Ordination validated God's will for a fully qualified man to serve God and His people. In the Old Testament ordination was used to affirm a man to serve God''s purpose.
Ordination is the process of ministers of the gospel affirming the call, equipping, beliefs, and maturity of a man to become the pastor of a church. Ordination gives the candidate assurance and encouragement that affirms his call is consistence with the Biblical Qualifications. It provides an avenue whereby other ordained ministers may give approval that the candidate has shown evidence of the calling, qualification, and authority found in Scripture.ħ. To commend a man to the pastoral ministry wherever God's will takes him.Ħ. To provide a process that furnishes a standard of accountability for the church concerning their pastor's ministry.ĥ. To give a local congregation confidence that their pastor is genuinely appointed by God.Ĥ. To provide a process that would eliminate men seeking pastoral ministry credentials but not called by God.ģ. To identify and certify men truly called and equipped by God for the pastoral ministry.Ģ.
Other reasons for ordination guidelines are as follows:ġ. We need to establish guidelines that will insure that only qualified men are ordained to pastor our churches, or most importantly, God's churches. We, as ministers of the gospel, have an obligation to take the ordination of a man to the gospel ministry very serious. Lastly, we do the gospel harm by taking a chance of a situation occurring that will bring shame on the church in the community or to the cause of Christ. We can do the church, where he will pastor, much harm by sending an unprepared man that may mislead the church in matters of doctrine, polity, and ministry. When we, as ministers of the gospel, fail in our responsibilities by ordaining an unprepared man to the ministry we can do the candidate and his family much harm by sending him to a position of authority in which he is not ready to perform. When we allow the pressures of the moment to keep us from doing our job of closely questioning the candidate on matters of doctrine, his personal life, his wife's support, Christian life, and his understanding of the office of pastor, and not be willing to say "no" when we find the candidate lacking then we have not only failed but sinned. It would be uncomfortable to not approve the man since his family and others have come to witness his ordination who are just outside the door, and this would bring great embarrassment upon the candidate, his family, his friends, and the church that wants him ordained. In an effort to rush, since many times the presbyter is schedule to meet forty-five minutes or an hour before the ordination service, an unqualified man may be ordained. The presbyter council needs to be assured that the candidate is fit to be an ordained pastor. Out of this fear we may allow others to answer for the candidate instead of allowing him to answer for himself. The reader needs to understand that if we are not cautious and live in fear of upsetting someone during the questioning process, or afraid of coming across as antagonistic for asking detailed questions of the candidate at the presbyter council, then we can easily failed in our duty as members of the presbyter.
"Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins keep yourself pure." 2nd Tim 5:22 As I thought about this man God told me, in His quiet voice, "You should be concerned, you helped ordain him." I then realized how I had failed the process and was not true to the Scripture concerning ordination This writer was very disappointed in, and concerned about, this man. It seemed that one of the churches in our association had called a minister who, we later found, was very immature, unlearned in Scripture, and one who was childish and very angry about many things. In 2004 our concern of unqualified men being ordained into the Gospel ministry had come to a head. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, therefore, the following guidelines are only suggestions, not commands. It should first be noted that the following guidelines are not ironclad rules that a church must feel they have to obey. WHY THE NEED FOR GUIDELINES FOR ORDAINING PASTORS
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