Ordination Councils

My ordination council lasted about 15 minutes with pastors from within the association (SBC) (most of them I'd never met before). They asked the "usual" questions - my testimony, my calling, do you drink, do you tithe, open or closed communion, etc. There wasn't a whole lot of questioning.

All in all, it was a little, well, little. I was one of about 7 or 8 to be interviewed that evening. They recommended my ordination, and the local church, upon their recommendation, ordained me to the ministry.

I had thought that it would be an examination, but it was simply a brief interview.

 

I was ordained the Day current president Bush was inaugurated.. 2001.
But the process began a yr earlier.

Within the West Virginia Baptist Convention (ABC/USA) there are certain suggestions that churches follow for ordination.

I was licensed in 1996 and began pastoring a church in Dec 1999.
The church was part of a local association.
The local association has a standing committee on ordination. It is this committee's responsibility to work with candidates to prepare them for ordination.
I had to write a positional paper, give it to the committee, they critiqued it... not for what I believe, because they couldn't tell me what to believe, but they critiqued it for better ways to express what I believe.

A council was convened, and I read the paper to them... pausing after each section to answer any questions...

It really wasn't that hard...

This is our ordination manual...
It has everything from working with the committee, to what must be in the position paper.. to our code of ethics....

Go here and this will give you some very good information.... http://wvbc.ab.edu/Ordination Web/PDF/Manual.pdf

 

Here is my ordination paper...

http://www.esnips.com/doc/9ed9ffe4-9480-4108-b25e-da2efed82f4d/doctrinal-statement

 

Two of us from the same church sought ordination from our own home church. Both of us were saved through the churches ministry and both of us grew there spiritually. I was planting a church at the time and he was headed for the mission field. Both of us left the church to go to Bible college and kept in contact with the church while away.

We had a pastor and an assistant plus 7-8 deacons all of which had been in the church for years and witnessed our coming to the Lord, growth and leading into the ministry. We requested ordination by the church. It was part of a small fellowship of churches and the pastor went to the fellowship to see if they thought the church could do so - no problem so we submitted a doctrinal statement then met with the board/pastors a few weeks later.

The questioning was short since the men all knew us and knew the school where we were trained.

We were ordained by our local church.

 

Peanut butter and no jelly...


J/K. the link says it's broke.

 

The pastors of the churches in the Association that was in at that time.

Never asked about notes.

I had my Bible with me and it was used in the process.

If I recall correctly it lasted about an hour. It was held at our association office in the afternoon and then a service with a charge and laying on of hands in the evening.

The Director of Missions of our Association asked me several questions to get the process started and then the floor was opened up to any ordained man to ask me questions. Then at the end it was opened up to anyone in the room who might have a question.

 

I was called to preach at the age of 18. Had been feeling that call for a couple of years. So I might say that I submitted to that call at 18. The summer that I graduated from HS in 1975, the Church allowed me to preach one Sunday evening. I prayed to the Lord that at least one person would come forward and except Christ. Praise the Lord one person came forward and confessed her need for Christ and prayed that He would save her and she immediately asked for baptism.:godisgood: I was licensed by the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on the 19th of October, 1975. We ran a week long revival. I had the best time of my life that week as it seemed that the Lord sent message after message. Why I had messages that seemed to overlap each other.
On the Fourth of October, 1986 I was ordained by MMBC after they determined that sense the Senior Pastor had to sometimes work on Sunday as the small congregation could not support a full time Pastor. In order to perform the ordinances of the Church in his absence the Church felt that they needed an Associate Pastor for that duty and ask if I would be willing to have the Church ordain me. I prayed about it for about a week and with great peace I accepted their need.
An Ordination Council was called which consisted of 3 Pastors of three local Churches, several ordained deacons and of course the congregation. I had my Bible and I do not remember as to whether I was allowed notes or not. I do remember that I did not use any. I had marked my Bible where I could easily access verses when confronted with questions regarding my stance on certain doctrine such as tithing. I was placed before the council and each one preceded to ask questions about the Church's ordinances and my own beliefs about God, Jesus' relationship to God, Doctrine, Salvation and my own salvation experience. They then asked my wife to come and sit beside me and the council came down and laid hands on us and prayed. They took it to a vote and the congregation unanimously carried the motion. The whole process took about an hour. Aside from my own moment of salvation this was the 2nd best moment of my Christian life. The third was my wedding in 1979.

 

I was ordained at Franklin Road Baptist Church on August 5, 1979. My pastor and the moderator was Bob Kelley, who we called "Machine Gun Kelley" because of his rapid fire preaching style. God bless him--a good, godly man of sainted memory.

On the council were: Bob Kelley, John R. Rice, Curtis Hutson charles Himes (Dad), Charles Vradenburgh and Al Byers. I spent many hours putting together a statement of faith, but Bro. Kelley said, "Johnny, we don't need that, we've seen you grow up and we know you." Then he gave everyone just one question, but amended that to two when someone wanted more. But he strictly warned against all the silly questions that are asked at many ordinations.

I only remember one question, and that was John R. Rice's. He always asked the same question at ordinations: "Do you believe in the inspiration of the Bible, the virgin birth, deity, bodily resurrection and second coming of Christ, salvation by faith in Christ, soul-winning as the principal duty of every Christian?”

When the candidate (me in this case) said, “Yes,” he would then say to the rest of the preachers, “He believes everything I do! Let's ordain him!"

Curtis Hutson then preached a good challenge, and they all laid hands on my and prayed for me--a precious, precious memory.

 

I don't know why... it works fine for me even when i signed out of esnips...

try it again...

http://www.esnips.com/doc/9ed9ffe4-9480-4108-b25e-da2efed82f4d/doctrinal-statement

Or try this

 

I love it... :thumbs: :laugh: :laugh:

One guy at my ordination asked me how to make biscuits. My Dad said I opened my Bible and flipped a few pages back and forth and gave a puzzled look. I then answered, "I use the ones in the exploding cans" and the whole place went up in laughter...

The guy later said I looked so nervous I appeared to be trying to come out of my skin so he was trying to get me to relax. I really am not a public speaker of any type. :BangHead:

 

hhMM, now I can't seem to register. I guess I keep missing the letters in the box or something... I'll try again later. That was frustrating.

 

I love it! Good for you. I laughed out loud.

 

I was ordained in 2002. I was called to preach in 1997. After answering the call I went back to school and then when I was called to pastor went back to the church where I was called and they ordained me. We had moved from GA to SC at that time and the local church in SC where we were members asked about ordaining me but I felt that I needed to go back to the church where I had felt God’s call and the pastor under whom I was called.

The council met the day before the service there were several pastors there, the one I was called under, one man that had been my pastor when I was a teenager, my father was on the council because he is an ordained minister. Also several deacons of the church that ordained me were present, some of whom I had known for several years. It lasted about two hours.

I had prepared a lengthy statement of faith that addressed every doctrinal issue I could think of including scriptural support for all my positions. I based it on the BFM's outline but changed it a little. My thinking was that if I went brain dead before the committee I would be able to refer back to it.

I did get one standard question I was well prepared for. One of the deacons asked, “If this committee recommends against your ordination what will you do?”

All in all it was a wonderful experience for me. While they challenged me to think about some hard issues I felt nothing but love and support from my council. They made it very clear that each and every one of them had seen God work in me and through me and made it clear that they had very high expectations for my future.

 

Well when the council sits in the afternoon and the dinner/service is that evening .... :laugh: as the only council I've ever sat on, it is a tad obvious. I vowed that was the last time as well - the deacons of the church were not recognized though present, they were told to leave the room for the vote - they are the ones doing the ordaining, shouldn't they be involved :thumbs:

The moderator was so upset about one of the answers that went unchallenged he started asking questions (no no out here, don't know about elsewhere) the questions had been given to the council and the candidate a week or two earlier but I didn't get a copy - don't think they recognized me - just a missionary on deputation at the time

Doesn't matter, I've never been asked again so never had to test my vow :saint:

 

My ordination was very special in that my Dad gave the challenge in the form of the sermon that evening. The whole thing lasted about an hour and a half. I had been serving as youth & education minister in my church for nearly five years and in that time, had completed Bible college. The pastor got the ball rolling regarding ordination. This happened September 16, 2007. I had been serving in ministry for seven years prior to ordination.

There were four ordained ministers (my Dad, my pastor and two other pastors) along with six ordained deacons. There were the obvious questions and some others that required me to know where I stood. There were no notes used in the process. The church already knew where I stood on most doctrinal issues from the length of time I had served there. All in all, it was a great experience.

I was named as associate pastor after the ordination with the intent from the congregation that I be called as senior pastor upon the current pastor's retirement. I've started seminary and will be working on that for awhile, but the pastor here has basically been grooming me to replace him one day. It's great to have been apprenticed under him in a sense.

Mike

 

In mine the pastor asked me several doctrinal questions then I fielded questions from the congregation present. It was a great experience for both me and the congregation.

Nothing was closed door about it.

 

When we ordained my associate pastor in 1999, we had the council on a Saturday morning, and it lasted about 4 hours.