Authorised Ministry

By Revd J.A Scholtz

Would you trust a politician to determine the competence of your physician?
Or, on the other hand, would you accept your physician’s own unsubstantiated word on the question? No. Instead of either, most of us would insist upon some sort of review by a panel of doctors qualified to judge. For centuries, peer review or certification, as it is called, has been the rule in authorising the practice of the three (3) great learned professions – medicine, law and ministry.
We can understand why certified competence is vital in the practice of medicine: the patient’s very life is at risk. In the hands of an incompetent attorney, clients could end up with a fine- or worse. But what harm can an unqualified pastor do? And how is ministerial competence to be determined, anyway?
The same way that pertains in medicine and the law. Education is the first prerequisite. Before there were professional schools, aspiring doctors, lawyers and pastors “read” under the tutelage of someone established in the field. Later on, formal professional education became the norm. Even then, however, a diploma was not deemed sufficient proof of competence. Physicians still had to be certified, attorneys had to pass the bar, and pastors had to be ordained.
But that history still begs the questions about qualified pastoral ministy. If one’s health is at stake, or one’s financial estate, it makes sense that the professionals involved be authorised to practice. But what has anyone to lose at the hands of an unauthorised minister? Our forebearers in the faith would have had a ready answer: Our very salvation! And they were right. Christian faith is not simply a matter of personal opinion. It is based upon the words of the bible, properly understood, and upon the sacraments, properly administered. When Martin Luther extolled the priesthood of the believer, he intended to remove all human intermediaries between the individual Christian and God. But he never meant that any layperson could baptise, or bless the elements of Holy Communion.
Precise modes and standards of professional education have always been in dispute- not only in the ministry, but also in medicine and the law. But whether one studied under the guidance of a mentor, or enrolled for three (3) or more years in a formal course of study, there was only one way to be authorised to practice: Review and approval by professional bodies within the field.
According to Dr. David Lewis Beebe, a church historian, in ministry there is even a further element: “the fact that to be “ordained” means to be under “orders”
According to this understanding, pastors are no freer than doctors or lawyers to “hang out their shingles” and begin to practice.
Outside the church there is no ordained ministry. Thanks be to Christ Jesus, the head of the church. •