Called or Commissioned?

Recently, our church has announced that we are returning to old traditions of the Mennonite culture: only those with a church title are allowed to preach on Sunday morning. For years now, those brothers in the church who were determined to have the gift of preaching and teaching were allowed to exercise their gift for the good of the church and the glory of the Lord. But no longer. This was due to the fact that someone had apparently complained that we were not following Mennonite traditions. Frankly, this bothers me greatly; that we would go back to such a vapid tradition after having left it for many years.

Note, there is no Scriptural reason that one needs a title to preach. In fact, we are told in Scripture that Spirit gives the gift of prophecy and teaching. (Ephesians 4:11) We are told that we are not to quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) No where in Scripture is it implied or stated that we are supposed to only allow those with church titles to preach.  Indeed, the concept of only elected leaders preaching is foreign to Scripture entirely. There are those in Scripture who are commissioned to preach the Gospel, but only after the Spirit calls them, not when a body of some local church group elected them. The Great Commission (Mark 16:14-16) is a command that we are all called to follow, not those that are elected by popular vote once every two years.

Not only is it against Scripture to deny those with the gift of teaching to teach; it is also against Scripture to indulge those who are ignorant in the Church. We are commanded to stop following the doctrines of man. (Matthew 15:9) If someone is bothered by not keeping tradition that is not Scriptural, we should correct them in love. (2 Timothy 2:25) We are not to be caught up in our traditions, (Colossians 2:8) but instead we are to correct those who are wrong out of love. We should not alter the Church in order to help people hold on to incorrect theology, but instead train them in the truth. (II Timothy 3:16)

But if we are going to go back to abandoned Mennonite traditions, why stop there? Why not have our ministerial wear all black? Why not only preach and teach purely in High German? Why not sing in the traditional, long winded Mennonite style? Why not take up issue with head covering? At least that argument is a Biblical one. (I Corinthians 11)

I am disheartened by this decision to placate those who are still caught up in traditions that should remain dead. We are going to lose the next generation of Mennonite leaders to dead traditions in order to placate the weak. I cannot and will not stand by.