who helps who?

As with many of my books, I started my journey between these covers over a year ago, but became bogged down due to the author's "big" language (not an easy read). Some pages have more footnotes than text.

However, the title and message of the book are of special interest to me and now that I've begun a sermon series on work it is timely to begin "working" my way through this volume. The big point appears to me to be that the clergy/laity distinction is not Biblical. That the whole people of God are called and ordained to minister for God.

Today, the following quote from this book impressed me. "Rather than having the church assist them to do the work of ministry, leaders are assistants to the rest of the body to empower them for their service in church and world."

You may feel like yawning and saying, "that's what I believe already". But, do we really? If beliefs are the underpinnings of our actions, do our actions and church structures reveal beliefs that truly see all members of the church as the "real" ministers?

Would anything about our modern "church" life look any different if we really believed this idea?
If so, how might it look different?

Should we be supporting the ordained, or ordaining the ordinary?