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No Longer Servants, but Friends: A Theology of Ordained Ministry

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Edward Zaragoza's book, `No Longer Servants, But Friends: A Theology of Ordained Ministry' is a very important work to me. The idea of servant ministry is as old as the church, but it has an increasingly limited appeal in today's world in many respects, not the least of which that it is a model more honoured in the breach than in the observance. How realistic is it for the man standing at the altar covered in gold and glory to be regarded as a servant? Servant ministry has been a popular concept, as well as has been servant leadership (that a pastor should be a servant with managerial skills, et al.). But this begins to be too limiting on the one hand (reducing the role of who the pastor is or can be) and requiring too much on the other.

Jesus was himself a servant, leader, but also a friend. Indeed, Jesus even says we are no longer servants, but friends (see John 15:12-15). Today's pastors often end up more as social workers or CEO's than as apostles or disciples, to the detriment of the church as a whole. But the ordained ministry is not simply a profession, which one may pick up and put away at will. It is a lifelong calling to a way of being. If there is an ontological shift that takes place during ordination, it is not in the being, but rather in the way of being.

This book, according to Janet Fishburn at Drew University, `offers a model for caring, empowering, out-reaching ministry, not as a finished product, but as a collaborative invitation to the reader to imagine and practice ministry in terms of some very provocative alternatives.'

Friends have relationship in love, which exalt each other yet leave each other free. Friends do not call each other into obedience, but rather into cooperation. Friendship is rarely hierarchical.

Zaragoza explores the historical context of servant and servant-leadership ministry models, as well as the history of how friendship has been defined in church ministry circles.

Andrew Sung Park of United Theological Seminary says, `Derived from the image of the Trinity, this new paradigm of friendship stresses caring for others rather than curing them, being fully alive rather than giving up the self, being with others rather than doing for them, and relating to others rather than helping them.'

With a framework of friendship being paramount, the pastor no longer has to see herself/himself as a martyr, a sacrificial person, but rather can be fully engaged with God and others (and oneself!) by befriend the people of God.

`As a friend, the pastor sees people as whole human beings.... As whole human beings, the pastor and the people are both called to be fully alive through relationships with God, one another, and themselves.'

The 'tasks' (under the servant model) or 'goals' (under the servant-leadership model) become 'communal acts' in which there is collegiality and empowerment, and seeing people as beings-in-relationship, rather than seeing people as needs or as functions.

When I wrote this, the day was Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, and in many traditions the night of the Last Supper. It is traditional for priests to renew their vows on this night. Mine still have just a touch of that 'new vow smell' to them, but nonetheless, I reaffirm, particularly in light of the Zaragoza's work, to strive to honour my ordination vows by uplifting all to the highest good, to be mutual friends, friends with me, and friends with God.

I received Edward Zaragoza's "No Longer Servants but Friends" in a trouble free, very timely fashion, for a great price. When it arrived, I found the book in excellent condition, which is good as I bought the book brand new. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the purchase.

"...whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant" (Matthew 20:26b).

Jesus' charge to become servants has been the definition of Christian ministry, especially the work of the ordained clergy, for millennia. Even more important has been Jesus' own acts of service, including washing the feet of his disciples (John 13). Servanthood as the life of discipleship seems so obvious that few have ever questioned it. Edward Zaragoza takes on the formidable task of making the case against servanthood directly.

Personally, I do not want to throw out the biblical language of servant so quickly. Nonetheless, I found the book, "No Longer Servants, but Friends," very helpful. Many clergy try hard to please their parishioners, and they justify their co-dependency with Jesus' words on service. Being a doormat, however, does not honor the Christian calling. Likewise, being the pastor who does everything for everyone accomplishes nothing except a congregation of the spiritually immature. We are not the Messiah, and the clergy must never forget it.

In the best part of the book, Zaragoza offers a necessary critique of "servant leadership." Interestingly the concept was never rooted in Scripture. Instead, Robert Greenleaf based the idea on a character from a novel by Hermann Hesse. At best, Jesus is not the source of "servant leadership" but merely illustrative of the idea. At worst, "servant leadership" is merely one more cynical technique for leaders to get their way.

To replace these misunderstandings of "servant", Zaragoza offers another biblical image. In John 15:15, Jesus tells his disciples, "I no longer call you servants...Instead, I have called you friends..." Friendship becomes the new paradigm for the church's ministry. The Church and her ministries mirror the relationships found in the Godhead--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Church's practices especially Baptism and the Lord's Supper define the concept of "friendship" in the Church. Zaragoza goes so far as to suggest that "friendship" become another mark of the Church alongside the traditional ones of Word and Sacrament. In other words, the practice of friendship is necessary evidence for the presence of the Church.

The book did leave me wanting more in some areas. The author decries treating people functionally, yet he was willing to speak of the persons of the Trinity in functional terms such as the job description of Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. A deeper biblical exploration of the concept of friendship would also have been helpful. Analyzing the limits of "servant" as a model for ministry was an important service to the Church. Suggesting the limits of "friendship" could be helpful as well. In a culture where parents try to be friends to their children, where friendships can have "benefits", and where friends are reluctant to hold each other accountable, how is friendship in the Church different? Nonetheless, the book provides a good introduction to a new way of thinking about ministry.