I Peter 2 describes the Church as a building founded upon a living stone [Jesus] and built up into a holy temple made of “lively stones.” The lively stones are believers who are called out of the world and called to serve in the building of this temple, which is the Church. They serve together as priests in a holy priesthood.

All born-again believers are in the priesthood with Jesus Christ as our only high priest. Every believer is called by God and equipped by the Holy Spirit to engage in this ministry. We have different gifts and ministries but the same goal. It all happens under the leadership and anointing of the Holy Spirit. These giftings cannot be acquired by our efforts or by education but are given by the Holy Spirit to each believer, exclusively for the building up of the Church

Ephesians 4:16 describes the Church as the body, made of many parts and nourished by the head [Jesus]. As these body parts work together, the body grows in numbers and maturity. There is much instruction in the New Testament on how we function as a church, working together in ministry. According to Scripture, oversight of the Church is entrusted to elders and deacons who meet the specific biblical qualifications. Every assembly of believers should have a plurality of elders so that no one man is preeminent. We should not call one another by titles as we are all simply brothers in Christ. All of us are sheep following the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls

What we see in the Scripture is very different from what is practiced in much of Christianity today. The clergy/laity system which assigns the ministry of the church to “trained professionals” is not what the Bible teaches and is counter-productive to the growth of God’s people, who should all be exercised in ministry. The Bible teaches us that there are no laymen in the Church, but that all believers have been inducted into this priesthood and are called to serve as priests.