Mutual Edification

Mutual Edification was a theory about church organization and function brought about by Karl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett with others joining in 1920 on. He lived in Chilicothi Missouri, that is why there are such churches around there. It is mostly a movement to remove preachers and teachers from congregations, saying they were unbiblical. It also weakened baptism doctrine. The use of local preachers can be documented in Britain well before Ketcherside and Garrett, though they referred to them as a modern innovation, they fudged. Men like Wycliffe were preachers. 

They believed the church could edify itself without a professional teaching class of men. There are Bible verses that are used to promote this philosophy, but after looking closely they do show a professional teacher class in the church. In other words they get paid to teach or preach.

"the Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should live from the gospel"

This should settle the issue, the Lord himself said to do this I Cor.9:14. It does not restrict who or where or when. It is an open ended general principle. It is seen where Jesus sent out teachers while on earth, residing with people in the towns they went. They received food and lodging.

Matt 10:10

 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.

This principal was carried into the church age as a right.

The Mutual Edification followers circumvented this command locally by teaching that preaching only occured to the lost outside a local congregation. Only evangelists received pay in their view. Teaching is inside the congregation so no pay for that, preaching outside the congregation. This was a false teaching easily debunked in scripture. I Timothy 4 said Timothy was to "preach" to Christians in the church, correcting and exhorting being a viable use for preaching. It calls sinners back to repentance and fills with hope and comfort. In I Thess.2:12 ; I Thess 3:2 show Paul and Timothy preaching in a local assembly. Also, teaching occurs when preaching to the lost. Teaching and preaching go together.

"we exhorted each one of you and charged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God..."

"we sent Timothy to ...establish you and exhort you in your faith"

So we have many examples of preaching toward believers. Paul and Timothy both worked with local congregations for as many as three years, perhaps longer. Men like Phillip seem to have adopted a permanent residence.

The word preach in I Cor. 9:14 doesn't mean once in a while a person gives a lesson, the tense is one who does it continuously, they preach as a continuous work. It does not refer to them strictly as evangelists.Yes you could pay someone for doing one lesson, like 50 dollars is normal today, but this concept is to provide for continuous work, not a periodic lesson. It shows someone preaching as the main part of life. The Greek language has ways to make this clear.  These are called continuous tenses and you can find these easily online.

If nothing more, this is a precedent for paid preachers in the church, of course many would argue about when, how, and where the preaching occurred. Yet, Christ commanded it without restriction on time or location or office. It is the oppositions personal choice to restrict when Christ did not. Those who preach full time have a right.  They do not have to exercise the right in all occasions, but the right is theirs.

It is not the right of Elders to withold it, it isn't simply a congregational choice, it is a right. I Cor. 9. It is a right for believing wives to come along and be taken care of as well. Truth is, many did not want to care for preachers families, pushing more for celibacy.

The best argument against paid preachers is debunked in the same letter.

14 Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish [f]one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God,

They were able to admonish one another, but this Grace for writing was given to Paul for this purpose. A grace not given to the Romans or Paul would have no need to write. Also notice Romans 12 says this church had "teachers", not all received this office. The book of Romans does not do away with teachers but establishes them.

They were filled with knowledge because they had teachers.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

We see this in Chapter 16 where Paul's "fellow workers" are mentioned who reside around Rome. Fellow worker usually alluded to teachers/preachers.

Those against paid preachers do come up with derogatory names for them, calling them hirelings and such like. Karl Ketcherside in his memoire showed how they were depicted as "hirelings" and the system as "one man imported pastor system".  Jesus never referred to preachers as hirelings, but stewards. Jesus did refer to workers in the kingdom as hired workers in parable form. So a hired worker is biblical. They used a derogatory name Jesus approved of when used of a brother in Christ. Matt. 20:1-5

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 

Jesus approved of the term hiring.

Christian preachers don't call themselves pastors. Ketchersides analogy of "one man pastor system is defamation. Preachers respect the true pastors, the Elders in congregations. 

There is a difference between a hireling and a steward. A hireling lives off the farm and has no vested interest in keeping it nice, the steward lives under the roof of his master and has every interest in keeping it in good shape. So the hireling and steward have different motives.

I Chron. 27:31

All these were stewards of King David's property.

Paul referred to himself whether given support or not as a steward. 

I Cor.9:17  "I am still a steward..." so a steward could be a hired worker.

In Matthew 20:1 Christ referred to kingdom workers as hired. We should realize this is a parable, it states a principle applying here, not day labor.

Those who labor in the heat of the day to start a congregation are not paid more than those who teach the congregation in easier circumstances. Paul planted, Apollos watered, both are rewarded by God. We should avoid jealousy. Paul started the Church, Apollos continued teaching it, both had the right to support. Both respected the Elders.

The word hireling is a derogatory term that Christ did not use with those he sent forth, except in parable. When speaking of christian workers he used it in a positive sense. To Christ it wouldn't be derogatory, but to Ketcherside it was a label he thought would destroy the practice. He did not realize Christ used it at the time. 

In the law hired workers could not partake of the passover. Yet, Christ used it so he did not exempt hired workers from the Lord's Supper if Christian, hired workers outside the church would be refused communion. A hireling is more a foreign day laborer, like someone who preaches once per year that just works for a days wages, a steward is a continuous worker who is accountable for the preservation of the owners property and lives from the property and its success. A person can be hired and a steward.

When those against paid preachers started calling names it fell under the guidelines of Galations 5, works of the flesh. Seditions, enmity, strife, and the like. Speaking against a process Christ approved is a work of the flesh. Keep in mind Karl Ketcherside was stopped by preachers from spreading false doctrine, so he attacked the teaching office itself, those who stopped him.

When Jesus used the word hireling, he juxtaposed it with the word shepherd John 10, certainly elders are shepherds, so someone preaching while an elder would be a shepherd and not a hireling, even though the sheep belong to God. The word shepherd doesn't mean owner but one who tends full time. It is his work. It is his responsibility.

Another problem with Mutual Edification theory is they only support an evangelist they send, one they control. III John depicts a requirement to aid workers not sent by ourselves, they should be aided along their trip, even when the congregation does not control their work. 3 John 1-10

Mutual edification theory can cost souls since it was produced by the works of the flesh, Galations 5. It is sedition against Christ over commands and rights he gave..

It also twists the great commission, Matt. 28:18-20 says "teaching them to obey all that I command you". Karl Ketcherside placed this requirement after baptism, in Greek it starts before baptism with the Gospel. Placing it after baptism allowed them to free baptism from the "for the remission of sins" teaching, allowing anyone who obeyed the command outwardly to be accepted without the faith associated inwardly. Colossians 2:12 required.

Baptism isn't just a command to be obeyed, it is working through the faith.

12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

Many use I Cor 14, let two or three prophets speak, this means that grace and not all men had this gift.

Also, by speaking at the Lord's Supper and the sermon, we fulfill this requirement. Proclaiming the Lord's death is an important work. So we have two speakers every Sunday during the service. Lord's Supper and sermon.