Church’s Ministry

The ministry of the Church is where Christianity is fundamentally different from other religions.  Confucius left his Classics.  Buddha left a system of instruction.  Mohammed left the Koran.  But Jesus Christ left disciples.  Life comes only from life, and it takes Christians to make Christians.  This is the essence of Apostolic Succession.  It insures we remain true to the teachings of Christ and preserves the Order of God’s revelations.

The Church is based on the principle of the Incarnation – God expressing Himself in the life of our Blessed Lord.  He could have done it some other way, but we are bound by the historical facts of what actually did occur.  Christianity is an historical religion based on Jesus Christ as an historical Person.  In keeping with the principle of His own Incarnation, our Lord provided for the continuation of His work through other people.  He never wrote a book or promulgated a system of philosophy or a code of ethics.  He taught a small group of people, selected from his followers, whom we call the Apostles.  He kept them close to Himself over a period of three years, training, instructing, preparing and finally commissioning them.

He made them the accredited leaders of the Church which was to carry on what He had begun.  He invested them with the authority of “binding” and “loosing”.  They were to determine what was permitted and what was forbidden when questions arose within the Church.  He sent them forth as His representatives.  “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you;  as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost:  whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;  and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

The Apostles carried out their commission on the authority personally received by them from our Lord.  For many years the Gospel was preached, the Sacraments administered, and the Church planted through this personal witness of the Apostles, with no written records and no organized machinery.  It was God working with and through human lives by personal contact.  As the Church expanded and the Apostles aged, their witness was reduced to writing what we now call the New Testament Scriptures.  As the burden of spreading their word grew, it was delegated to other carefully selected individuals ordained for that purpose.  We must remember that the Scriptures are the record of what the Apostles were already teaching.  The Church does not receive its authority from the Bible.  It is the other way around.

The Apostles were accorded a very special position in the early Church.  One of the first things the Christian community did was to fill the vacancy in the number of the Apostles left by the death of Judas Iscariot.  After St. Paul’s conversion, he had to be presented to the Apostles before being accepted into the Christian family.  The question about the reception of Gentiles was brought before the Apostolic Council and the decision was pronounced by St. James, one of the Apostles.  The Epistles repeatedly show the Apostles as the recognized leaders and directors of the Church.

Not long after the Church began to function, it was found necessary to divide the ministerial responsibilities.  The first step was to set apart seven deacons as assistants to the Apostles.  When the deacons were set before the Apostles, they prayed and laid their hands on them.  Thus they were ordained.  It is interesting to note the reason the Church appointed deacons to handle social issues.  It was to prevent the social issues from distracting them from their prayers and worship.  They felt it important for the Church to keep its priorities on God first and society second.  Later elders were chosen and similarly ordained.  The Greek word for elder is “presbyter” which was later contracted to “priest.”  The elders looked after the affairs of the Church in specific localities just as do our parish priests.  The threefold ordered ministry evolved out of the apostolate.  There are others who performed certain functions, such as evangelists, prophets, teachers, and deaconesses.  But these were not orders in the Christian ministry.

Inevitably, when the ranks of the Apostles began to be depleted by death, others had to be found to continue their duties of direction and leadership in the Church.  Timothy was chosen as the Bishop of Ephesus and Titus, the Bishop of Crete.  They were known as bishops to reserve the title Apostle for the original twelve.  They were ordained to preserve the faith as did the Apostles.  They were to ordain elders and deacons and pass on the authority of the Apostles.  One can only convey that which one possesses.  The Apostles receive their commission directly from our Lord and have perpetuated it through the bishops in successive generations by personal ordination.

The Apostolic Succession is not a mechanical device designed to retain a monopoly on spiritual ministrations.  The ultimate Authority in the Church is Jesus Christ.  Authority is logically derived from him.  He sent forth Apostles as His representatives.  They transmitted their responsibilities to their successors who did likewise.  The apostolic witness has been preserved on the principle of the Incarnation.  It has been passed on beginning with the Apostles who were commissioned by Christ.  There are many blessed ministries in the world today, but they are not the same as the apostolic ministry.

Ministers of the Apostolic Succession do not have magical powers of any sort.  Christ is the real minister of all Christian Sacraments and He acts through His mystical Body which is the Church.  It is his body, the Church that conveys Holy Orders.  Bishops are not to act on their own initiative.  They are accredited agents of the Church and their authority is conditioned by the Church.  Holy Orders are not conferred according to the whim and fancy of any individual prelate.  They are conferred by the bishops in the Church.  Such an apostolic ministry is a guarantee of the authenticity of the Church for which Christ gave Himself.  It is a preservative of the integrity of the Gospel.  It is the core of Christian unity and a compass of spiritual direction.

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer preserves Apostolic Succession in its official Ordinal.  The Preface states there are three Orders of Ministers and admission to any of the three require Episcopal Ordination or Consecration.  The Minister of Ordination must be a bishop.  The matter consists in the laying on of the Bishop’s hands.  The form is prayer to the Holy Spirit for the particular office to which the candidate is being ordained.  The benefits are the transmission of the Apostolic Commission and grace to fulfill the functions of the office.  Holy Orders are indelible in that they set a permanent “character” upon the person ordained and repeating the process is prohibited.

A Deacon must be a baptized and confirmed communicant of the Church who has passed through the states of Postulant and Candidate.  He must be at least twenty-one years of age and recommended by the Standing Committee of his diocese.  He is licensed to preach the Gospel but may not be the Rector of a parish.  He may assist at Holy Communion but cannot consecrate the elements.  He may conduct other services but cannot pronounce the absolution or the benediction.

A Priest must be a deacon and at least twenty-four years of age.  He can perform all spiritual and ecclesiastical functions except Confirmation and Ordination.

A Bishop must be a priest and at least thirty years of age.  He must be approved by a majority of all the Standing Committees and a majority of the House of Bishops in the ACA.  In addition, consecration requires a majority of the College of Bishops in the TAC.  A “Diocesan” is a bishop formally in charge of a diocesan jurisdiction.  A “Coadjutor” is an assistant to a “Diocesan” with rights of succession.  A “Suffragan” is an assistant without rights of succession.

A “General Synod” for a province consists of three houses for debate and voting.  The House of Bishops consists of all bishops in the province.  The House of Clergy consists of all priests and deacons elected by the individual dioceses as delegates.  The House of Laity consists of all laity elected by the individual dioceses as delegates.

God created an orderly universe.  The apostolic ministry preserves a definite, permanent, understandable and authoritative order in His Church.