God calls Elders
8. History and tradition of ordination
The history of ordination – in some
senses continuous from Paul’s day - is as old as the church itself. It has been
the cause of division and controversy as, over the centuries, churches looked
to ensure the validity of succession and the source of authority. The rite of
ordination has been the means by which the church has provided itself with
leaders authorised to teach, to nurture the faith, and to administer church
discipline.
At the time of the Reformation Calvin suggested that there needed to be three different offices in the leading of the church, ministers of Word and Sacrament, government, and caring for the poor. He saw the area of government to be the responsibility of elders, elected by their congregations and working together with ministers of Word and Sacrament in a conciliar manner. Calvin rejected the previous threefold order of Bishop, priest, and deacon which had been the norm from the 3rd century until the Reformation of the 16th century. It is Calvin’s understanding which provided the basis for the understanding of ministry and church order adopted by all three constituent denominations which made up the United Reformed Church.
Looking back to Moses we find (Numbers 11:10-25) God’s instruction to Moses to gather 70 elders to assist him in his work. God came down and spoke to these men and ‘put some of the spirit that was on him (Moses) and put it on the 70 elders’. Looking at the passages from the epistles and, again, we find reference to leaders being set apart with prayer, fasting, and the laying on of hands imparting the Spirit enabling the work of leadership to be carried out in accordance with God’s will.