Ordination is the acknowledgment by a community of believers that a person has been called to ministry; accompanied by their commission to advance the cause of Christ. In our case, people ordained with the NACM are commissioned by a community of ministers.
The root meaning of the term ordained minister:
- In general as well as Biblical terms, the word “ordain” comes from the Greek word “diatassō” which means to “appoint”.
In general as well as Biblical terms, the word “minister” comes from the Greek word “diakoneō” which means to be a servant (in the strictest terms it means to wait upon tables).
When the two words are combined, “ordained minister” – we get the definition “to appoint one to serve, or appointed servant“.
Why is this important? For two reasons:
1) Because Jesus said:
- “he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he who shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mat 23:11-12 MKJV).
- The minister of our God is a servant and they should lead by serving, even as our Lord did when he washed His disciples feet.
2) There are some who dispute over the qualifications of pastors, such as whether or not women should be allowed to be pastors. We want only to briefly address this concern.
Notice that an appointed servant is not qualified by being a pastor, elder, deacon etc. These positions are often expected to be filled by someone who has been “ordained”, but being ordained does not necessarily make someone a deacon.
- For this reason there should be no disagreements over the ordination of men or women as long as they live a life consistent with Christian ethics and there is a call of Christian service on their lives to advance ministry.
Who would have any objections to men or women being “appointed” as Christian “servants”? No reasonable Christian would. To do so is to deny that God wants all genders to serve Him.
- For this reason we conclude that it is up to the independent churches/ministries to decide what their requirements are for serving among them. It is not the position of the National Association of Christian Ministers to appoint women or men to any particular office such as pastors, deacons, etc. It is our purpose to recognize ministers with ordination (appointed servants) so that they may legally, and independently pursue the convictions that God has placed on their hearts.
Therefore, an ordained minister is a believer who has been appointed by a group of believers to act as a servant to humanity on behalf of God.