For a start, it radically dissolves many of the traditional distinctions between ‘clergy’ and ‘laity’. Many of us minister in contexts where the unspoken (or even spoken!) assumption is that it is the pastor’s job to build the church, and the members’ job to receive that ministry and to support it through involvement in a range of jobs and roles—counting the money, organizing morning tea, ushering, serving on committees, and so on. The pastor (or pastoral staff team) is really the one who does the vine work and the rest of us do what we can to maintain the trellis, not least by giving money.
