Church officers, according to New Testament usage, are chosen from
members of the church. No church, therefore, can properly call a
Council to ordain until the person to be ordained is a member of it.
Hence, the first step, after a contract of settlement, is the transfer
of membership.
When the Council is organized the candidate is expected to relate his
Christian experience and his call to the ministry, and to submit a
statement of his views of Christian doctrine, of church organization
and discipline, and of the ordinances. This statement may be either
written or unwritten. In any case, it should be clear, orderly, and
full. The manner of its presentation should be arranged between the
moderator and the candidate. It is usually found expedient to make the
statement complete, without interruption, and at its close submit to
such questions as the Council may have noted and may propose, the
moderator calling up each topic separately and in order, for that
purpose. The candidate should also be prepared to submit to the
Council, if called for, his license to preach, his certificate of
graduation from the seminary, and any other papers that may show his
standing and attainments. Those who officiate in the ordination are
usually nominated in part by the church and candidate and in part by
the Council, but all receive their formal appointment from the Council.
For the sermon and such parts of the service as require elaborate
preparation, a previous designation perhaps ought ordinarily to be made
by the church or the candidate, if the ordination immediately follows
the examination. In selecting persons to officiate it is evidently
appropriate, as well as desirable, that most of those chosen should be
pastors of churches in the vicinity, with whom the person to be
ordained will be most nearly connected in his work.
Ordination constitutes one of the chief epochs in a minister's life. It
should, therefore, be preceded and attended with much self-examination
and prayer, and to be marked as a point of new and higher consecration
to Christ and His church. The obligations then assumed in the care of
souls are the weightiest that can rest on man, and the vows then taken
are made not only to man, but also to God.
+SECTION III.+