Ministry Resources
Ordination Service and Guidelines for Ordination for the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ)
I. Theological and Historical Foundations
Theological Perspectives God calls all of
humanity to receive the good news of the Gospel and to accept
their call to be God's people. In a divided and unbelieving
world, those who accept this good news and are baptized are
drawn into the fellowship (koinonia) of a new community,
the church. In this body, the Holy Spirit unites those who follow
Jesus Christ and sends them as witnesses into the world. The
church's mission is to proclaim and prefigure the justice and
joy of the Kingdom of God. In order to fulfill this mission
faithfully, the members of the Body of Christ are given forms
of witness, service and ministry.
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. and
Canada, along with other churches within the Body of Christ,
believes all ministry in the church begins and ends in the ministry
of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus' ministry — of loving, liberating,
reconciling, healing, serving — which defines and shapes
all ministries in his church.
This essential ministry of Christ is entrusted to all the people
of God through baptism. Through baptism all members of the church
become part of the covenant community and are commissioned for
their servant ministry; they become participants in the priesthood
of all believers. The gifts (charisms) of the Holy Spirit are
different and diverse, but in tremendous and simple ways they
proclaim the mighty acts of God and mediate God's loving and
reconciling work to and in the world. They may be gifts of communicating
the gospel in word and deed, gifts of healing, caring, praying,
teaching, giving, and working for peace and justice. Every baptized
person is called to witness to Christ in whatever situation
he or she lives; to express in their daily lives the ministry
of Christ.
Within the ministry of the whole people of God there is, and
has been since the early church, representative ministry called
by God and set apart by the Church for distinctive functions.
Authority and blessing to perform this ministry are celebrated
in ordination. In ordination — through prayers invoking
the Holy Spirit and the laying on of hands — the church
confirms in women and men the call of God, acknowledges in them
the necessary gifts and graces, and accepts this ministry in
and for the church. "The chief responsibility of the ordained
ministry is to assemble and build up the Body of Christ by proclaiming
and teaching the Word of God, by celebrating the sacraments,
and by guiding the life of the community in its worship, its
mission and its caring ministry." (Baptism. Eucharist and
Ministry: Ministry, paragraph 13.)
Ordination sends forth a company of servants of the servant
Lord. These ministries are given for the common good of the
whole world. The authority and authenticity of ordained ministers
flow through their faithful intercessions, loving leadership
and servanthood before God on behalf of all people.
Disciples of Christ accept ordination as a gift of the Holy
Spirit at work in the community of faith. In every service of
ordination we, therefore, seek to witness to at least four dimensions
of this ordering ministry:
- The ordained enter the apostolic ministry. By this we mean
they receive their authority and commission from the risen
Christ. The first Christian ministers were the apostles in
the New Testament, to whom the living Lord revealed himself
and sent "to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Ministers in every generation preach, celebrate, witness,
and gather disciples in continuity with those early apostles.
- Ordination witnesses to a representative ministry. Those
who accept the ministry of the Word, sacrament, and mission
are responsible for re-presenting, showing forth, to the world
and to all baptized Christians the character of their ministry
and witness. A central task of such representative ministry
is personally and publicly to point the church to its dependence
on Jesus Christ, who is the source of its faith, mission,
and unity.
- Those who receive ordination enter a collegial ministry.
Ministry is inherently a shared responsibility. No minister
is independent or autonomous, all seek to teach and work together
to express koinonia in support and care for each other. This
collegiality relates ordained and lay persons in common ministry.
The ministries of all members of the believing community are
complementary, given to one to be supportive of the other.
All are to build up the Body of Christ in love. No differences
of vocation, function or education should obscure the fact
that the one ministry of Christ is shared by the whole people
of God. Lay and ordained are partners together in governance
and witness; together they empower the church for effective
participation in discovering God's will for all humanity.
- Most appropriately, ordination is a rite of the Church Universal.
While ordination is normally done by a particular denomination,
and standing is limited to a particular communion, the intention
is that no one is ever ordained into a particular denomination
or tradition, certainly not into the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ). Those ordained are representative ministers of
the Church Universal. While we serve with the vision of universality,
the Church lives with the pain of a divided ministry. Nevertheless,
all ministers are called to point out the community of Jesus
Christ, to work to bring new expressions of the one universal
Church into being, and to search for forms of unity which
the divided churches cannot yet express.
Historical Perspective Since the early
1800s, when the Disciples began, our understanding of the ministry
and practices of ordination have gradually changed. In many
congregations the ministry consisted of local elders and deacons
who were ordained by the congregation to be its leaders. In
addition to these permanent local ministers, Disciples maintained
evangelists who traveled from place to place, preaching, founding
new congregations, and organizing them permanently for their
congregational life. In other congregations a pastor was the
primary, and sometimes only, ministerial leader. By the middle
years of the century, the pattern stabilized with elders and
deacons in every congregation and with the expectation that
congregations that were strong enough would also have a settled,
full-time pastor.
Ordination was continued as an action of the congregation;
pastors — and elders and deacons — were set apart
by the laying on of hands with prayer. Even in these early years,
however, there were examples of the ordination of ministers
at colleges and area assemblies of the churches. Thus from early
days the Disciples have had some form of ordination at a level
other than the congregation.
Our ministerial system has continued to change so that today
the normal pattern of congregational leadership consists of
an ordained pastor and elders and deacons who probably have
not been ordained. Our theological understandings of church,
ministry, and sacraments are only now catching up with our practices.
Two processes have been at work since the 1950s. First, new
relationships have developed between congregations, regions,
and the church at the general level. With respect to ordination,
policies and criteria concerning the ministry are established
by the church at the general level. The nurture and supervision
of candidates for ordination, the authorization of ordination,
and a significant role in the ordination service are primarily
the responsibilities of regions. Congregations also participate
directly in the examining of candidates and conducting of services
of ordination.
Disciples practice has been affected by our serious participation
in theological conversations with other churches. As a result
we have clarified and witnessed to our own theology and practice
of ministry. We have also learned from and been influenced by
other churches. Both in theology and in practices concerning
ministry, churches of several traditions are more alike now
than they have been at any time in the past two centuries, as
witnessed in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry and The COCU Consensus.
Ministry among Disciples continues to change. Currently we
are clear concerning our understanding and practice with respect
to ministers of word and sacrament, leadership in the church
and witness in the world. We are less certain with respect to
two other aspects of ministry — elders and regional ministers.
Elders continue to be leaders of congregations, with responsibilities
to offer the church's prayers at communion. In most places elders
are not ordained even though they are a part of the spiritual
leadership of the congregation. The clarification of the eldership
is one task still before Disciples.
We are continuing the redefinition of the regional ministry.
The questions before us are these: Is the regional minister
primarily the executive officer of a missionary and program
agency? Or is the regional minister primarily pastor and teacher
of the Christian faith, leader of worship, and representative
in the region of the Church of all times and places? As the
second of these understandings comes into focus, the regional
minister represents the Church as it transmits Christ's commission
to those being ordained.
Disciples theology and practice continue to grow, and this
service and guidelines have been written in a way that provides
flexibility in regions and congregations. Even so, certain directions
are clear already — and this book points in that way. In
years ahead, the role of the regions will be consolidated; and
the central responsibility of regional ministers for ordination
will become clearer. All three manifestations of the Church
will continue to participate collegially in the ordination of
ministers. This book has been written with these assumptions
as guiding principles.
God's Spirit has worked with the Church across its history
to bring it to clearer discernment of God's intentions and actions
in Christ's ministry. Our theological and historical reflections
affirms that the Holy Spirit continues to be urgent and patient
with us.
Chapter II >
