Paul’s Confidence in the Churches by Frank Viola

The unspoken source of the clergy “system” is rooted in the grab for power and authority that began in the Garden of Eden. Ever since that sad event, fallen man has had a fundamental quest for power and prominence. This quest has been “systematized” into the many authoritarian structures that we see today. The clergy “system” is just one of them.

Those who are part of this system are taught many bad lessons. One of the most horrible is the benighted idea that the clergy can’t have any confidence in their fellow brothers and sisters. The system effectively teaches clergymen that the “laity” can’t be trusted to “do ministry.”

In sharp contrast, a genuine Christian worker (=church planter) is someone who knows the immense capabilities of the Body of Christ. In fact, he knows it to the degree that he’s willing to utterly abandon a group of believers after he’s equipped them for ministry. Put differently, he’s willing to see his work tested by leaving it alone.

Such a posture is completely consistent with Paul’s own practice. Paul—the model Christian worker—was confident in his ability to equip the saints to function in his absence. But this security stemmed from his complete confidence in God and in His people. Note the following passages that are peppered with this confidence:

I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. (Gal. 5:10) 

We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. (2 Thess. 3:4) 

I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. (2 Cor. 2:3) 

I am glad I can have complete confidence in you. (2 Cor. 7:16) 

In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. (2 Cor. 8:22) 

I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. (Rom. 15:14) 

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. (Phlm. 21) 

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Php. 1:6) 

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. (Heb. 6:9, author unknown)