The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective

The Other Six Days, Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspectiveby R. Paul Stevens (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster Press, 1999) 289 pp, paper, $16.66The burden of this book by Paul Stevens, a Professor of Marketplace and Theology at Regent College, is “the church is a people without laity or clergy, summoned and equipped by God for the life of the world” (p. 244). Stevens sees no evidence of either clergy or laypersons in the New Testament (pp. 31-32). The clergy, he believes, was created by the church in the second and third centuries (pp. 39, 45) and is not found in the Bible. He does admit that the Old Testament had a system of priests distinct from the people and he does not deny that leadership and appropriate leaders are found and prescribed in the New Testament (pp. 53, 145-152). But clear distinctions between clergy and laity are absent in the church-age Scriptures.In conjunction, Stevens believes that all Christians are equally called vocationally (pp. 71-88). A vocational call is not limited to those in so-called “full-time ministry;” as a matter of fact ministerial calls such as Paul’s are not prescribed in Scripture as normative (p. 153).The author discusses work at length, defining it “as purposeful activity involving mental, emotional or physical energy, or all three, whether remunerated or not” (p. 147). He believes that, in the New Testament, any work by Christians is kingdom ministry (p. 116), therefore, the idea that only direct ministry such as preaching, teaching, witnessing, etc., is of eternal value is misguided. All legitimate work, done for the glory of God, is of equal worth. It is not surprising then that the author opposes ordination (p. 212).There is much found in The Other Six Days which I commend. The sharp distinction between clergy and laity is not drawn from the New Testament. I agree and the concept that only ministerial activity is of any consequence leaves the vast majority of Christians with the idea that they are wasting their lives. Nothing in Scripture supports such a thesis, and Stevens is right to point out these truths. Strangely, however, while the overall theme of the book is excellent, surrounding details and concepts are troubling. A sampling:• He is egalitarian (p. 17).• He does not understand Old and New Covenant contrasts (p. 33).• He misinterprets Old Testament prophesies such as Joel 2:28-32; and Jeremiah 31:34 (pp. 28, 36, 169).• He is confused about the kingdom (p. 47).• He supports the Creation Mandate leading to a social gospel (pp. 89-90, 97-103).• He confuses the millennial kingdom with the eternal state (p. 100).• He believes all Christians are equipped to prophesy (p. 169).• He misunderstands the purpose of the church, believing the church is to bring in the kingdom (pp. 183-185, 206).• He believes missions is about establishing the Lordship of Christ over all creation and thus is wholistic (pp. 192, 201-204).• He pushes local church ethnic diversity, without New Testament support (p. 207).• He badly misinterprets Job (pp. 245-255).• He denies biblical sufficiency (p. 247).With all these problematic issues I am unable to recommend this volume, even though the overarching idea of the book is on the money.Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Pastor-teacher at Southern View Chapel

R. Paul Stevens uses this book to step back from common assumptions about Christian life and re-assess how all of God's people contribute value to his kingdom.Stevens' major argument is that there should be no high separation between clergy and laity within the church. To clarify: he recognizes different gifts and roles, and by all means the pastor should be the pastor and the janitor should be the janitor; but before God they are qualitatively the same, rather than one being an 'ordained position' that God can really use, and the other a lay position that's only out there so that the ordained guy can do what really matters.Stevens treats this topic quite extensively. He examines the scriptures and finds no support for distiction between layity and clery within the new testament, and thoughtfully considers the implications of the old testament structures for the new testament. He then looks at different points within the early Fathers and subsequent church history and analyses how a distinction of clergy developed; his obvious implication is that it shouldn't have.Stevens spends a fair amount of thought on a person's calling and ordination. There is much that would be valuable for the church to consider here. A sampling of thoughts: * If we ordain people that live out their Christian work as pastors, let us also ordain people that live out their Christian work in other roles: let us ordain the salesperson to be a salesperson to the glory of God as he ethically promotes commerce, the painter be a painter to the glory of God as he explores meaning and creates beauty, the farmer, the manager, the home maker ... * The call to be a pastor is typically not a mystical experience; the Damascus road experience of Paul was the exception, not the norm. Rather, the normative call to a leadership role in a church in the New Testament was from "the church" itself (Stevens doesn't delve into considering Presbyterian vs. Episcopal governance). Why do we not still do this, and train those so called by the church, rather than youth go off to seminary based on their own whim before they are even mature enough for military service?Stevens never outlines his underlying worldview, but you can pick some of it up from clues as you read. He doesn't give enough clues to pick up his denomination (though what he says clearly rules several out). His views include those... * fairly consensual among the church (e.g., covenant theology), to others * immaterial to the topic (e.g., he never discusses it, but one chart implies he is a pre-millenialist), to others * controversial (e.g., that the church should be no distinction between men and women, in the process stating -- without providing any rationale -- that Junia was an apostle. Thankfully, in the news as I write this review, it is in the news that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is defending us from that one with an encyclical!)As the book nears the end, Stevens introduces lots of ideas around living out life in the world.This scattering of ideas is presented without a uniting framework, and the ideas themselves are not fully developed within the text. The topics he addresses are reasonably abstact -- there are certainly no simplistic "7-steps-to-such-and-such" that curse much popular writing. As typical treatment of a topic, he describes options for approach to political involvement, ranging from Anabaptist to Theology of Liberation, in a couple pages; elsewhere he provides out-of-the-blue a quote about "red, green, and white martyrdom" from "the medieval celtic church" with no surrounding evaluative comments. Some of the many ideas throughout the book I found through provoking, and others off the wall.This is a good book to read if the reader to come at it with a "testing the spirits" attitude. After the well-worked-out treatment of the topic of clergy / layity non-separation, Stevens' ideas are quickly introduced without rigourous thought. I found some of the biblical citations that he uses are invalid - read in context, they don't actually support the point he is making. (But then, that's too common a fault in most treatises!) Use this as an opportunity to initiate thoughts down new paths where the idea warrants it, under guidance of scripture and prayer. This is I think in fact Stevens' intention: the book is not intended to fully answer every questions, but rather contains case studies and probing questions of its own (at the end of each chapter) to stimulate the reader to think further for himself -- or herself, as Stevens would be certain to complete the phrase.