Today I am thinking about the congregation. Some people contemptuously call them “pew warmers”. They are the people who turn up to a service, faithfully worship… and will or cannot take part in leadership. They are the bulk of believers.

Today’s lectionary contains this:

Romans 3.

³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

I have highlighted two of the more silent and quiet means of service — giving and being compassionate. Many commentators argue that Paul’s list of gifts or functions here is not exhaustive and indeed all the list are not exhaustive. What is quite clear is that many functions within the church are not public, but are necessary.

One of the difficulties here is that we are to make a fair and sober judgment of our abilities. This includes whether we — by age, gender, current situation or past errors — are disqualified for public service. In addition, there are priorities in this life. We are told to care for our family and extended family first — Paul commanded this so that people would not be a burden on the Charity of the Church. By way of example, if a man works 60 — 70 hours a week in a demanding job and has a wife and children, his private service to them is far more important that being a public leader.

Paul makes it clear (and Calvin expands on this) that the apostolic ministry is a calling. (Yes, it exists today — in the missionary to the un0churched and post-churched nations). Not all are called. And the call is not on what we would consider appropriate qualification or other criteria. God delights in apparent arbitrariness — calling the less educated to teach the highly qualified, and the highly qualified to sit in the pew.

The duties of laos are many — to pray, to support, to worship, to listen and critique the teaching given — and to serve. Outside the church. Since the church, to be the instrument of God’s glory, must work outside of the institution, the bulk of people in Church must work in trades and homes to do good.

There is a reason we are in the pews. We meet to encourage each other to do good, and then are sent out into the world to be that good.