Mars Hill’s approach to ministry: Taking the priesthood of all believers seriously

The Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan must be doing something right, drawing some 11,000 worshipers each Sunday. One factor seems to be getting congregants to become intensely committed to particular ministries — including some traditionally-clerical ones such as weddings — explicitly labeling these congregants as priests, seemingly in the servant-of-God sense of Exodus 19.6, "you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," and 1 Peter 2.9-10, “… you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, …. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God ….”

Here’s an excerpt from Gen-Next preacher - Chatting with Rob Bell, The Christian Century, March 24, 2009, p. 23, at 24 [emphasis is mine]:

… We believe that every person is a priest with a particular ministry. One family in our church that lives in an underresourced neighborhood started an after-school tutoring program for kids who are struggling. A 70-year-old nurse in our church who's tutoring realized that many people in her neighborhood have never had any basic health care testing. She began doing it for free. She's one of our priests. …

The job of one woman on our staff is to connect people with priests. She has a team of people in the congregation who are wired for mercy and eager to visit the sick. Other people love the whole wedding thing—premarriage counseling and so on—so we have licensed people to do weddings. We assume that the body will take care of itself and that the staff's job is to enlist and empower and encourage.

In the same issue, see also Bell's appeal - Ministry to young adults, p. 22, and the Wikipedia article on Priesthood of all believers.

Comments

[Kathleen]

oh thanks for posting this!

I like Rob Bell. I *love* the Nooma videos--we have watched them at my church in Sunday School and at young adult gatherings.

EfM is a similar concept--everyone being called to ministry--and my church here in Murfreesboro, TN is an excellent example of lay leadership with strong clergy support. Bell is incredibly relatable to young adults across denominations, and i think a lot of what he says/does resonates with YA's here in the south.

[Redlefty]

Pretty cool approach!