The priesthood of all Christians rests on a solid Biblical base, both in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. But this basic doctrine must be rediscovered by every new generation of Christians!

The church that lives only on the traditions of the past without recovering this Biblical concept for each new generation of its members will stultify. It will continue to operate without using the dynamic principle of really being the chosen people of God, alive in Christ with a challenging mission -- a mission that can be fulfilled only by the participation of its members who are consciously the body of Christ.

The average church member goes to church in the mood of a spectator instead of a participant. Yet Christians are part of God's orchestra! They are not called merely to give financial support to the orchestra but to play an instrument!

A bishop in Manchester, England, put it tersely: "There has been in the past the impression that laymen exist 'to believe, to pray, to obey, and to pay.'" An American churchman has said, "The church faces ecclesiastical suicide unless it makes some radical changes in its traditional attitude toward laymen."

From Oscar E. Feucht, Everyone a Minister, Concordia, 1974