THE MISSIOLOGICAL RELEVANCE OF LAY MINISTRY TO THE GROWTH OF MAINLINE CHURCHES IN NIGERIA
),
(1) Department of Religious Studies University of Ibadan, Ibadan
Corresponding Author
Abstract
The mandate given to the church through the Great Commission suggests that the vital works of mission
require collaborative efforts of both the clergy and laity, but there has been noticeable negligence on the
part of the latter in some Mainline Churches in Nigeria. Rather than being actively involved in evangelism
and mission, a pronounced passiveness has been the trend for many years, and this has resulted in
scuttling the effort to actualise profound discipleship needed for the exponential development of the church.
This attitude was orchestrated by the erroneous notion that the clergy have the sole responsibility of
engaging in the work of mission or evangelism. Leveraging the concept of priesthood of all believers vis-à-
vis the stand of the Second Vatican Council on the shared responsibility of the lay people in the pastoral,
prophetic and noble agency of Christ, this work explores lay ministry from a historical perspective. Biblical
and historical approaches (a recall of the Era of Reformation and Early Missionary dispensation) will be
adopted to articulate the veracity of lay ministry to ascertain its relevance to the church's growth.
require collaborative efforts of both the clergy and laity, but there has been noticeable negligence on the
part of the latter in some Mainline Churches in Nigeria. Rather than being actively involved in evangelism
and mission, a pronounced passiveness has been the trend for many years, and this has resulted in
scuttling the effort to actualise profound discipleship needed for the exponential development of the church.
This attitude was orchestrated by the erroneous notion that the clergy have the sole responsibility of
engaging in the work of mission or evangelism. Leveraging the concept of priesthood of all believers vis-à-
vis the stand of the Second Vatican Council on the shared responsibility of the lay people in the pastoral,
prophetic and noble agency of Christ, this work explores lay ministry from a historical perspective. Biblical
and historical approaches (a recall of the Era of Reformation and Early Missionary dispensation) will be
adopted to articulate the veracity of lay ministry to ascertain its relevance to the church's growth.
Keywords
Missiological Relevance, Lay Ministry, Growth, Mainline Churches in Nigeria
Article Metrics
Abstract View
: 11 times
Download : 7 times
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
