Minister (Christianity)
In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister. In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained.
In the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the concept of a priesthood is emphasized, though in the Church of England there are nearly as many non-ordained licensed lay ministers as there are paid clergy. In other traditions such as Baptist, Methodist, and Reformed groups like Congregationalists and Presbyterians, the term "minister" usually refers to a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may serve as an elder, pastor, preacher, bishop, or chaplain.
Ministers are also described as being a man of the cloth. With respect to ecclesiastical address, many ministers are styled as "The Reverend"; however, some use "Pastor" or "Father" as a title.
Roles and duties
The Church of England defines the ministry of priests as follows:Ministers may perform some or all of the following duties:
- assist in co-ordinating volunteers and church community groups
- assist in any general administrative service
- conduct marriage ceremonies, funerals and memorial services, participate in the ordination of other clergy, and confirming young people as members of a local church
- encourage local church endeavors
- engage in welfare and community services activities of communities
- establish new local churches
- keep records as required by civil or church law
- plan and conduct services of public worship
- preach
- pray and encourage others to be theocentric
- preside over sacraments of the church. Such as:
- *the Lord's Supper, also known as the Lord's Table, or Holy Communion, and
- *the Baptism of adults or children
- provide leadership to the congregation, parish or church community, this may be done as part of a team with lay people in roles such as elders
- refer people to community support services, psychologists or doctors
- research and study religion, Scripture and theology
- supervise prayer and discussion groups, retreats and seminars, and provide religious instruction
- teach on spiritual and theological subjects
- train leaders for church, community and youth leadership
- work on developing relationships and networks within the religious community
- provide pastoral care in various contexts
- provide personal support to people in crises, such as illness, bereavement and family breakdown
- visit the sick and elderly to counsel and comfort them and their families
- administer Last Rites when designated to do so
- mention prayer of salvation to those interested in becoming a believer
- player coach, in which the pastor is a "participant in all the processes that the church uses to reach people and see them transformed
- delegating, in which the minister develops members of the church to point that they can be trusted
- directing, where the minister gives specific instructions and then supervises the congregation closely
- combination, where a minister allows directional ministering from a pastoral staff member
Training and qualifications
New Testament
One of the clearest references is found in, which outlines the requirements of a bishop :Related titles and types of Christian ministries
Bishops, priests, and deacons
The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and some Methodist denominations have applied the formal, church-based leadership or an ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import. The churches have three orders of ordained clergy:- Bishops are the primary clergy, administering all sacraments and governing the church.
- Priests administer the sacraments and lead local congregations; they cannot ordain other clergy, however, nor consecrate buildings.
- In some denominations, deacons play a non-sacramental and assisting role in the liturgy.
High Church Anglicanism and High Church Lutheranism tend to emphasise the role of the clergy in dispensing the Christian sacraments. The countries that were once a part of the Swedish Empire, i.e. Finland and the Baltics have more markedly preserved Catholic traditions and introduced far less Reformed traditions, hence the role of bishops, priests and deacons are notably more visible.
Bishops, priests and deacons have traditionally officiated over of acts worship, reverence, rituals and ceremonies. Among these central traditions have been baptism, confirmation, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, marriage, the mass or the divine service, and coronations. These so-called "social rituals" have formed a part of human culture for tens of thousands of years. Anthropologists see social rituals as one of many cultural universals.
The term rector or vicar may be used for priests in certain settings, especially in the Catholic and Anglican traditions.
In the Episcopal Church in the United States, a parish, which is responsible for its own finances, is overseen by a rector. A bishop is nominally in control of a financially assisted parish but delegates authority to a vicar.
Pastors
The term "pastor" means "shepherd"; it is used several times in the New Testament to refer to church workers. Many Protestants use the term as a prenominal title or as a job title.Clergy
The English word clergy derives from the same root as clerk and can be traced to the Latin clericus which derives from the Greek word kleros meaning a "lot" or "portion" or "office". The term Clerk in Holy Orders is still the official title for certain Christian clergy and its usage is prevalent in canon law. Holy orders refer to any recipient of the sacrament of ordination, both the major orders and the now less known minor orders who, save for certain reforms made at the Second Vatican Council in the Roman Catholic Church, were called clerics or clerk, which is simply a shorter form of cleric. Clerics were distinguished from the laity by having received, in a formal rite of introduction into the clerical state, the tonsure or corona which involved cutting hair from the top and side of the head leaving a circlet of hair which symbolised the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ at his crucifixion.Though Christian in origin, the term can be applied by analogy to functions in other religious traditions. For example, a rabbi can be referred to as being a clergy member.
Parson is a similar term often applied to ordained priests or ministers. The word is a variant on the English word person from the Latin persona used as a legal term for one having jurisdiction.
Dominie, Dominee, Dom, Don
The similar words "Dominie", "Dominee" and "Dom", all derived from the Latin domine, are used in related contexts.Dominie, derived directly from Dutch, is used in the United States, "Dominee", derived from Dutch via Afrikaans is used in South Africa as the title of a pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. In Scottish English dominie is generally used to mean just schoolmaster. In various Romance languages, shortened forms of Dominus are commonly used for Catholic priests for example Benedictine Monks are titled Dom, as in the style Dom Knight. Dom or Dominus, as well as the English equivalent, Sir were often used as titles for priests in England up to the 17th century who held Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Chaplains and padres
as in English or almoner or their equivalents refer to a minister who has another type of pastoral "target group" than a territorial parish congregation, such as a military units, schools and hospitals.The Spanish word Padre is often informally used to address military chaplains, also in English and Portuguese.
Elder
s in Christianity are involved in the collective leadership of a local church or of a denomination.- Some Reformed/non-mainline Presbyterian denominations, Anglican and some Methodists call their ministers teaching elders as well. In Reformed tradition, Ruling elders are also ordained laymen who govern the church along with the teaching elders as the Church session.
- In the Assemblies of God and the Metropolitan Community Church Elders are the most senior leaders serving, leading, and supervising the worldwide denomination. In the Metropolitan Community Church an Elder can be a lay person or clergy.
Types of ministries in non-denominational church
- Such as men's ministry, women's ministry, youth ministry, kids ministry, singles and campus ministries, married couples ministry, because it gives each congregation member of different backgrounds and age groups to have a chance to fellowship with people in a closer life group to them.