UNDERSTANDING GOD’S CALL - Ministry Council of the ...

PASTORAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY TEAM

UNDERSTANDING

GOD'S CALL

TO MINISTRY OF

WORD & SACR A MENT

In the

CUM BER L A N D PR ESBY TER I A N

CHURCH

GUIDE

FOR INQUIRERS 1

Pastoral Development Ministry Team

Copyright ? 2012 by Pastoral Development Ministry Team of the Ministry council of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church

8207 Traditional Place Cordova, TN 38016

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1475075533 ISBN-10: 1475075537

Table Of Contents

God Calls, People Answer .................................................................................................................... 2 Definition of Terms ................................................................................................................................ 4 How the Church is Governed .............................................................................................................. 6

PART ONE Overview Of The Process For Ordination

1. Why Ordain a Person to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament? ...................................... 8 2. So You're Sensing A Call: Mapping the Journey to Ordination in the Cumberland

Presbyterian Church ................................................................................................................. 9

PART TWO God's Call To Ministry

3. Biblical Basis of Call ............................................................................................................... 13 4. "The Call" in Historical and Theological Perspective ....................................................... 19 5. Theological and Biblical Reflection on Women in Ministry.. ............................................ 32

PART THREE Appendix

6. Questions for Ordination Examination ............ ....................................................... ......38

God Calls, People Answer

Who? Me? Why would God call me? Why would the God of the universe be aware of me and want me to be a minister?

Perhaps the following common experience will help you to understand how this happens: There is an urgent sense that God is calling us. It never lets up. It is a drawing, a wooing, and a tugging. There may be resistance, reluctance and excuse, and sometimes, refusal. Finally, it becomes a conviction that we are chosen, called and commissioned by God to the ministry.1

First, God Calls People to Salvation

The call of God needs to be discussed in the light of our assumption that God calls everyone. It is the belief of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church that God calls all persons into a covenant relationship. It is a call to salvation and an offer of a redemptive relationship with God, a call to a life dedicated to following Jesus Christ. "God acted redemptively in Jesus Christ because of the sins of the world and continues with the same intent in the Holy Spirit to call every person to repentance and faith."2 "Children of believers are, through the covenant, entitled to the sacrament of baptism and thereby become members of the household of faith. Such

1 Extracts taken from the book An Introduction to Christian Ministry For Lay and Clergy Persons in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by Morris Pepper.

children are to receive pastoral oversight, instruction, and the care of the church, with a view that they repent of sin, personally confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and assume the full responsibilities of church membership."3 Once we have entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we can expect that there may be other calls to various kinds of service; or to say the least, we have made ourselves open to them.

Then God Calls People to Ministry

We understand the Bible to say that we are not only called to salvation, but to service. Any work we do can be considered as a vocation of God through which we can minister. We believe that God calls lay persons to serve in the church. They serve as elders, deacons, task force members, board members, teachers, administrators, officers in CPWM and similar organizations, leaders of youth and other age groups, and in many other ways. But we also believe that God calls some to be ordained ministers. God will move those people toward ministry in the company of others who are charged with overseeing their growth and supporting their work. Just as God acts to call them personally, God acts through the corporate body of the church to confirm their call. Some will serve as pastors, missionaries, chaplains, seminary professors, pastoral counselors, and in many other areas.

2 Confession of Faith, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Section 4.01.

3 Constitution, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Section 2.13.

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