an absolutely marvelous, life-changing book. I picked it up this past week, and I believe that it will be pivotal as my husband and I (both of us are evangelical seminarians) figure out the type of church that we would like to plant one day. Ogden works out the theology of the priesthood of believers quite thoroughly, taking it out to its logical and thrilling conclusions.

In the beginning pages he quotes Martin Luther who said, "Let everyone, therefore, who knows himself to be a Christian be assured of this...that we are all priests, and there is no difference between us." This statement really sounds a lot like what our founding fathers wrote when they proudly proclaimed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." We now know, of course, that this affirmation was surely not universally applied from the very beginning. What the founding fathers REALLY meant was that "all white males are created equal." It would take centuries for their radical statement to work itself out and also include blacks (post the abolition of slavery/Civil War in 1865) and women (who were denied the vote until 1920!!) The Protestant Reformation, Ogden masterfully argues, is not all that different. Luther, Calvin, and others might have claimed that we are all priests - but they only partially finished the job of working this idea out to its most radical conclusions. Today, the continuing Protestant fixation on "ordination" has essentially created a new priesthood and a stringent divide between the "clergy" and the "laity." This is really quite unfortunate, since, as Ogden shows, much of this is essentially indefensible according to a Protestant reading of Scripture. Ogden also challenges the idea that such pastoral functions as "pastoral care," baptism, preaching, and the distribution of the Eucharist must strictly be prohibited to "ordained clergy." It is quite convincing and opens up exciting possibilities, in my estimation, for the future.

My one major critique of the book - and this will be controversial for some - is that it does not really address the outworking of the priesthood of all believers for the ministry of women in the Church. It is clear that Ogden, as an ordained PC(USA) minister, is supportive of women's leadership in the Church; and often throughout the book he will use both male and female pronouns when referring to pastors. Nonetheless, I found it disappointing that he did not address this issue head-on in his book. Regardless of where one stands in the "gender debate," it is quite important for all ministers to understand how to apply the supposed doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers" to women. The worldwide Church today is over 65% female, and many today, based on certain difficult biblical "proof texts," continue to restrict their ministry. I am an evangelical with a high view of Scripture, and so I obviously do not want to "throw out" any part of God's Word. Yet, I am left with the question - does God's promise of a priesthood (both before God AND to other believers, as Ogden defines it) of all believers only most fully apply to males? I would find it strange indeed if the majority of the Church would be left out of the full exercise of this great majestic priesthood! I do encourage all readers, in addition to reading this book, to see a fuller exposition on the radical priesthood of all believers including its implications for male/female relations in the book entitled "Community 101" by Gilbert Bilezikian. Ogden and Bilezikian are friends (see Ogden's preface), and Bilezikian strongly promotes Ogden's book in his own. So I know that Ogden probably has similar ideas, although he did not work them out himself. "Community 101" has radically transformed my outlook on the matter of the priesthood of all believers as it pertains to gender relations - and I would strongly encourage everyone to check it out!

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Not radical enough!

In the heady days of the 16th Century, when Luther and Zwingli were challenging Rome and Calvin was codifying what was becoming known as the Protestant Reformation, the reformers agreed: no more priests. All believers are priests who needed no one but Jesus to intercede for them before the Father. No mortal man, of whatever ordination or office, stood between the believer and his or her God.

450 years later, Greg Ogden has looked at the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, and finds that while all Protestants profess to believe it, we simply don't act like it. Instead of priests lording it over parishes and dispensing sacraments to the laity, we have Protestant pastors attempting to be omnicomptent dispensers of religious services. The titles have changed, but little else. The "clergy" does 80% (or more!) of the work, while the "laity" are passive receivers of "ministry."

Ogden correctly discerns that this distinction between "clergy" and "laity" is not Biblical; some ARE called to be equippers, not to do the "ministry" but to equip all believers to do the ministry. This book is a call for the equippers to share the ministry with the whole body and for the so-called "laity" to demand that their pastors equip them!

The problem with this book is that Ogden does not take his thesis far enough. He paints a picture of the New Reformation Church that is good, as far as it goes. The pastoral staff has taken function names, not hierarchical titles, and is actively engaged in training and releasing believers into ministry. As a result, a much larger portion of the church is finding itself in ministry to others and to the world. But the picture is still incomplete! Again, cosmetic changes have been made; instead of a senior pastor and one or more associate pastor, there is now a pastor of teaching, a pastor of care, a pastor of youth and so forth; although many more non-professionals have been equipped and released into the ministry, the top positions are still held by professional staff members who are simply the priests and pastors of days gone by with different titles.

The more I study the Bible and early church history, the more I am convinced that the true church is the house church (although I'm not saying that true churches can't meet in other buildings besides houses) where worship is led by a non-professional, teaching is done by non-professionals, sacraments are administered by non-professionals, and above all, pastoral care is performed by non-professionals. Of course there are still roles for professionals: Paul was arguably a professional apostle and church planter, but the church of the first century clearly understood that the priesthood of all believers meant the priesthood of ALL believers.

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A Quality Book

This is a book that I will keep in my library. It is a must for every Pastor and laypersons seeking to improve the church and the Ministry for Jesus Christ.

Read this book!

This book challenges the traditional system of the modern Church movement. It makes the reader reflect on the developmental history of the church and really what the body of Christ, the Church, should look like. Beware, it will challenge everything that you have been brought up to believe as functional in "ministry." It will challenge your concept of "ministry." If you are a believer in the risen and only Savior, Jesus Christ, but think you are a "non professional" minister and only a "lay leader," be prepared to remove the scales from your eyes because; you are the minister! This book will get you into the game! The clock is running and the Holy Spirit is calling. Will you answer?

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A must read for all pastors!!!

The other reviewers do a good enough job, and I won't repeat what they say here. Ogden's book is a must read if you want to have a church that takes the priesthood of all believers seriously. Get this book!

reviews: page 1, 2

An updated, expanded revision of a classic resource showing how we are in the midst of a radical shift from church as institution to church as organism in which ministry is being returned to the people of God.

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