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The recession has forced many churches to rely more heavily on volunteers. But with this shift comes the unsettling discovery that churches need to empower more volunteers to effectively serve in ministry. Economic realities may be propelling us in this direction now, but the Bible should have pushed us to this change a long time ago. How ever we arrived at this point, it's time church leaders embrace this opportunity and challenge the "clergification" myth.

I use "clergification" to describe the tendency for people to believe that if they need help with spiritual matters, they must seek a professional clergy member. Or if they want ministry to be done, they must look to the paid church staff member to accomplish it. (Note: Don't use "clergification" in Scrabble; I made it up.)

This mindset is mirrored throughout our society. In our labor-segmented, industrialized culture, we've learned that if you're sick, go to a doctor, or if you're in legal trouble, hire an attorney. When all is not well with our souls, we've been taught to seek the help of professional clergy—ordained ministers—for help with spiritual matters. The result: "ordinary" people have been disempowered to engage in the ministry God has called every believer to do.

By allowing this false division of ministry workers to perpetuate, church leaders:

• Drain those who are leading;
• Perpetuate a dysfunctional co-dependency between paid staff and members;
• Stunt the church's move toward maturity.

Ultimately, clergification is disempowering, unhelpful, and most importantly, unbiblical. When we succumb to clergification, we affirm a false, three-tier mentality:

Tier One: Lay People. This is the lowest tier, and represents the majority of people who attend a church, but do not serve in any kind of leadership position. While most pastors would never openly say this, often they look at this tier's main job as to "pay, pray, and get out of the way."

Tier Two: Pastors and Church Leaders. This refers to those who are "called to the ministry." These are often people who are pursuing ministry as a profession, either full-time or bivocational. They are paid to lead the church while all others are expected to yield to their positional power. We often refer to the phrase, "called to the ministry," but the problem with this reference is that it implies that anyone who is not in this tier is not called to a ministry.

Tier Three: Missionaries. This tier, positioned at the top, refers to those who are "called to missions." They travel far away, don strange garb, eat bugs for breakfast, and get introduced as "real, live missionaries" when they visit a church. They are the uber-Christians. Again, the problem with this terminology is that the majority of pastors exclude themselves from God's global mission because they feel that they are "called to the ministry" and not "called to missions" (which sounds similar to the lay people who don't use their gifts because they are not "called to ministry").

Each tier excludes themselves from the responsibility and passion for the tier that is above them because they think that they are not "called" to it. Such an assumption is clearly a lie that many have chosen to believe. While the New Testament defines offices within the church, this is not the same as being called to the ministry. The truth is that we have all been called to ministry and sent on a mission. The question is not whether we are called, but rather, to whom and where.

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