IV. Role of the Parish

[O]ne of the problems the Christian church faces is that it doesn't really see that there is a serious problem, that this is not something that is simply a matter of nomenclature, of naming things. It goes a lot deeper than that. And I think the congregations don't realize how serious the problem is. Therefore, they might think, "Oh, we do this pretty well. We tell everybody they are Christians all day, twenty-four hours a day. What else do they need to know?" Well, you need to know a lot more than that. How are you a Christian twenty-four hours a day? For a lot of folks, trying to find God at the work place in certain situations is tough sledding. You know, things are not always clear; they're very ambiguous. And where is God in this mess I'm in, or in this decision to fire this person, or in this family difficulty of mine? So I think one of the problems is admitting that there is a problem. The church has kind of glossed over its inadequacy.1

 

If parishes embraced the Vatican II call of the laity, and the role of the ordained and other leadership to support them in their role, they would look quite different than most do today. Annie Dillard imagines ushers distributing life preservers and signal flares because of the seriousness of the Gospel message.2 Frederick Wentz offers an image of the Church as "a catapult that hurls Christ-bearers into every distant corner of human society."3

How might a parish support its members in their call to evangelize? Individuals must first understand that they are called and what their faith says about the way they live their lives. In particular, that is illuminated by learning about the topics we explored in the previous chapter: stewardship, Sabbath economics, and personal call. But, as Al Roberts bewails, this is not enough. Our parishes need to fully-equip their members to apply these faith values to their lives.

This work is challenging because of a number of obstacles that we will consider. We will then explore an approach called "equipping ministry" that can be used as a framework by parishes that want to support its members more effectively in their call. This framework can inform not only individuals in their actions, but also the parish acting corporately. We will conclude with an example of how a common ministry—marriage preparation—can be re-imagined to address the mandate to evangelize.

1 Al Roberts, as quoted in William E. Diehl, Ministry in Daily Life: A Practical Guide For Congregations (Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 1996), 65-66.

2 Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, (New York: Harper Collins, 1988), 52.

3 Frederick K. Wentz, The Layman's Role Today (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1963), 39.