Ordination

Heard in the wild

The longer version

What it means

Ordination is the church's act of setting someone apart as clergy. The person has usually finished seminary, been examined on their beliefs and character, and been approved by the relevant authority — a bishop, a presbytery, a denominational board, or the local congregation. Then, in a service, church leaders pray over them and lay hands on them, and they're declared a pastor, priest, minister, or deacon, authorized to preach, administer the sacraments, and lead.

In Catholic and Orthodox teaching, ordination ("Holy Orders") is a sacrament that permanently changes the person; in Protestant teaching it's the church's recognition and commissioning of a calling. The ceremony looks similar either way.

Why people say it

Churches ordain because the New Testament shows the apostles doing it — appointing elders, laying on hands — and because a church needs to know who is authorized to lead. Ordination protects congregations from self-appointed leaders and gives the minister the backing of the whole church. For the person, it's the moment a private sense of calling becomes a public trust.

How to respond

If you're invited to an ordination, go; it's a solemn, joyful service with a lot of hands, a charge to the new minister, and usually a reception. If someone tells you they're "getting ordained," they've completed a long process and it's a major milestone. If you need someone to officiate a wedding, an ordained minister of nearly any church can, legally; whether they will depends on their church's rules.

If you hear it in different churches

Catholic: Holy Orders, a sacrament, conferred by a bishop in three grades (deacon, priest, bishop); celibate men in the Latin rite. Orthodox: the same three grades; married men may be ordained priests. Anglican: bishops ordain deacons and priests; men and women in most provinces. Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian: ordination by bishop or presbytery after seminary and examination; men and women. Baptist and non-denominational: the local church ordains, sometimes with little formal process. Pentecostal: denominational credentialing or local church ordination.

Where does “Ordination” come from?

Moses commissioned Joshua by laying hands on him; the apostles appointed the seven (Acts 6) and elders in every church (Acts 14:23); the Antioch church laid hands on Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13); Paul reminds Timothy of the gift given "when the body of elders laid their hands on you." The threefold order of bishop, presbyter, and deacon was fixed by the 100s. Medieval theology made ordination a sacrament; the Reformers kept the rite while rejecting the sacramental view and the sacrificing priesthood. Women's ordination began in some Protestant bodies in the 1800s and became widespread in mainline churches in the 1950s–70s.

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