Ordination Councils
I count it a privilege to participate in ordination councils. I love seeing the excitement of a young man who has been called to the ministry fulfill Christ’s calling through the examination of his soon-to-be peers. I love the theological exchange and interaction. No other venue in Baptist church life allows for the recitation of our great and cardinal doctrines in so compact a time. I enjoy seeing the pressure applied to a man’s theology, seeing if he can think on his feet, defending his position with Scripture, and do all this with conviction, humility, and grace.
Last weekend Bible Baptist Church in Otsego, MN, had its second ordination this year. This church plans another council this fall. It was a joy to participate in the process of having one of our seminary graduates formally placed into the gospel ministry. The years of preparation for last Saturday were evident in the thoughtfully prepared doctrinal statement and the answers given.
I do have one complaint: Where were all the invited pastors? Of the dozens of churches invited to participate, only 5 or 6 pastors attended the council. An invitation to a church council, in this case to assist a church in the ordination of a man for the ministry, is less of an invitation than it is an appointment. Churches in fellowship with other churches have an obligation to help each other when called upon to do so. When notified that a church calls for a council, the date should be added to the calendar and competing appointments removed. I understand that a church rarely clears the date with other churches before scheduling the council. I am also aware that this council fell on a busy weekend for graduations.
I suppose some things can take precedence over an ordination council, such as the graduation of a child or the funeral of a family member. My thirty years of ministry experience tell me that the cause behind the absence of pastors runs much deeper than significant schedule conflicts. I fear that the typical pastor cares little about helping another church who requests his presence. I fear that any excuse becomes a reason for not attending. Why would a church be in a fellowship that does not respond to its request for a council? Why would a pastor be in a fellowship of churches if he will not place such an invitation at the top of his priority list? If a pastor does not respond to help in another church’s request for a council, how can he expect other churches to respond to his request when he needs help? Brethren, we can and should do better.
Jeff Straub
Jon Pratt
Daniel Brown
Kevin T. Bauder
Michael Riley
I am one of those pastors who feel that it is an honor as well as a responsibility for me to attend ordination councils. However, at the last 10 or so councils that I have attended (Wisconsin, Illinois) I find that most of them are just cool whip on top of the pie. Most churches and their pastors have already decided to ordain the candidate irregardless of the council’s recommendation. Ordination councils do not have the same meaning as they did in 1972 (mine). Some still do and I enjoy these and feel that I am fortunate to have a part. The others (the majority) make me feel that I am being used.
Yes, I will still go and get myself in trouble by some of the questions I ask. Perhaps pastors feel that they have many more important responsibilities than to be cool whip on the top of the pie.
I will keep on going, when invited, like Saturday June 13th, in Hudson, Wisconsin for Missionary Ben Shore.
Thank You for an opportunity to voice my opinion as to why busy pastors may not go to ordination councils much any more.
Jim Frisby, pastor Spooner Baptist Church, Spooner, WI
I appreciated your basic sentiments regarding inter-congregational pastoral involvement in ordination councils. None the less, I think more needs to be communicated. It seems probable that some pastors from churches of like faith and practice avoid ordination councils simply because they have not been exposed to the seminarians who minister outside of their own congregations. This ignorance combined with the sad reality that many ordination councils constitute nothing more than a rubber stamp for unqualified pastoral candidates often leads pastors to avoid these events. This concern is heightened given the reality that the attending pastor is expected to sign his name in support of the council’s position. While the council may not be laying hands on the pastoral candidate, each pastor assumes a similar kind of responsibility when signing the council’s decision. Also, given the growing divisions in doctrine and practice that commonly arise among fundamental Baptist ministers; it seems that abstention may be justified in many, if not most cases.
As a bi-vocational pastor, I’ve had little opportunity to attend ordination councils. Those that I have attended over the years, by and large, have been discouraging because of the lack of preparation on the part of the candidate, or a lack of purpose or direction on the part of those posing the questions.
To me, 5 or 6 men who mean business are probably worth more than a large number of those without direction. How many does it take to evaluate someone?
As an addendum, it does seem in the circles that I am connected that the ordination council often comes after a man has been in ministry for a number of years. It seems backwards, and even pointless, to evaluate a man for a church that is already embraced and presumed qualified for a local church. The true ordination should come during a candidacy, or prior to any major ministry, shouldn’t it?
It has been interesting to hear the perspectives shared in the responses. Sometimes one may wonder if enough probing questions were asked at a council, I agree. But I am a bit perplexed by the responses of three pastors and their view of ordination councils. For the sake of transparency (a buzz word these days) I am the pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Otsego/Elk River that Dr. Brown mentioned. We have invited churches of like faith and practice to participate in a number of important events at our church. The first was a Recognition Council. I very much appreciated the men who came out and helped us review our governing documents to determine if we were indeed a Baptist church in doctrine and practice. But the response in relation to the number of invites was not as strong as I had hoped. We had a sincere desire for churches to come and help us work through this process; we did not, I repeat, we did not invite churches to rubber stamp our ministry. We modified and clarified portions of our governing documents as a result of the good interaction. As Dr. Brown also mentioned, this is our second ordination. I am grateful to the men who came out, but it was quite conspicuous that a large percentage did not attend. A number of legitimate reasons might have kept them from coming, but I suspect others might have been able to make the time to come. One pastor that came for my ordination had to leave promptly after the council because he had a wedding to perform. I appreciated his attendance during a busy day.
I’m also curious to better understand what Pastor Barr means when he says “more needs to be communicated.” As far as simply being used or serving as rubber stamp for an unqualified candidate, a council member has every right and perhaps even obligation to express his disagreement if he indeed views the candidate as undeserving of ordination; one is certainly are not obligated, so far as I know, to sign the candidate’s ordination certificate simply because they attended. A council member may also share his reservations during the executive session. So frankly, I have difficulty affirming the notion that any council member is merely cool whip on the pie. In fact, in one recent ordination council I participated in, the council recommended that the church proceed with this man’s ordination on the condition that his conversion and time of baptism are clarified since there were discrepancies between his written testimony and oral testimony at the ordination council. I can assure you, we were not rubber stamps. My final contention is grounded in the fact that God has always used the local church as the sphere in which men exercise their gifts for ministry. The church recognizes their call and affirms, based on their observation in the context of local church ministry, that this man has the call of God on His life. I’m hesitant to say that a majority of churches have been blind to the faults, minor or major, of the men they seek to ordain and proceed flippantly.
Thanks for the post. There does seem to be some problems in the modern ordination era.
I was ordained in May of 1999. It was a unique experience. My pastor initially had me give him my doctrinal statement. Then He sent the statement to several men that he asked to be on the council. (I believe the request was by phone and not be a generic letter.) Then on a Thursday morning, I met with these men who questioned me. That was in May.
The ordination service, however, was in August. At first I was a little confused about why so long, but now I see the wisdom
Now forward a couple of years, when I was asked to be on my first council. I received a generic letter, and thought it would be an honor to be part of the council. The one to be ordained was a man that I knew, so I thought it a real privilege.
The questioning was to take place on a Saturday afternoon. After several hours of questioning, the council went to private chambers to discuss the matter. I thought the questioning went well, and the man would be ordained. But I was wrong. Several members stated that they could not sign the certificate to ordain this man, and would not vote in favor to do so. This was a shock to me; it was also a shock to the host pastor and deacons. So the council further discussed the weakness and strengths of this candidate. The pastor acknowledged that the church could go ahead and ordain the man with out the consent of council, but that the church would respect the presbytery (council).. But plans had to change, for the church had planned a big service and celebration after the evening service.
My wife was chatting with the candidate’s wife while the council was meeting. When I came out I joined them. I was asked what was taking so long. I mentioned that they would need to wait for the Pastor to inform them. And so my wife and I left. I told her what had happen. And she said, “Well, the next time I am part of the ordination process, I now know that I need to ask the wife of the candidate, what will you do if he isn’t ordained?”
To God be the glory this man was ordained several years later. The process was respected and a good and godly man has been ordained.
On a different take, I got a letter from a church that was sent to the wrong church. So, I called the church to get the reasoning why I got the letter. The church had just lost its pastor due to immorality and they were writing to the church that ordained him and asking them to revoke his ordination. I don’t know if that church had revoke his ordination or not. But that is an interstesting question as well.
Each year I write a letter to my ordaining church informing them of my ministry for the past year in a spirit of accountability. How many do that?
Ordination is a serious matter. It shouldn’t be so easy that anybody could be ordained. And yet not so hard that its just a poud academic exercise.