From a pastor-friend:

I’ve been following with interest the comments on this, and there have been some very helpful ideas expressed by all.

While I’m mostly inclined towards “ordain ‘em all”, I also think that it is less a theological issue than it is one of history and of practice.

Looking broadly at the reformation, and generalising unashamedly, Roman Catholic misunderstandings of the priesthood seem to have been passed directly on to Protestant branches of the church. While reformers (predominantly priests) changed many aspects of church thinking and practice, they did it from their powerful “priestly” position, and subsequently continued on in that mode – albeit now with a “reformed” agenda.

In fact, I suspect that much of what we call “the ministry” could largely be traced right through from the state church of Constantine until today. It is revealed in many of our attitudes to the role of the “priest” and the more New Testament idea of pastor/bishop/elder/overseer/shepherd (so confusingly called a “minister” today, as if no-one else is), and even in our architecture and the positioning of the furniture.in our “church” buildings.

I believe that one of the tests of any doctrine or practice is to examine its fruit. While there is much to commend current “priestly” practice, there is also much to give us pause. To mention a few:

* sexual and spiritual abuse by “priests” and “ministers”.

* disenfranchisement of the people of God from being able to carry out THEIR priestly role.

* the “maleness” of “the ministry”

* the advent of the idea of the “professional” pastor who makes a “career out of being a “minister” – moving from church to church as his/her career “advances”.

* the comparative rarity of the pastor who pastors the church in which he/she grew up.

* the relative loss of the role of the apostle, subsumed into, or hijacked by, that of the pastor/teacher/”ruler”

* “pastors” who manage to amass millions (even billions) of personal dollars, while still canvassing their audiences for donations.

* the elevation of the status of “church stuff” above the value of the daily ministry of the “sheep” in the workplace and home.

* the fragmentation of the church away from being the church in the city or community.

I’m sure the list could go on and on. The first two alone, when taken together provide an adequate reason for the current despising of the church by “secular” society. Interestingly, and it must be by God’s grace, while society thinks very negatively about the church, they do not seem to have the same ill-feeling towards Jesus. Is this another example of the wisdom of crowds, or perhaps people can more easily see through the church’s own inability to follow in the footsteps of its own Lord than we think.

I rather thought, perhaps naively, that NT ordination consisted of a local church, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, selecting someone to carry out a task, and agreeing by the showing of hands or similar that they all agree to support that person, who will do that job on their behalf. Examples, by no means exclusive, of such tasks would be pastoring a church, going off to plant a church, heading out to other churches to encourage them or to bring correction to a difficult situation, etc, or even to accompany someone else charged with one of these tasks. If this is in any way close to the reality, then Diana and I were “ordained” to pastor Williamstown Baptist Church at our induction.service, or perhaps even earlier at the church meeting where the decision was made to appoint us. Of course, if the church actually got the decision right, then we were really ordained before the foundation of the world!

So, have we done the local church a disservice by seperating this very important function of ordination from the local church and giving it to the Union? And can the consequent possibility of remaining a pastor even when no longer supported by a local church – that is, that ordination places the pastor outside of or “above” the congregation – be traced as part of the reason for the shameful abuse of this position so prevelant in church history and today?

I’m sure I’ll think of some more (perhaps less cynical) things to say about this, but that’s all I have time for right now – I’ve got some “priesting” to do.

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