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Title: The Calling of the Laity: Verna Dozier's Anthology by Verna J. Dozier ISBN: 1-56699-027-0 Publisher: Alban Inst Pub. Date: 01 November, 1988 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $12.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: A must read for anyone in church!
Comment: Too many people think of ministry as the province or the responsibility of the professional ministers and clergy, or, if that circle is to be broadened, then to also include the church leaders, elders, and other 'significant persons' in the congregations. Not so! Verna Dozier, a lifelong worker in education and in the church, has compiled an anthology of great pieces arguing strongly against this sense of clericalism (as much an ill of the laity as it is of the clergy), and making persuasive and passionate pleas for the people to get out and do the ministry to which they were called through their commission at baptism.

Divided into three primary sections, the text deals with decision making, living in an incomplete world, and looking toward education as a resource and model for ministry by all. Each section highlights the issues with personal stories and practical situations, avoiding the theory-only writing that often gets approval but little action. Particularly written for people in modern Western society, issues such as politics, economics, business and work choices, relationships, and community responsibility all fall into place as elements needing consideration. Where does ministry lie? In the first section, the authors identify several primary places, but one is left with the inescapable conclusion that ministry opportunities exist everywhere, and do not have to be 'made'.

The second section, 'Living with the Incomplete', shows some of the difficulties. Ministry is never complete, as life is never complete. We live in a world where stories are broadcast on a regular basis that have a problem and solution presented within a half-hour to hour time frame - those stories that take three or more hours to complete are considered long. Also, there is the feeling that somehow this ministry is not real - if it was real, shouldn't those doing it be ordained? (The churches have much to answer for in this, reserving the institutional authority and honours for those institutionally ordained, and not giving proper recognition to those outside such hierarchies.) One writer, Nell Braxton Gibson, even makes the comment that occasionally, after telling people she is an unordained minister (and finding they don't believe her), sometimes she has trouble believing it herself. She concludes that, even through the lack of recognition by the church, her ministries are important to those she ministers to, and that makes them important, period.

The third section addresses the role of education in three ways: the relationship between the church and the world, the theological issues around ministry of the laity, and how this challenges the institutional church. The relationship between church and world has changed dramatically in the past generation, with fewer people going to church, and even fewer seeing any real connection between Sunday morning and the rest of the week. Ministry outside of the congregation in public life are highlighted as important. The theological issues are very important. Dozier remembers an incident where the tasks of the laypersons were to a certain extent denigrated by the call to create 'sacred space' for a Eucharistic service - devaluing the ministry that had been done by the laity in their 'not-so-sacred space' by implication. Dozier calls for a recognition of the dual nature of the church - the Church as an institution, and the Church as the People of God, with the latter being the more important. Clergy are in service of the latter, though often think and act as if they are primarily there for the former. The church needs to recognise that what happens Monday morning is at least as important, if not moreso, than what happens on Sunday morning. The laity should not be treated as second-class citizens, and clergy should not act as if they have religious authority that the laypersons don't have. Finally, the clergy are part of the church, but need to recognise they are there as servants, called to empower the people.

The third and final subsection gives specific suggestions for empowering the laity toward ministry, particularly from a congregational standpoint, and how to give opportunities to older persons, who might both have more time but also longer institutional dissuasion against doing 'ministry' themselves. The equipping of the saints is a biblically-mandated task that the church needs to recapture.

This book should be read by every clergy person of every denomination. It should also be read by every lay person! It is everyone's responsibility, and everyone's privilege to be a minister. This book can open some vistas.