uments of His love."

"But you're our minister and teacher, so why don't you tell us what you
think the job of the church is in this community? I'm sure we'd all
support you in whatever you might suggest," urged Mr. Clarke.

"Mr. Clarke, I am not the church. I appreciate your confidence in me,
but I am only one member of the church. The fact that I am ordained does
not make me any more responsible for the church than you are, and I
refuse to assume your responsibilities for you. Instead, I want to use
my role as an ordained member of the church, and such training and
experience as I have had, to help you find _your_ role, so that together
we can carry on the functions of the church in ways that will serve God
and His people."

When Mr. Gates finished speaking there was silence. The reactions of his
hearers were varied, showing anxiety, irritation, confusion, and
blankness. And no wonder! The spontaneous discussion that had gone on
before Mr. Gates' arrival had revealed how little their understandings
of the church had prepared them to hear the question he was raising. The
viewpoints they had brought to the meeting now closed their minds to the
meanings he was trying to open to them.

What, then, were those concepts and meanings that made it so difficult
for them to hear and understand their minister? Each of them
represented a point of view that is widely prevalent in the church
today and which keeps the church from being fully relevant and
effective.

_Clericalism_

When Mr. Clarke thought about the church, he did so in terms of the
clergy and their work in the church. We might call him a "clericalizer";
that is, one who thinks that only the minister does the work of the
church. This idea is the basis of clericalism, the disease which saps
the strength of the church because one part of the body, the ordained
minister, is made to do the work of the rest of the body, the unordained
members. In the discussion Mr. Gates took exception to this idea, and
rightly so, for it results in a clergy that is overworked and
frustrated. Indeed, they find it impossible to do all that needs to be
done. And yet the idea has a hidden appeal for many of them, for it
feeds their professional pride and arrogance. But the damage done by
this disease does not cease there. It also makes for church people who
are lazy, who feel that the church belongs to the clergy, and who are
not themselves instruments through which God works in the w