What is ordination?

Question 09010.

Ordination to ministry is the recognition by a local church that God has called and gifted a man for the work of an elder or pastor, and its public setting apart of him for that work.

Notice what that definition does not say. It does not say that ordination confers powers, creates a priesthood, or moves a man into a different spiritual class. That is where most of the confusion sits, so let me work through what Scripture actually shows.

What the New Testament Shows

There is no ordination service described in detail anywhere in the New Testament, which is itself instructive. What we have are glimpses. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church, with prayer and fasting, and committed them to the Lord (Acts 14:23). Titus was left in Crete to appoint elders in every town.

The Greek in Acts 14 is cheirotoneo, a word with a background of appointing by a show of hands, though by this period it had broadened to mean appoint generally. Either way it is a word of designation rather than of transformation.

So ordination to ministry in the New Testament looks like recognition, prayer, and the laying on of hands. Timothy is told not to neglect the gift given him by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14).

Recognition, Not Manufacture

The order of events matters enormously. A church does not make a man a pastor by ordaining him. It recognises what God has already done and says so publicly.

Think of it the way a wedding works. The vows do not create the love. They give it a public form, a public commitment and a public accountability. Ordination to ministry does something similar for a calling that already exists.

That is why the qualification lists in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are almost entirely about character rather than ability. A church examining a man is not measuring talent, it is looking for evidence of what God has been doing in him for years.

What the Laying On of Hands Means

It is a biblical gesture of identification and commissioning, used in the Old Testament for sacrifices, for the setting apart of the Levites, and for Moses commissioning Joshua. In Acts 13 the church at Antioch fasted and prayed and laid hands on Barnabas and Saul before sending them out.

It is not a channel through which grace flows from one man to another. Paul’s caution to Timothy is worth noticing, which is not to be hasty in the laying on of hands (1 Timothy 5:22). The warning is about premature recognition, not about magic.

So in ordination to ministry the hands are a sign, and the substance is the church’s considered judgement and its prayer.

Who Does the Ordaining

In my understanding it is the local church, usually with elders and often with representatives of sister churches present. It is not the gift of a bishop, a denomination or a college, and it is not something a man can confer on himself.

That follows from the autonomy of the local congregation, which I hold on New Testament grounds. The church that knows the man, has watched his life, and will live with the consequences is the body best placed to make the judgement. See my answer on the autonomy of the local church.

Inviting other churches to share in ordination to ministry is wise rather than required. It guards against a congregation being carried along by enthusiasm for a favourite son.

What It Does Not Create

It does not create a priest. The New Testament has one priesthood of all believers and one great high priest, and 1 Peter 2:9 applies priestly language to the whole church rather than to an ordained caste.

It does not create a rank. Peter, who could have pulled seniority on anybody, calls himself a fellow elder when writing to elders. Ordination to ministry sets a man apart for a function, not above his brothers in status.

And it does not create competence. I have known ordained men who could not teach and unordained men who could. The certificate does not do the work, and the congregation always knows the difference.

Ordination and Women

I hold a thoughtfully complementarian position, which means I understand the eldership and the primary regular teaching ministry of the gathered church to be reserved for men, following the pattern of the Pastoral Epistles.

That is a narrower statement than it is often taken to be. It does not restrict women from evangelism, pastoral care, counselling, children’s and youth work, prayer, prophecy or preaching in appropriate settings, all of which I affirm without hesitation.

So the question of ordination to ministry for women is, in my view, a question about the specific office of elder rather than a judgement on women’s gifts. My answer on whether women can teach and preach works through the passages.

Is Ordination Necessary?

Necessary is a strong word. A man is not disqualified from usefulness by lacking a service, and Scripture does not command a particular ceremony.

But I think it is wise, and here is why. It forces a church to examine a man carefully rather than drift into an arrangement. It gives him a clear commissioning to look back on when the work is hard. And it establishes accountability, since a church that has set someone apart has also taken responsibility for him.

Ordination to ministry also does something for the congregation. It says out loud that this man is theirs, and that they will pray for him rather than simply consume what he produces. See how pastors should be trained and called and the role of a pastor.

What Ordination to Ministry Costs a Church

We usually discuss this from the candidate’s side, but the congregation is taking on the heavier obligation.

A church that ordains is saying that it will support this man, pray for him, pay him where it can, tell him the truth, and hold him accountable when necessary. Ordination to ministry without any of that is a ceremony rather than a commitment.

Hebrews 13:17 asks the congregation to obey their leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Notice that the account is owed by the leaders and the support is owed by the church. Both halves are in the same sentence.

When It Has to Be Withdrawn

This is the part nobody wants to think about at the service, and it should be thought about beforehand.

If a man’s life ceases to match the qualifications on which the recognition rested, then the recognition has to be revisited. That is painful, and churches routinely handle it badly, either by covering it up or by treating a fallen man as though he had never been a brother.

My answer on how a church should handle a pastor who falls into sin deals with this at length. The point here is that ordination to ministry is a judgement about a life, and judgements about lives can need revising.

Ordination to Ministry and the Ordinary Church

Most churches do this rarely, which means most churches do it badly, simply through lack of practice. So let me suggest a shape.

Examine the man properly, over months rather than an evening, with written questions about doctrine and open conversation about character. Ask his wife and family what they think, separately and honestly. Invite neighbouring churches to send people who will ask awkward questions.

Then, when the church is satisfied, hold a service that is unmistakably about God’s call rather than the man’s achievement. Ordination to ministry should feel like a commissioning rather than a graduation, and the difference will be obvious in the tone of the room.

A Word to the Man Who Was Never Ordained

Some faithful men have preached for decades without any service ever being held, often because their church simply never got round to it.

If that is you, take heart. Your usefulness has never depended on a ceremony, and God has clearly not been waiting for one. Ordination to ministry recognises a call, and a call that has been operating for thirty years is not in serious doubt.

It may still be worth asking your church to do it, not for your sake but for theirs, since the act of examining and committing does something in a congregation that nothing else quite replaces.

So, now what?

If you are a church considering setting a man apart, slow down and look at his life rather than his platform. Paul’s instruction about not being hasty was written for a reason, and every church that has ignored it has paid for the lesson.

If you are a man wondering whether God is calling you, do not start with a service. Start by serving where you are and letting other people notice. Ordination to ministry is the church saying yes to something it can already see. What is your church currently able to see?

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 14:23 (ESV)