A friend of mine asked me, “You made the comment that the church we have today (in the United States) is not the church Jesus intended. What exactly do you mean by that?”

Let me just paint a verbal picture of the church as I believe it was intended. And this applies to a long history that goes all the way back to the Apostle Paul and the accommodations he offered to assimilate the teachings of Jesus, through the lenses of Judaism and syncretism, to fit the Gentile world. I respect the authentic writings of Paul (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians – minus additions – Romans, Philippians, and Philemon) and appreciate what he attempted to do, but, honestly, Jesus would not have recognized what Paul did as a continuation of his ministry on earth. So, here is the church I believe we might have had without the influence of Paul.

God intends relationship and inclusion of all people who desire connection to God. God has granted every person on earth gifts that allow them to serve, lead, create, generate positive energy, offer hope and inspiration, as well as healing, comfort, and aid. For gifted people to operate at optimal efficiency they require training, development, fine-tuning and perfecting. Therefore, a number of servant shepherds (pastors) must devote themselves to nurture, cultivation, teaching, empowerment, and support. These servant leaders will immerse themselves in the study of scripture, and/or theological reflection; or counseling and emotional well-being; or interpersonal development and relationship building; or cultural sensitivity and contextual awareness; or organization theory and design; etc. Together, these servant leaders will create academies where all people – the laos, the whole people of God – can discern and discover, develop, master, and deliver their gifts to the world. Pastoral leaders lead from the rear, not from the front. Pastoral leaders do not do ministry for others, they equip others to be ministers.

These systems of ministry are local, measuring their success not by the number of people who show up, but by the number of people engaged in active service to others, and the number of people served. “Church” occurs whenever and wherever people gather. It is mobile, going where the people are who need to be served, nurtured, and welcomed into the community of disciples and stewards. Evangelism is not so much what we say, but what we do and how we live. Our shared teaching is by example, not by doctrine or creed. Worship is spontaneous and constant, emerging from the joy of community and connection. It can happen any time, any place, lasting for as long as people want it to.

The Pauline metaphor that I believe captures the Jesus model of church is “the body of Christ.” Yes, each of us is a valid and valuable individual, but our purpose on earth is to be in relationship with others, to form communion/community to serve all God’s children. There is no “inside/outside/us/them,” but “all of us together.” Every energy of the church is to draw our communal circle wider and wider, finding ways to include rather than exclude, to celebrate rather than tolerate, to see God in each person instead of looking for the devil.

There is accountability, but it is generative and positive rather than punitive and divisive. If someone chooses not to abide by community covenant, that is their choice and no one can be allowed to undermine the integrity of the gospel by doing harm to other individuals or the common good. Each community will need to determine the best way to deal with non-conformity, but it will be developed around values of mercy, compassion, justice, equity, love, and fidelity instead of judgment, condemnation, punishment, ostracism, and violence.

Functions that strengthen both the individual and the community will be enjoyable, compelling, and inviting. Participants will look forward to prayer, fasting, giving, serving, studying, learning, and sharing. What we call discipleship and stewardship will be lived sides of one coin – discipleship is learning, employing, discovering, developing, testing; stewardship is teaching, leading, mastering, sharing, mentoring, and shepherding. The ministers of the ministry are the administrators of God’s Word and Will, remembering always that God is love. (Note: ministry and administration both find roots in the word ministère – as does feminist).

All of us are ordained (part of the order of) to ministry. Perhaps the greatest damage we have ever done to the teachings and intention of Jesus the Christ was to make the ordering of the church a hierarchy instead of a peer-to-peer heterarchy. The whole “bishop over elders over deacons over laity” structure has no basis in Jesus’ teachings, nor is there a strong defense for “pastoral ministry” where one set-apart individual is a shepherd to a flock of sheep. Jesus’ model is teacher/disciple, not shepherd/flock. A student can study hard, learn much, and one day become a teacher. No matter how hard a sheep tries, it will never be a shepherd. By usurping authority and disempowering laity, we managed to create the opposite of that to which Jesus invited us.

The laos – the whole people of God – are the body of Christ. Our “pastoral” leaders should be the connective tissue that binds the various organs and parts together. Professional ministers is an oxymoron, and they are not the head of the body – Christ is the head, God’s will is the heart, and the Holy Spirit is the vitalizing lifeblood. Those who teach, train, equip, and encourage are servant leaders, not the people in charge.

That’s a thumbnail of my vision of a less-Pauline model of the church. I’m interested in reactions, thoughts, alternatives, and helpful feedback. It is a vision of unity, invitation, inclusion, and acceptance that I am afraid we will never quite realize on earth, but it is my humble view of what “God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” might look like. It is also my image of what our mission – making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world – actually means.