Question:
Dear Greg,
My
husband and I are in ministry. We
have been told by people from different churches that we should not be doing
what we are doing because we do not have spiritual accountability, as we are not
under the authority of leadership. I
had never heard of any of this, ever, and cannot find this in the Bible.
If God has called you to do something, do you have to get man’s
permission first? That’s what
this sounds like. I read a short
commentary that claimed that if a church is teaching these things, that they
have a spirit of control.
What
is your opinion? Thanks!
Penny
Answer: Dear Penny,
There
are two sides to this issue, of course.
1.
Ministry leaders do need some objective sources of accountability.
There are
2.
Some denominations and individual churches exert so much control over
their
The
question—“If God calls you to do something, does one have to first get
permission?”—can be a leading question.
It is possible for an individual to claim that God wants them to do
something illegal, unethical, or unwise. And
it is possible for the individual to claim that since God “told them”, that
no one has the right to deny them the opportunity to do what they claim God told
them to do.
But
this argument breaks down, for God is a God of order, of structure, of harmony,
of justice. God does not practice
anarchy or subjective self-rule. See
Romans 13 for example.
If,
for example, a 14-year-old told his parents that God wanted him to drive the
family car, the parents would be right to hold the young person accountable to
established laws—such as a driver’s license at the age of 16.
The parents would be correct in doing so, even though the teen may accuse
them of being controlling.
If
an individual believes that God has called them to ministry, they should consult
with and counsel with others. They
should determine what kind of ministry would be best for the gifts that God has
given them—and they should then find out what requirements a denomination as
well as civil authorities would ask of them so that they might minister.
Some denominations expect seminary training, the equivalent of a 96-unit
accredited Master of Divinity, and others do not.
Regardless
of how strongly someone feels that God wanted them to minister, a denomination
that requires seminary training would respond to someone who believes that they
can and should minister without formal training that God had called them (the
denomination) to adequately prepare ministers for service, so that the people of
God can be skillfully and properly ministered to.
For
example, if we go to a dentist, we would like to see some evidence of where
he/she went to dental school, that the school was accredited, and that he/she
knows what they are doing. If we
take our car to a mechanic, we prefer that the mechanic has had training, rather
than simply being self-taught. While
ministry might be slightly different, there are simply too many examples of
inadequately prepared pastors to believe that no order, no control, no
accountability, no standards be used for pastors.
We
all report to God—and on earth we all report to other humans: police, the IRS,
local government, and those who are in authority over us.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht