I remember a stage show I was in with my wife and kids. It was quite a treat to perform together. One of the best memories of that experience was how the director helped us understand what it meant to be a cast–not just a gathering of individual actors.

He helped us understand that, whatever our part might be, when we were on stage we were to see ourselves as serving together to create something wonderful for the audience. No one was supposed to take the spotlight for himself or herself; we were to serve together for something beyond our individual role in the show. It was a great lesson.

I think about that as I reflect on the life of the church–not just the “universal church,” but the local expression of the body of Christ that I am a part of. I was thinking about the ministry of the Word in the life of the church and what part we all are invited into with regard to being people of the Book.

It seems it is easy to fall into thinking that there is a man–or a few men–who carry the responsibility of knowing Scripture, sharing Scripture, teaching others. They are–in a sense–the actors on the stage and the rest of us are beneficiaries of their giftedness and role. But that might not be the best way to think of church life.

When the apostle Paul came to the city of Berea and began to teach, Luke gives us a fascinating assessment of those who heard him. Luke commended them, writing that those listeners were “noble-minded.” They “received the word [of Paul’s teaching] with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things [that Paul was teaching] were so” (Acts 17:11). Apparently, even in the presence of such a great teacher as Paul, the right thing for those listening was to search the Scriptures for themselves. Paul’s teaching did not mean the listeners were free from being people of the Book on their own.

In writing to the Colossians, Paul called Christians to allow the message of the Gospel (“the word of Christ”) to richly dwell in all of them, each of them, so that they could teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16). Even given the reality that Christ has given pastors and teachers to the church (Ephesians  4:11-12), the community of faith–every local church–is to be populated with those who are active in reading, understanding, sharing, and teaching the Word of God.

Together, we are to be people of the Book. Collectively, we are to be readers and sharers of Biblical truth. This is a corporate call, a life we share together.