Call to Ministry
I teach the Freshmen introduction to Pastoral Ministry course. My students can not even remember the "Challenger disaster." For them "history" starts from 1992 and back. For instance they cannot image a time when the church did not have "youth pastors." When it comes to the Ministry they sometimes cannot grasp how long God has had priests and ministers in His service. To help them capture that heritage--the "lineage of the Ministry" I'm putting together a short article outlining this heritage. To help me finish, edit or adapt, please respond to [email protected]
Here is the first draft of that article.
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A Minister's Family Tree
We stand at the end of a long line of priests and Ministers
Just about anywhere in the world where you find a religion you will also find a class of people serving as priests or ministers. These priests and ministers serve the masses in bringing the people and god together. Put most simply the priest or minister "represents God to the people and the people to God."
Christianity is not different in this than most other religions. There is a long line of ministers and priests in our family tree. While present ministry is certainly more important than rooting around up our ministerial family tree, it is nevertheless worthwhile to know our ministerial lineage. We do not take up the calling of Ministry lightly--we join an impressive line of folk before us who represented God to the people, and the people to God.
The Patriarchs
Of course the Patriarchs did not have a minister--they were the ministers. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dealt direct with God. They had no synagogue, no temple, no priests, not even the Ten Commandments. As the head of the household/tribe the patriarch served as the clan's priest. Sometimes they also represented God to the people outside their clan. Noah, represents God to a corrupt world, providing an "escape" for the people who might have repented. Abraham intercedes on behalf of the city of Sodom, representing the people to God. However, the patriarchs were not completely on their own with no other priests around. While Abraham felt competent to officiate at his own sacrifices, he still pays a tithe to Melchizedek(Genesis 14:17-20). Melchizedek was a priest of Salem (later to become Jeru(Salem). Presumably Melchizedek was a local priest representing God to the people and the people to God. So while the Patriarchs were do-it-yourself priests, at least Abraham related to yet another priest--Melchizedek. When you sense a call into ministry today, you can trace your ministerial lineage back to these patriarchs-- the line includes the Patriarchs and Melchizedek. When you are ordained you pick up the mantle of the Patriarchs in listening to God for what he is saying to you and your congregation and you take up the calling of interceding for your people to God.
Moses
Moses provides a transition between the Patriarchs and the priests. Jacob's son Joseph had been sold by his brothers into slavery and was shipped off to Egypt. His entire clan eventually joined Joseph--at first as honored guests but eventually they became slaves. Hundreds of years passed before Moses becomes the leader of the combined clans--"the Israelites" or "children of Israel/Jacob." When the call came to Moses he had been living with a "Priest of Midian." Moses returned to Egypt to serve as a sort of Super-Patriarch--a spiritual leader for an entire people. God called him to lead the people--not only militarily and politically, but also spiritually. Moses represents God to the people as He receives and presents the Ten Commandments as their rules for living. The first five books of the Bible--the Pentateuch--are seen as the "Books of Moses." These books present God's detailed instructions to the people. This was not just God's instructions to a single person like Abraham got ("Take your son up to the mountain and sacrifice him"), but was God speaking to the entire people. Moses thus represented God to the people. But he also represented the people to God in his prayers and intercession for them. When you are ordained you will take up the mantle of Moses--speaking for God to the people and representing the needs of the people to God.
Priests and Levites
But Moses was not a solo priest for long. Aaron emerges early in the story as a kind of father of the priesthood. A portable church was constructed and "the Tabernacle" emerged where collective worship and sacrifice occurred, not just for families, but for an entire people. An entire tribe is called to serve--the Levites. These Priests and Levites of old became ministers not by being "called" personally but by being born--it was an inherited calling--you were a priest or Levite by being born the