Ordination Question

In my understanding of scripture, churches ordain individuals for particular tasks/ministries through the laying on of hands.

So yes, if he was ordained to be a deacon and he and church believe he is now being called to pastoral ministry, I think it would be entirely appropriate for the church to ordain him for the new role.

Unfortunately, most of the ordinations I have seen in Baptist life tend to take a Roman Catholic-type theology where ordained people lay hands on the one being ordained (as if ordination is something that is passed on like a priesthood directly from the apostles) to give the individual some sort of special powers or authority that is above and beyond what the non-ordained members of the church may have. Many churches even go so far as to invite "ordained" members of other congregations to lay on hands if it is believed there are not enough "ordained" people in the church.

Under those circumstances, I consistently declined to be ordained while I was involved in vocational pastoral ministry. I did not agree with the theology of it and wanted to make a point to my congregation that their traditional version of ordination had little to do with the Bible or Baptist theology. I served with great success without the benefit of ordination.

I currently do not serve in a vocational ministry position, although I am very heavily involved in teaching and leadership. In my church, the CHURCH does the ordination. Every baptized and faithful member of the congregation (male, female, teen, and child) is invited to participate in the ordination. It is a beautiful and meaningful time that imparts blessings and spiritual authority to the one being ordained.

 

Deacon ordination is different from ministerial ordination. One of the first steps in ministerial ordination should be licensing. After this, and some time, then one can pursue ministerial ordination.

 

I like that!

 

There may be a wrong way to ordain, but I don't think there is only one right way.

We've seen a couple of different practices already mentioned here. I can live with them.

In our church, we invite ordained men from other churches to participate in an "ordaining council," and all of those men would be invited to lay hands on the candidate.

However, if that council was limited to members of that church, fine with me.

And I dont' see a real problem in having un-ordained members of the congregation also lay on hands.

In other words, whatever turns your crank, as long as it's not clearly prohibed by Scripture.

 

Good point, although licensing is more related to a minister being authorized by a church to pronounce marriages that the governing authorities will recognize. It is not a New Testament requirement.

I agree completely. Each church needs to determine the process according to their conscience and the scripture.