Ecumenical Convergences on the Ordained Ministry

By William H. Lazareth

This is the last of eight articles on the Trinitarian foundations of the Christian faith. In these essays our attention focuses on the Biblical revelation supporting the adoration and praise of the Holy Trinity: one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity was only later defined by universal Councils as the official dogma of the Church.

We have seen back in article six that “one baptism” is the only sacrament of the Church noted in the Nicene Creed. However, it is now broadly agreed that “if the divided churches are to achieve the visible unity they seek, one of the essential prerequisites is that they should be in basic agreement on baptism, eucharist and ministry” (preface to “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry,” see below). These are blessed gifts of the triune God that graciously enable our historical mission and eternal salvation.

Consequently, we shall now devote this article to the Biblical foundations and theological explications of the doctrine of the ordained ministry. Following our series methodology, the documentation in this essay, in condensed and excerpted form, is mostly derived and simplified from the original ecumenical convergence texts produced over decades by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. These are specifically:

“Confessing the One Faith: An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as it is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed” (No. 153, 1991), and “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry” (No.111, 1982).

The Calling of the Whole People of God

In a broken world, God calls the whole of humanity to become God’s people. For this purpose God chose Israel and then spoke in a unique and decisive way in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Jesus made his own the nature, condition and cause of the human race, giving himself as a sacrifice for all.

Jesus’ life of service, his death and resurrection, are the foundation of a new community which is built up continually by the good news of the Gospel and the gifts of the sacraments. The Holy Spirit unites in a single body those who follow Jesus Christ and sends them as witnesses into the world. Belonging to the Church means living in communion with God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

The life of the Church is based on Christ’s victory over the powers of evil and death, accomplished once for all. Christ offers forgiveness, invites to repentance and delivers from destruction. Through Christ, people are enabled to turn in praise to God and in service to neighbors. In Christ they find the source of new life in freedom, mutual forgiveness and love. Through Christ their hearts and minds are directed to the consummation of the Kingdom where Christ’s victory will become manifest and all things made new. God’s purpose is that, in Jesus Christ, all people should share in that fellowship.

The Church lives through the liberating and renewing power of the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit was upon Jesus is evidenced in his baptism. After the resurrection that same Spirit was given to those who believed in the Risen Lord in order to recreate them as the body of Christ. The Spirit calls people to faith, sanctifies them through many gifts, gives them strength to witness to the Gospel, and empowers them to serve in hope and love. The Spirit keeps the Church in the truth and guides it despite the frailty of its members.

The Church is called to proclaim and prefigure the Kingdom of God. It accomplishes this by announcing the Gospel to the world and by its very existence as the body of Christ. In Jesus the Kingdom of God came among us. He offered salvation to sinners. He preached good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberation to the oppressed (Luke 4:18). Christ established a new access to God.

Living in this communion with God, all members of the Church are called to confess their faith and give account of their hope. They are to identify with the joys and sufferings of all people as they seek to witness in caring love. The members of Christ’s body are to struggle with the oppressed towards that freedom and dignity promised with the coming of the Kingdom.

This mission needs to be carried out in varying political, social and cultural contexts. In order to fulfill this mission faithfully, members of the Church will seek relevant forms of witness and service in each situation. In so doing, they bring to the world a foretaste of the joy and glory of God’s Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit bestows on the community diverse and complementary gifts. These are for the common good of the whole people and are manifested in acts of service within the community and to the world.

They may be gifts of communicating the Gospel in word and deed, gifts of healing, gifts of praying, gifts of teaching and learning, gifts of serving, gifts of guidance and following, gifts of inspiration and vision. All members are called to discover, with the help of the community, the gifts they have received, and to use them for the building up of the Church and for the service to the world to which the Church is sent.

Though the churches are agreed in their general understanding of the calling of the people of God, they differ in their understanding of how the life of the Church is to be ordered. In particular, there are differences concerning the place and forms of the ordained ministry. As they engage in the effort to overcome these differences, the churches need to work from the perspective of the calling of the whole people of God.

A common answer needs to be found to the following question: How, according to the will of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the life of the Church to be understood and ordered, so that the Gospel of God’s Word and sacraments may be spread and the community built up in love?

The Ordained Ministry

In order to fulfill its mission, the Church needs persons who are publicly and continually responsible for pointing to its fundamental dependence on Jesus Christ, and thereby provide, within a multiplicity of gifts, a focus of its unity. The ministry of such persons, who since very early times have been ordained, is constitutive for the life and witness of the Church.

The Church has never been without persons holding specific authority and responsibility. Christ chose and sent the disciples to be witnesses of the Kingdom (Matt.10:1-8). The Twelve were promised that they would “sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). A particular role is attributed to the Twelve within the communities of the first generation. They are witnesses of the Lord’s life and resurrection (Acts 1:21-26). They lead the community in prayer, teaching. the breaking of bread, proclamation and service (Acts 2:42-47; 6:2-6, etc.). The very existence of the Twelve and other apostles shows that, from the beginning, there were differentiated roles in the community.

Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons

The New Testament does not describe a single pattern of ministry which might serve as a blueprint or continuing norm for all future ministry in the Church. In the New Testament there appears rather a variety of forms which existed at different places and times. As the Holy Spirit continued to lead the Church in life, worship and mission, certain elements from this early variety were further developed and became settled into a more universal pattern of ministry.

During the second and third centuries, a threefold pattern of bishop, presbyter and deacon became established as the pattern of ordained ministry throughout the Church. In succeeding centuries, the ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon underwent considerable changes in its practical exercise.

At some points of crisis in the history of the Church, the continuing functions of ministry were in some places and communities distributed according to structures other than the predominant pattern. Sometimes appeal was made to the New Testament in justification of these other patterns. In other cases, the restructuring of ministry was held to lie within the competence of the Church as it adapted to changed circumstances.

It is important to be aware of the changes the threefold ministry has undergone in the history of the Church. In the earliest instances where threefold ministry is mentioned, the reference is to the local eucharistic community. The bishop was the leader of the community. He was ordained and installed to proclaim the Word and preside over the celebration of the eucharist. He was surrounded by a college of presbyters and by deacons who assisted in his tasks. In this context the bishop’s ministry was a focus of unity within the whole community.

Soon, however, the functions were modified. Bishops began increasingly to exercise “oversight” (episkope) in the wider Church. Later Timothy and Titus are recorded to have fulfilled a function of oversight in a given area. Later again this apostolic task is carried out in a new way by bishops. They provide a focus for unity in life and witness within areas comprising several eucharistic communities. As a consequence, presbyters and deacons are assigned new roles. The presbyters become the leaders of the local eucharistic community, and as assistants to the bishops, deacons receive responsibilities in the larger area.

Although there is no single New Testament pattern, although the Spirit has many times led the Church to adapt its ministries to contextual needs, and although other forms of the ordained ministry have been blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, the threefold ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon may serve today as an expression of the unity we seek and also as a means of achieving it.

Historically, the threefold ministry became the generally accepted pattern in the Church of the early centuries; it is still retained today by many churches. In the fulfillment of their mission, the churches need people who in different ways express and perform the tasks of the ordained ministry in its diaconal, presbyteral and episcopal aspects and functions.

The Church as the body of Christ and the eschatological people of God is constituted by the Holy Spirit through a diversity of gifts or ministries. Among these gifts a ministry of “oversight” (episkope) is necessary to express and safeguard the unity of the body. Every church needs this ministry in some form in order to be the Church of God, the one body of Christ, a sign of the unity of all in the Kingdom.

The threefold pattern stands evidently in need of reform. In some churches, the collegial dimension of leadership in the eucharistic community has suffered diminution. In others, the function of deacons has been reduced to an assistant role in the celebration of the liturgy: they have ceased to fulfill any function with regard to the diaconal witness of the Church.

The relation of the presbyterate to the episcopal ministry has been discussed throughout the centuries, and the degree of the presbyter’s participation in the episcopal ministry is still for many an unresolved question of far-reaching ecumenical importance. In some cases, churches which have not formally kept the threefold form have, in fact, maintained certain of the original patterns.

The traditional threefold pattern thus raises questions for all the churches. Churches maintaining the threefold pattern will need to ask how its potential can be fully developed for the most effective witness of the Church in this world. In this task, churches not having the threefold pattern should also participate. They will further need to ask themselves whether the threefold pattern as developed does not have a powerful claim to be accepted by them.

The Ministry of Men and Women in the Church

Where Christ is present, human barriers are being broken. The Church is called to convey to the world the image of a new humanity. There is in Christ no male or female (Gal. 3:28). Both women and men must discover together their contributions to the service of Christ in the Church.

The Church must discover the ministry which can be provided by women as well as that which can be provided by men. A deeper understanding of the comprehensiveness of ministry which reflects the interdependence of men and women needs to be more widely manifested in the life of the Church.

Though they all agree on this need, the churches draw different conclusions as to the admission of women to the ordained ministry. An increasing number of churches have decided that there is no Biblical or theological reason against ordaining women. And many of them have subsequently proceeded to do so. Yet many churches hold that the tradition of the Church in this regard must not be changed.

Those churches which practice the ordination of women do so because of their understanding of the Gospel and the ministry. It rests for them on the deeply held theological conviction that the ordained ministry of the Church lacks fullness when it is limited to one sex. This theological conviction has been reinforced by their experience during the years in which they have included women in their ordained ministries. They have found that women’s gifts are as wide and varied as men’s, and that their ministry is as fully blessed by the Holy Spirit as the ministry of men. None has found reason to reconsider its decision.

Those churches which do not practice the ordination of women consider that the force of nineteen centuries of tradition against the ordination of women must not be set aside. They believe that such a tradition cannot be dismissed as a lack of respect for the participation of women in the life of the Church. They believe that there are theological issues concerning the nature of humanity and concerning Christology which lie at the heart of their convictions and understanding of the role of women in the Church.

The discussion of these practical and theological questions within the various churches and Christian traditions should be complemented by joint study and reflection within the ecumenical fellowship of all churches.

Central must be the meaning of ordination. The Church ordains certain of its members for the ministry in the name of Christ by the invocation of the Spirit and the laying on of hands (1 Tim. 1:6). In so doing, it seeks to continue the mission of the apostles and to remain faithful to their teaching. The act of ordination by those who are appointed for this ministry attests the bond of the Church with Jesus Christ and the apostolic witness. It recalls who is the true ordainer and bestows the gift.

In ordaining, the Church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, provides for the faithful proclamation of the Gospel and humble service in the name of Christ. The laying on of hands is the sign of the gift of the Spirit, rendering visible the fact that the ministry was instituted in the revelation accomplished in Christ, and reminding the Church to look to him as the source of its commission.