Do Baptists Ordain their Pastors?

The answer is yes, but it's probably not what you think.

In the Western world, pastors have often been identified with other clergymen, such as priests, bishops, and the like. “Clergy” comes from an old word, cleric, and it simply refers to someone who is commissioned for Christian ministry. The commissioning of a person to Christian ministry takes on different forms among various ecclesiastical traditions, and these spring from varying perspectives of church polity and theologies of pastoral ministry.

Hierarchical Polity

Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists are part of distinct denominations among Christianity, but the first two are not merely groups of cooperating local churches. The Presbyterian Church of America and the United Methodist Church, for example, both claim to be one “church” with many local congregations. The same is true of the Lutheran Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church.

Local Baptist churches, on the other hand, voluntarily cooperate with other Baptist churches without any substantive oversight from outside entities. They exercise something called local church autonomy. In other words, each church is self-governed. Therefore Baptist churches have a distinct flavor among Protestant denominations, and it shows up in the way Baptists recognize and affirm their pastors.

Presbyterians and Methodists (as well as Anglicans and Episcopalians) license or ordain people to ministry, according to denomination-wide standards of education, experience, and doctrinal adherence. So, a person ordained as a Presbyterian or Methodist minister may carry such an affirmation and accreditation from one local congregation to another, because the ministerial authority comes from a denominational entity that transcends any particular church. Likewise, the denominational entity may also revoke a minister’s license, with or without the consent of a local church. This polity creates a kind of ordained or licensed hierarchy of ministers within the denominational structure.

Congregational Polity

Again, Baptists recognize no authority over the local church from outside of the church itself (except for Christ, of course). So, Baptists have historically distinguished themselves among Protestants by practicing congregational polity, rather than presbyterian or episcopalian polity. Congregational polity holds that each local church or congregation is autonomous or self-governed. For Baptists, Christ rules each local church by His word (i.e., the Scriptures), and each body of members is responsible to collectively submit to Christ and to exercise His authority among themselves.

While Baptists are doggedly congregational, they also understand that Christ gives pastors as gifts to lead and to care for each local church (Eph. 4:11-16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-4). The biblical office is that of “elder” (from presbyteros – Titus 1:5) or “overseer” or “bishop” (from episkopos – 1 Tim. 3:1), but Baptists commonly use the term “pastor” (from poimēn – Eph. 4:11).

Since each Baptist church is ultimately governed by the assembled body of its members, the collective members must affirm their own pastors, rather than have them assigned or appointed by some other authority. Baptist church members affirm and recognize men of exemplary character (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9) who are able to teach sound doctrine (Titus 1:9) and lead as model Christians (1 Tim. 4:6-16).

Ultimately, the members are responsible for the kind of men they affirm and the sort of teaching they support (Gal. 1:6-9; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 3 Tim. 4:3-4). Baptist churches have historically exercised the authority of the members by a formal vote (based on Acts 6:5 and 2 Cor. 2:6).

For Baptists, local church autonomy does not mean that each church must isolate itself from others. Rather, Baptist churches have historically been very happy to voluntarily cooperate with one another. Baptist churches have often benefitted from the recommendations and wisdom of other Christian churches.

One example of this kind of cooperation and benefit is observed in the common way Baptist churches today hire a new pastor. Baptist church members often invite applicants who have already been affirmed by another Christian church as qualified to serve in the pastoral office. In other words, they look for men who have already been ordained (or formally recognized) as a pastor or elder elsewhere.

It is precisely at this point that many Baptists today can be confused about what it means for someone to be ordained.

Defining Ordination

The word itself - ordain - simply conveys the idea that Jesus Christ has authorized something or someone. Most Baptists refer to baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances for exactly this reason. These are the two functions that Christ has authorized (or ordained) churches to observe in their formal display of what they believe and who they are. The same is being conveyed in the ordination of church officers, such as pastors. But a major difference is that pastoral ordination is a subjective declaration made by a congregation, rather than an objective declaration made by Christ in Scripture (which is true of baptism and the Lord’s Supper).

Because Baptist churches are autonomous, and because each congregation is responsible for affirming and supporting its own pastors, ordination is not (biblically speaking) something that can be conferred upon a man by anyone other than the congregation he is currently serving as a pastor. But, because of the common practice among churches, Baptists have become much like their Presbyterian and Methodist brothers and sisters in the way they think about ordination.

Baptist pastors and churches often act as though ordination to ministry is a rite of passage, placing the ordained man into a new category among all Christians everywhere (or at least among all others in their denomination). This simply is not true. It isn’t biblical, and it isn’t historically recognizable as Baptist ecclesiology or polity.

If a man has served as a pastor or elder in one congregation, then he may be recognized as a pastor or elder in another local church. However, the office does not travel with the man. Each local church must ultimately affirm or reject any nominated man as a pastor or elder. Only the local church itself can ordain a qualified man to serve and lead them as a pastor.

So, are Baptist pastors ordained?

Well, Baptist churches, each exercising judgment and authority as a unique gathered congregation, in line with their biblical and historical practice, set qualified men aside for pastoral ministry by affirming their character and ability to teach and lead (2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 2:1-10). In this way, the local church formally recognizes God’s own gifting of these men as shepherds, who are to serve as exemplary leaders of the people God has placed under their care (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-4). This is how Baptists ordain their pastors.

Personally, I can say that it has been one of my great joys in life to be affirmed or ordained as a pastor by those people who know and love me. I know and love them, and their tangible affirmation of God’s call upon my life to serve them is a priceless treasure.