Ordination: Why Pastors? (Chapter One of Pastor)

Chapter One of William Willimon’s book, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry.  

The Function of Ordination 

by Thomas Parkinson 

Ever since the beginning of the Reformation, the place and necessity of ordination has been up for debate in the Protestant church.  Prior to the Reformation, ordination was a sacrament, an operative sign of God’s grace.  The ordained clergy were, by virtue of their ordination, recipients of a different and more sacred ontological identity – more sacred, it seems, than baptism.  Ordination was absolute, stamping a new character upon the ordained regardless of whether he (always he) was actually tied to a local church community.

The Reformer’s, particularly Martin Luther, rightly sensed that this understanding of ordination elevated clergy to a position of greater worth and potential for the church’s ministry than the laity.  The ordained could perform the ministerial task apart from the presence or participation of the laity.  Hence, priests would often conduct mass in private, without even the presence of the laity.    

As Willimon argues in chapter 1 of Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, the sacerdotal understanding of ordination is an invention of the Fourth Lateran Council, and has little to do with the early church’s understanding of ordination.  Following the liturgy for the ordination of a bishop recorded in Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition (the oldest account of an ordination service), Willimon argues quite convincingly that there is no ordination apart from the laity – the baptized. 

Building on Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, Willimon asserts that baptism is the sacrament that stamps a new ontological identity on individuals.  Upon receiving the grace of baptism, all Christians are called to live into their baptismal vocation.  All the baptized are called into ministry.  Ordination, then, serves a functional purpose.  Its function is to call forth from among the baptized some to provide leadership to the church’s ministry.  To say that ordination is functional is at the same time to say that it is not ontological.  The identity of the ordained is in their baptism, just as it is for all Christians.  Ordination does not change one’s identity, it changes one’s function.

In this way Willimon avoids any theology of ordination that fails to take seriously the priesthood of all believers.  Ordination arises, not out of some special ontological status, but out of the needs of the community.  There is no ministry of the ordained apart from the ministry of the baptized.  And so, Willimon speaks of the ordained as those who serve as “priests to the priests.”  They preach to the baptized so that the baptized might preach to the world.  They serve the baptized, so the baptized might serve the world, etc.

This theology of ordination is a striking condemnation on the current state of the church.  If the function of ordination is to serve the ministry of the baptized by equipping and empowering them for ministry, then one has to say that the ordained have not been serving their function.  As Chad has said in a previous post, the pastors most important job is to work herself out of a job.  Such an understanding of ordination challenges the pastoral ego – it fully establishes that ordained leadership is secondary and subservient to the ministry of the baptized.  The best way to measure the effectiveness of the ordained is to evaluate the ministry of the baptized.  If the ministry of the baptized is not being served, empowered, promoted, and nurtured by the ordained, then ordained ministry has failed.  

Baptism is a once for all declaration of God that changes one’s ontological status.  It can never be revoked.  Ordination, however, is functional, and if an ordained minister fails in her function, then ordination can be removed.  Look out!  That’s sounds like good logic for getting rid of guaranteed appointments!

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The Peculiarity of Ordination

by Chad Holtz

Gregory the Great, pope from 590 until his death and one whom John Calvin considered the last great pope, designated pastors as servus servorum Dei, that is, servants of the servants of God.  A pastor is one who “takes care of God’s church” (1 Tim. 3:5) and therefore, her significance is derived not from any ontological status bestowed upon them by a bishop but “The significance of pastors is derived from what needs to happen among the ministers” (36).  In this way, ordination is about functionality, not status.  It is about affirming that in Christ’s church all are priests, and lest we think this means each one of us is our own priest, Willimon reminds us that the doctrine of the priesthood of  believers means “each person is a priest to his or her neighbor, one who shares in Christ’s priesthood to the world” (44).  Therefore, the question is never “Am I called to ministry?” but “To which ministry am I called?”  The man or woman who feels that call is the pastoral ministry will “assume the burdens of guidance, teaching, correction, care and community concern in a way that edifies and calls forth the ministry of all Christians” (49).

From the earliest moments of the church leadership was essential.  After the ascension of Jesus the very first task the first disciples undertake, before anything else, is select from among them one to replace Judas.  It had to be someone who could be a witness, along with the eleven, to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:22).  The function, from very early on, was to bear witness, to know, and to tell faithfully a story that was not their own, but a gift.  The lot fell on Matthias, affirming to the saints gathered that Christ, while not physically present was nevertheless presiding, and ever since that day God has seen fit to let the lot fall on another among the ranks of the baptized, to be one who bears witness to the story of the Church’s faith in service to the servants of God.  Willimon writes, “Leadership in this community is not due to the natural attributes of those who lead, nor primarily due to the adulation of those who follow, but rather due to the gift of Christ who condescends to be present in the lives and deeds of those on whom he bestows this task” (35).  

So why ordination?  Why does the church bother with such rites?  Indeed, Ulrich Zwingli called ordination a “human invention” and many people in our churches today have taken up his baton, even going so far as to mock the whole thing by devising online ordination petitions or reducing it to a mere mail-order program.   With so many easy paths available to become a pastor why do I stay in the United Methodist Church where it takes years, requires so much of my time, energy and not to mention money, while at the same time places me at the mercy of  my own church as well as local and regional boards?   Allow me to answer this by first asking another question, one that Willimon asks.  Willimon expects the perennial issue before the church is not if we shall have some from among the baptized who exercise leadership but rather, how will their exercise of leadership be peculiarly Christian?  

And so I have to ask myself, as one who feels called to be a servant of God’s servants, how will my preparation for and installation into this calling be peculiarly Christian?   We live in a world, at least here in the West, where we are told immediate satisfaction is preferred over delayed gratification, where the easiest, fastest, cheapest road is the high road, and where autonomy is our greatest virtue.  Bottom line:  It’s all about me.   But there is another story being told.  It is a peculiar thing indeed to invest as much time and effort and money into becoming a servant of the servants of God when the same could be spent to become a doctor, earning a far better return (at least by the world’s standards).  It is a peculiar thing to choose a vocation that requires an endorsement and affirmation from a community that extends beyond just my own inner desires and feelings.  It is a peculiar thing to confess that we do this not because we choose to do this but because we feel called to do this. It is a peculiar thing to be commissioned for this task not because we passed a test or an interview but because we knelt before a group of peers who laid hands upon us and prayed that the Holy Spirit empower us for service in ministry.  

Becoming a servant of a crucified Lord is a peculiar identity for any of us to hold.  Becoming a servant to servants of this Lord is a peculiar vocation for any of us to take on.  Ordination is that peculiar service of the church that sets peculiar people apart for a peculiar task.  If it is an “invention of humans” I would call it a necessary one ; one in which the people of God, if only for a moment, are reminded that the Church is still casting lots, people are still answering the call, and Christ is still presiding.