Re-thinking ordination

 

Re-thinking ordination

 

Back in the 1970s many of us learned to be suspicious of ordination and all that went with it. The spectacle of some leaders being given special status among the people of God seemed contrary to the essential equality of all people in creation, fall and redemption. When accompanied by the wearing of special clergy robes and designation as “Rev” and then the clambering for such giddy titles as “Right Rev.” and “Very Rev.”, the whole ordination thing seemed reminiscent of Matt 23:1-12.

 

However, maybe all these problems were products of the particular construction of ordination in an era when a liturgical movement had swept the church. That construction separated ordained clergy from the people of God and from the eldership. Clergy were placed on a pedestal (with all its perils), the eldership was diminished (with all its perils) and the people of God were left behind in this hierarchical understanding of church (a tragedy).

 

The presently rising pattern of non-ordained persons being entrusted with significant pastoral ministries in our churches may be a reaction against the abuse of ordination as noted above. However, is it time for another look at ordination?

 

Maybe it is time again to value ordination as an orderly process to test, affirm and recognise those people who are called by God and the church to pastoral ministry.

 

* 1 Timothy bear witness to such an orderly process. Hence:

·      * 1 Tim 2:7 on Paul’s appointment as a preacher, apostle and teacher;

·      * 1 Tim 3:1-13 on the criteria of character and gifting applicable to church leaders;

·      * 1 Tim 4:6 on the value of training in the ‘words of the faith’ and ‘doctrine’;

·      * 1 Tim 4:13 on the key word ministries to be undertaken by leader;

·  * 1 Tim 4:14 on the recognition of the role of the ‘council of elders’ (πρεσβυτέριον) in recognising gifts of ministry (see also 2 Tim 1:6b);

·      * 1 Tim 6:2 on expected standards for the content of teaching by church leaders.

 

The context of 1 Timothy is relevant to this discussion. Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to continue his own ministry elsewhere (1 Tim 1:3). This was an apostolic delegation which many see as part of the transition from the extraordinary and time-bound office of apostle to the more enduring office of pastor or shepherd. We do know that Timothy had been well-reared in the faith by his maternal ancestors (2 Tim 1:5; 3:14). However, he was also young, subject to youthful passions (2 Tim 2:22), possibly subject to self-doubt (2 Tim 1:7) and open to dismissive treatment because of his youth (2 Tim 4:12).

 

The ordination process in Australian Presbyterian churches involves several steps over an extended time.

·      * Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s home church Session;

·     *  Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s regional Presbytery;

·      * Psychological assessment by a trained professional;

·      * Interview with the Candidate’s Review Panel;

·     * Annual review and reporting by the theological college where the student trains;

·     *  Annual interview and review by the regional presbytery;

·      * Trials for license by the regional presbytery;

·  * Review by a congregation or church agency when issuing a Call of Appointment;

·      * Review by the ordaining presbytery.

 

Put together, this adds up to review by two levels of church courts (Session and Presbytery) and up to 15 separate reviews over a four-year period. This process will not necessarily filter out all unsuitable persons and there have been some tragedies of unsuitable people being ordained over the years. Such tragedies affects the individuals, their families, and the churches that they serve.  However, the extended scrutiny around ordination surely provides a better alternative to the much leaner process of review when a local church and its presbytery entrust pastoral ministry to a somewhat untested person.

 

Back to Timothy. The recognition and affirmation of Timothy by Paul and the council of elders was important as testimony both to him and to the church as to his suitability for ministry.

 

Likewise for the modern pastor.

 

The fact that the laying of hands in ordination was not rushed (1 Tim 5:22) is a reassurance to the pastor in those many dark moments when he doubts his calling and reaches for the ‘positions vacant’ section of the Saturday paper. The extended scrutiny by others is an external testimony to his vocation as pastor and an encouragement to persist through the dark moments. The fact of ordination also commends him to other churches when it is time to move to a new ministry. 

 

Furthermore, ordination gives reassurance to the church that receives a somewhat unknown pastor who may be young enough to be the grandson of church members. The fact that he has been carefully scrutinised by reputable bodies over an extended period commends his ministry and encourages the new church to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

By all means let’s scrap the titles, robes and assumed status that can be implied by the traditional construct of ordination. Equally, let’s locate the work of pastor within the eldership rather than as a separate order and let’s recognise the gifting and service of the whole people of God. However, let’s not lightly dismiss the value of orderly processes to test and affirm those called to pastoral ministry.

 

Of course, the same applies to all roles in church service. The youth leader, small group leader or teacher of children all need processes of testing, training and affirmation before being appointed to their roles. However, the high potential of pastoral leaders to do good or harm demands that they receive particular scrutiny before their ministry is recognised.

 

Maybe ordination is a good thing after all.

- David Burke was almost refused ordination in 1979 because of his views on clergy titles and robes.

 

Reproduced from Australian Presbyterian: https://ap.org.au/2021/06/08/re-thinking-ordination/

A year of 9s - 1979

A life of 9s – 1979

Several significant events in my Christian life happened in years that ended in 9. These are 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and now 2019. This post recalls the second of those events.

20^th April 1979

This was day of my ordination as a Presbyterian minister. It happened at St John’s Presbyterian Church Hayes St Henty NSW. It was conducted by the Presbytery of Wagga Wagga with my parents present and also Paul Cooper from Finley attending.

Before that day

The previous post told of my awakening to personal faith in 1969. At that time, I had started studying for an economics degree at the University of Sydney on a NSW government scholarship to be a secondary school economics teacher.

That project came to a conclusion at the end of 1970:

(a)   I lost interest in things economic for things divine. I gave much time to my own growth in Christian understanding and quickly became involved in youth group leadership.

(b)   The economics faculty shifted to a quantitative model which meant lectures taught by a new range of lecturers whose accents I struggled to understand and whose approach mystified my non-mathematical mind. So, while doing well in subjects like government (offered entry to the honours programme) and industrial relations, I bombed out in the core economic units.

The outcome was to leave economics and FT study at the end of 1970. After a brief period working as a hospital orderly ,I worked for Robert Bryce and Co (industrial chemical wholesalers) in sales support for two years.

During this period, I married Glenda and rose through the ranks of the local, regional and state level Presbyterian Fellowship of Australia. I also preached my first sermon.

1971-72 were thus formative and prescient with marriage and the start of serious ministry. They were my growing up years.

By this time Glenda and I already had a sense that my future would be in employed ministry. So, when I switched to part time studies for an Arts degree at Sydney Uni, I chose philosophy and history as good background to later theological studies. Combining FT work, PT study, weekend ministry and marriage made life busy.

By mid 1972 the need for choice arose. My employer spoke to me about training as an executive and including study at Harvard. The people that gave me the teacher training scholarship wanted me back in teacher training and Christian friends were suggesting employed ministry. There was really only one choice and I so I applied for, and was accepted as a candidate for Presbyterian ministry.

I returned to university full time in 1973 with a clear sense of purpose. Glenda worked as a school teacher to enable this. As an honours student I had freedom to shape my studies in the direction of reformation era and evangelical church history and chose philosophy options to fit with ministry.

Meantime I preached weekly or twice weekly in long term supply ministries in the southern and western suburbs of Sydney. This built my preaching skills and gave grounded ministry experience.

During 1975 the question arose as to where to do theological studies. The realistic options were Moore Theological College or Sydney University School of Divinity. From our own considerations and the advice of others I opted for the Sydney BD. It was thought good to have some evangelical study there (against a background that saw some regard evangelicals as dim-witted) and it was a good follow on from my BA. So, to the BD it was from 1976-78. The spiritual tone was low, the theological range was very wide and there was no practical ministry component. In fact, I studied none of the things that I later taught as lecturer in ministry and practice at a theological college. Church requirements saw me do one year of field ministry training in a fairly dispiriting location, after which I declared that I would do no more of this and returned to supply preaching. Ironically, I was later to supervise the field education ministry training that I had opted out of.

In late 1978 the question of where I would be posted on graduation arose. The way the system worked is that the student went to a meeting, was given a list of churches, asked to rank three and then a church committee took the decision. Of course, we students had talked and had figured out several of the places on this list. So, I went to the meeting and made my choices (the place I hoped for was not on the list at all). I was rung a few days later and offered one place that I declined and was then told I would go to Henty.

I had never heard of Henty. I could not find it on a map. I then found there was nowhere to stay for a weekend visit. So, the fact that I had not asked to go there and could not find it was potentially unsettling. We consoled ourselves with the thought that God was in charge. Then we went to church the following Sunday at Ashfield (where we lived). An elderly man shuffled up and introduced himself as the retired minister of Culcairn (16k from Henty) and said that he had watched me and had been praying for the last year that we would go to Henty.

Wow! That meant we went to Henty with high purpose.

Henty was a town of just 1,000 people. The church had preaching centres at Cookardinia, Yerong Creek, Woodend and Pleasant Hills and Lockhart was soon added. That meant some long Sundays with much driving. The area was dominated by family farms of about 1000 acres and with mixed cropping and livestock.

I had lived in Hay as a child so this was not altogether unfamiliar to me. Glenda had never lived in a rural setting and we entered a learning curve. Two of our children were born there (one was earlier born in Sydney) and so we settled into family life.

The church had recently undergone change as about half the congregation left to join the Uniting Church. Its determination to survive helped created commitment to my ministry and patience as I made the very big transition from academic study and PT city ministry to FT rural ministry. My ministry was shaped by a weekly sermon preached two or three times over, teaching religious education in several local schools and pastoral visitation. I soon also became involved in wider denominational affairs, but that is a story for the next post.

April 20^th 1979.

After I arrived in the church as a licentiate in February 1979, the issue of a Call from the congregation soon arose. I was dutifully called, accepted it and so a date was set for my ordination.

A major hiccup arose when I said I would not wear the then customary clerical robes (I had written on this issue in 1975). My reasons were mainly theological and related to a view that the minister was different from the rest of the church only on functional grounds and that special clerical dress implied an ontological distinction. The local church may not have grasped my reasons but seemed untroubled by the issue. It was different however with my interim-moderator, who was also presbytery moderator who state moderator. And so, there was a period of a few weeks when the ordination seemed in doubt. I was prepared not be ordained and would not budge … and so the ordination happened.

Making sense of it all

The ordination meant little to me. I had been ordained as an elder in 1976 and saw the 1979 event as little more than an extension of that. Further, I had been preaching and effectively caring for churches for several years on a part-time basis and already had a sense of ministerial identity.

-->