The Beginning
My friend Zack forwarded me a three email conversation he had with a worker in
Grace and Peace to All,
Joseph A. Wood
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: joseph wood
To: Zack Hunt
What's funny to me is the fact that a licensed minister can be a senior pastor of a local church who administers the sacraments, preaches, and is the spiritual leader of a congregation. Ordination is not required when the Church needs pastors, although one is not charged and commissioned to do these things until ordination.
Ironically, I was in an ordination service for the East Tennessee District Assembly last night. Four were ordained as elders, and one as Deacon. The funny thing is the fact that all four Elder candidates are full-time senior pastors and have been for at least one year. How does this happen? The charge of the Licensed minister is basically, do everything you need to do to be ordained, which includes ministry, but ministry as an associate. Also, the licensed minister may administer the sacraments, BUT only under the SUPERVISION of an ordained minister. So does this mean that the licensed minister/senior pastor has to call an ordained minister to come to every Eucharist and every Baptism? Of course not! These licensed minister in the senior pastoral role administers the sacraments, whether there be an ordained elder present or not. So who is supervising the licensed minister?
Is it the fact that we need pastors on the District and this allows for licensed ministers to take on the role, or does it mean that the difference in licensed and ordained is a mere certificate on the wall? This alone downplays the ordination service for me. Knowing that on Sunday, the former licensed minister will enter the pulpit as he did last Sunday, only now he has been prayed for by the host of East Tennessee Elders and his majesty, the General Superintendent. Is his ministry now valid? Is his previous ministry marked as invalid, or incomplete? Most certainly not!!! Our Church needs to either uphold what has been mandated by the manual, or rewrite what has been superfluously written. Why add, in almost every by-law of the manual, "by recommendation and approval of the District Superintendent and the District Advisory Board, this (insert law) can be bypassed"(paraphrased by me, obviously). In other words, most laws in our Church Manual can be underwritten and bypassed by the approval of the District Superintendent and the District Advisory Board.
What does this say of our Denomination? Are we that much in need of pastors that we have to place licensed ministers in senior pastoral roles even before ordination? How many senior pastors in the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, or even Baptist churches are not ordained? Although, I'm not a big fan of the guidelines for Baptist ordination, that church still ordains, charges, and confers the orders of ministerial ordination to every pastor.
I know I am speaking as a licensed, not ordained, minister, but these are my observations. I also know that I am a candidate for Ordained Deacon and not Elder, but these observations apply more to the elder than to the Deacon.
Thoughts? Concerns?
Rev. Joseph A. Wood :-)
Zack Hunt wrote:
I filled out a profile with headquarters. They sent me the list of pastors they were going to send my profile too, but it had me listed as "Rev." so I email them back pointing out the mistake. This is what our headquarters said.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Darlene Friend
To: Zack Hunt
From: Zack Hunt
To: Darlene Friend
To whom it may concern:
The list of pastors who would be receiving my profile has me listed as "Rev." and I am not yet ordained. Thanks,
Zack Hunt
posted by Scott M. Collins | 10:42 AM
1 Comments:
Well, you have to have two years of service as a full-time 'senior' pastor so it's less "How does this happen?" and more "It's oddly required to happen..."
"So who is supervising the licensed minister?" No one - I've yet to see any kind of "mentoring" system / network of pastors work well. This seems like it could be addressed easily.
"a mere certificate on the wall?"
No, the thing I'm most looking forward to ordination for is so I can stop having to re-apply every stinkin' year for a new district
license.
"previous ministry marked as invalid, or incomplete? Most certainly not!!!"
Fully agreed.
"How many senior pastors in the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, or even Baptist churches are not ordained?"
TONS. The Methodist church, for instance, has a huge network/set/group of "Student Pastors" who are pastors while they're still in school (hence the name). I can tell you a story of a guy in college who was pursuing ordination, but was only a sophmore history major when they gave him TWO small elderly congregations to pastor. His plan was to go to seminary for an M.Div. after undergrad, but he pastored these two churches (9am service, 10:30am service or something) without ever having his first religion class.
"Although, I'm not a big fan of the guidelines for Baptist ordination, that church still ordains, charges, and confers the orders of ministerial ordination to every pastor."
Yeah, but they do it with only the oversight of the local level and I hate that. With the district system you can theoretically be assured that everyone ordained is believing close to the same thing.
With the Baptist system, some fundamentalist church in left field can ordain 100 new pastors who all go start more fundy churches and then ordain more people and then you have a huge alternative movement of ordained ministers within your denomination.
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