Biblical Moorings
Pastors and church leaders are important and are not without authority. The authority, however, is not their own. It is the authority of Jesus Christ expressed in the gospel for the benefit of the people being served. The only times that Paul used “authority” (exousia) in reference to his ministry--other than of his right to be paid--are in 2 Corinthians 10:8 and 13:10, where he writes that the Lord gave him authority to build up and not tear down. Leaders do not possess authority; they only express the authority of the gospel.
This is not to deny the legitimacy of church “offices” or the unique roles that certain people have. Leaders have authority, but it is an authority shaped by the gospel. The New Testament shows the beginnings of church structure, but even in the pastorals the structure is still fluid. The titles that are used are not clearly distinguished; rather they overlap {Kevin Giles]. Paul referred to himself, among other things, as apostle, steward, a servant (diakonos) of Christ and God, a slave (doulos) of Christ and God, and a fellow worker of God and of the people. Paul also called Christians in general “slaves of Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:22). The church did commission certain people for special tasks (e.g., Acts 13:2,3). Paul also defended his right to be called an apostle. Still, while he had a unique calling and task from God and valued ministry as God's grace to him, passages such as 1 Corinthians 3:8-4:13 or 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 show clearly that Paul did not view ministry as status or as something that placed him in a different category from the people he served. No other New Testament writer knew of a different category for church leaders either. The tasks of the leaders are also the tasks of the whole church (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and Romans 15:14). Being a servant is the summary description of the task of all Christians.
Klyne R. Snodgrass (1944- ), “Your Slaves on Account of Jesus: Servant Leadership in the New Testament,” from Servant Leadership, Volume One: Authority and Governance in the Church, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), pp. 11,12.
Historical Insights
...In the 1978 service of ordination (the Covenant’s current liturgy), the ordinands are asked, “Do you promise to be a faithful minister, preaching and teaching the Word, administering the sacraments, and serving with the love and authority of Christ?” Behind such alterations is a functional understanding of the ordination charge, at least in part. And this also has its place. The model of Christ's one ministry has both symbol and substance for those who are called to share in it. Thus, although the ministry is one, it is also true that it has different aspects. One of these is Christlike leadership.
Christ's rule was that of a servant. His authority was in his self-giving (cf. Philippians 2:5-11; Ephesians 5:21-33). Similarly, there is no suggestion that the authority Jesus gave his disciples had to do with power over other believers. Mark writes that “Jesus appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons” (Mark 3:14-15). Jesus made it clear to the Twelve that they were not being appointed to offices of power, but rather were being called to service. “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so amongst you” (Mark 10:47-48).
Paul sees his ministry in similar terms, as a service to God and to the church. He denies any place for arrogance or mastery: “What then is Paul? What is Apollos? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each” (1 Corinthians 3:5). It is not, states Paul, “that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24). Paul calls himself “a slave of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1). And he says, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your slaves for Jesus' sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). Here is that servant leadership which imitates Jesus' kingly rule.
Robert K. Johnston (1945- ), “Set Aside to Serve: Ordination in the Covenant”
From Servant Leadership, Volume One: Authority and Governance in the Church, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), pp. 166,167.
Sigurd Westberg [the late Covenant archivist] documents that as early as 1896 at the Covenant Annual Meeting, ordination was clarified as being at one and the same time not indelible in character and yet a call by the church for life. Such a paradoxical conjoining of permanence and impermanence has been continually affirmed by the Covenant through the years. In the Covenant's 1978 Book of Worship, the description of ordination again has this same paradoxical character regarding its permanence: “The rite of ordination ... does [not] convey an indelible character to those ordained. Yet there is a pervading mystery of the Spirit's presence in ordination that defies analysis. We believe that ordination is life-long.”
Such seeming double talk stems from the church's effort to recognize that ordination involves both the call of God and the call of the congregation. As such, it does not end simply because the ordained minister ceases to function in that role. On the other hand, such a person cannot simply continue as before.
Recognizing what God has done in the life of an individual (call, proven giftedness) and what an individual has proven to be (apostolic in theology and in life, loyal), the church sets aside that individual for life to help it minister more effectively. But if God calls that individual to another vocation, or if that individual proves no longer to be worthy of his or her office (by no longer being an apostolic witness in fife or in theology, or by being disloyal), then the Covenant church believes it must amend that lifetime consecration.
Ordination is not a right or a status that the minister possesses apart from the church. It is instead an act of the church that requires its continual validation. When there is indiscretion, immorality, doctrinal error, unethical behavior, or disloyalty, the minister can be suspended or defrocked. In the case of a transference of loyalty to another denomination, then the ordination is transferred as well. In the case of the minister accepting a call outside of the special ministry of the Word, that individual is put in an inactive category, recognizing that God might again call that person to active ministry on behalf of the church. In such circumstance, the church's recognition and confirmation can again be given. If there have been no extenuating reasons for leaving ministry, then there is no need for further interrogation or for “re-ordination.”
Robert K. Johnston (1945- ), “Set Aside to Serve: Ordination in the Covenant”
From Servant Leadership, Volume One: Authority and Governance in the Church, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), pp. 170,171.
The Church Ordains, the Church Ministers
...The minister is called out from among the people, and through the recognition of divine calling and giftedness the whole church accepts responsibility for training and credentialing the minister before a local church in turn calls such a person. In the act of ordination in the church, the minister is granted, through the laying on of hands, an apostolic authority to lead the people of God by serving the people of God. In the Covenant church, this has always been more than mere functional recognition. The authority to proclaim the Word of God, rightly administer the sacraments, and lead as a shepherd, is derived from a holy and apostolic calling and continuity in the church's life since the time of Christ.
Philip J. Anderson (1949- ), “The Community of Friends in Christ: Order and the Evangelical Covenant Church,” from Servant Leadership, Volume One: Authority and Governance in the Church, James R. Hawkinson & Robert K. Johnston, editors (1993), p. 111.
Focus on passages such as Ephesians 4:12 has rightly emphasized that ministry is the task of the Church and not just the task of the clergy. Distinctions of value, sanctity, and privilege between clergy and laity ought to be rejected, and the ministry of women is one way to emphasize the ministry of all the Church.
Ordination, because it has been viewed as conferring special status on pastors, has often functioned as a barrier both to the ministry of women and to the ministry of the laity. This practice of ordaining certain people for ministry has antecedents in the New Testament, but it is not taught explicitly. This is not to argue against ordination and certainly not to argue against a professional clergy, but the Church needs to discuss what ordination means and make sure that ordination does not become more hindrance than help in proclaiming the Gospel. Ministry is not some privilege to which the few are called. It is the task of all Christians as they identify with the ministry and love of Jesus Christ.
Board of the Ministry and Covenant Ministerium, A Biblical and Theological Basis for Women in Ministry (Occasional Paper Number One,1987), p. 9.
