I was just working through Robert Webber’s Journey to Jesus for a curriculum i’m making for my church and he quoted Ephesians 4:11-16. This talks about the gifting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” I started thinking that many times we think of this “equipping” to mean “leadership”, “visioneering”, “guiding” and “directing”. The typical corporate america mentality stuff. But this phrase is embedded within the metaphor of the “body” growing, so shouldn’t “equip” really mean “nurturing”, and nurturing is what mothers typically do for children (i’m not sexist). So maybe church pastors/leaders should think of themselves as mid-wifes or handmaids (reclaiming the idea of the church as mother) growing up the Body to full maturity. And mothers typically don’t get any credit for all the hard work they do, and it is all sacrifice. No more superstar pastors who lead, only nurturers who enable.