ordination

Hey Chris,

Have you checked the local Christian bookstore in your area for a minister's manual? I have seen some Baptist minister's manuals that have stuff like that in it. Maybe you could find one in your area. Hope this helps.

In Christ,

Brooks

 

PASTOR ORDINATION QUESTIONS

1. Relate your conversion experience

2. Relate your call to the ministry and your response.

3. What does it mean to be saved? What is the plan of salvation?

4. What do you believe about the Bible?

5. What do you believe about God'?

6. What do you believe about Jesus Christ?

7. What do you believe about the Holy Spirit?

8. Do you believe that Satan is a real person, a created being?

9. Do you believe that one who is truly saved will never be lost?

10. Do you believe that absolute obedience to Christ is necessary for a Christian?

11. Is salvation limited, or is it for all?

12. What are the ordinances of the New Testament Church?

13. What are the scriptural offices of the Church?

14. Are you a tither?

15. What do you feel are the responsibilities of the Deacon?

16. Will you wholeheartedly support Sunday School and church discipleship?

17. Do you believe the main priority of the Church should always be to win the lost to Christ and encourage discipleship among believers?

18. Can you lead a soul to Christ, and do you have the souls-winning scripture passage well in hand?

For deacon ordination I ask all the same questions except number 2. I do not believe in closed door ordinations. I have seen too many that were tailor made for a person especially those who do not know their Bible very well. Open questioning allows the congregation to learn and to hear the answers. The questions are given out ahead of time and discussion with the leaders of the church is another meeting before the ordination service is established and brought before the people. I also meet with each person who will be ordained in person to establish their readiness and doctrinal accountability.

I believe when things are done openly it benefits everyone and people also know more about ordination. When I was ordained the pastor asked me thse same questions. Then allowed the congregation to ask questions. I do the same thing. It is a great time and not viewed as a time to get a piece of paper.

The questioning will take up most of the service.

The following is the order of service when I was ordained

Prelude

Hymn

Welcome

Pastoral Prayer

Ordination Service
of
___________
to the
Gospel Ministry.

 

We use the following rough outline.

Ordination Minutes (outlined)

In response to a call by (name of church) Baptist Church, we, the undersigned, met together on (date) in (city, county, state) , with (name here) acting as temporary Moderator, to form a presbytery for the purpose of ordaining Brother (name here) to the office of (Elder/Deacon) . This presbytery proceeded with that ordination as follows:

I. By a carried motion (name here) was elected permanent Moderator.

II. By a carried motion (name here) was elected Clerk.

III. The church set apart and the presbytery recognized (name here) as Spokesman for the church.

IV. (Temporary Moderator) asked if the presbytery was satisfied with these above choices.
- Presbytery answered in the affirmative.

V. (Permanent Moderator) instructed the church spokesman to deliver the candidate to the presbytery.

VI. By a carried motion (name here) was elected by the presbytery to deliver the interrogation to the candidate.

VII. By a carried motion (name here) was elected by the presbytery to deliver the ordination prayer over the candidate.

VIII. By a carried motion (name here) was elected by the presbytery to deliver the charge to the church and to the candidate.

IX. (Interrogator) proceeded with the interrogation of the candidate.
- The candidate answered satisfactorily all questions posed, and as such, the ordination proceeded.

X. With the presbytery gathered round with hands on the candidate, (name here) delivered the prayer.

XI. (Moderator) then instructed the church spokesman to seat the wife of the candidate, (name of wife – if married) , next to him.

XII. (Charger) proceeded by giving the charge to the candidate and to the church.

XIII. The presbytery extended the right hand of fellowship to the candidate.

XIV. The minutes were read and approved by the presbytery and the church spokesman.

XV. (Moderator) asked if the presbytery was satisfied with its work.
- Presbytery answered in the affirmative.

XVI. (Moderator) asked the church spokesman if the church was satisfied with the work of the presbytery.
- The church spokesman answered in the affirmative.

XVII. The presbytery and the church being satisfied with the work, the presbytery was dissolved.

XVIII. The church spokesman delivered Brother (name here) back to the church as an ordained (Elder/Deacon).

XIX. The church extended the right hand of fellowship to her new (Elder/Deacon).

Before the ordination begins we have a few songs sung, and also after the service while the church comes around to shake hands with the ordained man.

 

Posted by gb94943: 14. Are you a tither?

What if there is no scriptural basis for that question? The gospels state that it is no mans' business.

 

You are right. I changed that a long time ago and should have changed it here. Sorry.

I changed it to "Are you a giver according to scripture?"

 

We also have the wife give a testimony of her salvation and support for her husband. This comes right after the candidate's salvation and call testimony.

 

Remember: an ordination is a man-made thing! When I was ordained and grilled in the questioning, the thing I appreciated most was the Pastor wanted to make this a learning experience for me. Have guys with their Dr. degree question me with a B.A. was highly educational. There is no set thing to do. I would suggest spending time praying with that individual, having him share his testimony, then having the men of the sending church lay hands of dedication and more prayer.

The wife has nothing to do with a man's ordination.

 

Although, if my memory is still intact, quite a few ordinations I've seen or been associated with, have included the wife's testimony. What are your thoughts about this practice?

 

With the ordination itself, you are correct.

But, the wife is a very important part of a man's ministry.

Have you ever seen a minister whose wife was more of a burden to his ministry than a benefit? (i.e. she doesn't like him preaching or she is unwilling to travel with him, etc.)

I have seen this with a number of ministers, and let me tell you that it does nothing but hurt them and their ministry. It can really quench the spirit and be a hinderance to them studying the gospel.

I don't believe that the presbytery should question the wife of the candidate, but I believe she ought to be allowed to sit with him during the ordination as she will be a help, a pillar, to him in his real-life ministry.

My Pastor's wife told him that if he was ordained then she would leave him because she did not want to be a preacher's wife.

He told her a week or so before that he would not stop her from leaving, but he had a higher call, or order, than what she could give him, and he must answer to that.

When it came time for his ordination, she sat up there right next to him.

She still has never joined the church, but you would never be able to tell by the way she works herself there. She is a good Christian lady who loves the church and her husband, and she is a big comfort to him when he is struggling.

God bless the women in the church. It is hard to imagine how things would work without them.

Bro. James

 

But, the wife is not called to the ministry, but to the man. Her testimony/support is of non-effect in an ordination process. Women are vital, but a man who has an unsupportive wife or even one that has left him, should also leave the ministry.

 

That's troubling, your call to ministry is definitely not higher than your call as a husband/father. Wow. That preacher is in for it.

 

I bow to the men in any question regarding ordination, but may I comment - in regards to women participating and the discussion that went on about that?

I feel any ordination is about the individual being ordained. It is between them, God, and those ordaining him. Certainly the family matters, and that should be looked at prior to the ordination ceremony, as part of the way of determining if the individual really meets the biblical requirements in regards to his role as spiritual leader of his home, but the ceremony itself, in my eyes, is holy and sacred to the man involved.

I am troubled by many things shared in the testimony above. If the wife was going to leave her spouse because he wanted to serve God, weren't there a lot of family issues that needed to be resolved before the man was placed in a position of guiding a flock?

 

I absolutely agree!

 

It is no longer possible to beat a wife into submission, as was common in Old and New Testament times.

If the wife will not listen to her husband, then there is nothing he can do about it except commit it to prayer and ask God to change her heart.

Surely you all can not hold something against a man that he has no control over?

Should he have divorced his wife so he could then be in the ministry? or is he just forever disqualified because his wife speaks her mind?

If God has called a man to the ministry, then he better forsake all and do as God is commanding him. Otherwise, he will be punished far worse than a brawling wife ever could do to him.

My God is far more important than a wife will ever be.

 

Your wrote: Should he have divorced his wife so he could then be in the ministry?

In my church, divorced men are not ordained into the Lord's service, and those men who end up divorced step aside. Though they continue to serve the Lord, and to witness for him, they do not continue in the roles of Pastor or ordained minister.

This is a subject very dear to my own heart. I am a woman, but I was called to full-time service by the Lord prior to my marriage as a children's minister. I married a man that I met in God's house, who studied his bible with me, who told me he was called to the ministry.

He kept up that lie until the time came for us to move to attend seminary. When the letters of recommendation and acceptance to seminary came through, he "confessed" to me that he was not willing to move, and that he had no intention of going into the ministry. His explanation to me was that his earthly father disapproved, and that "god wouldn't want him to disrespect his earthly father." I was heart broken, and stunned. The only thing I really understood was that if my husband felt that his earthly father's anti-church opinion mattered more than a calling from God, he was definately NOT worthy of leading a congregation.

I didn't know what to do about my own calling though. So, I contacted a dear friend of mine who was also President of Southwestern Theological Seminary and asked him for spiritual guideance. He confirmed that my place was at my husband's feet, and said that given the circumstances, I should ask God to show me how to serve God where I was.

I did that, and for quite some time served as the assistant children's minister in a local church, and as a children's choir director. Then my spouse complained that I was spending too much time at church, and said it was "taking me away from my duties as a wife."

I went back to my knees, and back to my bible.

That was when my ministry changed drastically, and yet, grew all the more important. Instead of witnessing to the churched, I found myself, almost daily, in a position of witnessing to the unchurched, and to those hostile to Christ. People who I might never have met had I followed what I thought was the path God wanted me to follow were presented to me by God when I followed the path God chose FOR me.

The ministry, at any level, is tremendously difficult. It is a thousand times more difficult if one of the couple is hostile toward it.

 

I will agree that God has used divorced people, however, I personally feel that God's word gives us some guidelines on who should be in the leadership positions of a church.

Certainly there are amazing men of God who have suffered from marital problems, but a Pastor is looked to for guideance in every aspect of life, including how to maintain a Christian relationship. I think God judges each situation personally, but - I DO believe that God intended for the men to lead, and for those men to men whose own houses are in order.

I know that view offends others, but so does the view that gays should not be in the pulpit, or that adulterous people should not. Where do we draw a line and say, "We'll accept this sin in our pulpit, but not that one?"

 

So, if I am a minister and my wife leaves me for another man, or for any other non-scriptural reason, I am the one sinning?

Answer me this. If a man is a Pastor, and is married with children, etc, and his wife leaves him for another man, how on earth can you blame the Pastor?

That is the equivalent of blaming me if someone robs and shoots me.

A man can only keep control in his house as much as the current law allows. The law does not allow a husband to spank or whip his disobedient wife, as was common in Bible times to keep a wife "in order".

I am afraid that pretty soon we'll be at the point where parents won't be able to spank even their children. It's already illegal in several states to spank you children with anything but your hand.

Do you think there is any correlation between parents who "can not" or "will not" discipline their kids and the growing amount of disrespect and obedience among young people toward their parents and other elders today?

Had your husband been the one that wanted to go to seminary, and you were the one that didn't, would he be sinning for disobeying you and going anyway, or would you be the one disobeying him by forcing him to stay, in turn causing him to sin by not being the leader of his house?

If the man truly is the leader of the house, then his decision should not be swayed by his wife's unwillingness or disobedience. If he was, then he would cease to be the leader and would be sinning, in your view.

I guess, in your view, a man in this situation is sinning no matter what he does.