This is a frequent question that ministers are called to ask themselves in discernment for ministry or by the Committee on Ministry.
The United Church of Christ believes in the Priesthood of All Believers. Meaning that all members of the United Church of Christ are called to minister to others and to participate as equals in the common worship of God, each with direct access to the mercies of God through personal prayer and devotion. Recognition is given to those among us who have received special training in pastoral, priestly, educational and administrative functions, but these persons are regarded as servants—rather than as persons in authority. Their task is to guide, to instruct, to enable the ministry of all Christians rather than to do the work of ministry for us.
The following theological framework and understanding is shared from the United Church of Christ, Manual of Ministry:
The United Church of Christ believes that God calls every Christian to be a servant of God, a minister. Minister: Any Christian, regardless of employment or title, created by God, called by Christ and gifted by the Spirit; all Christians are in ministry when serving the needs of the world in God’s love and grace. Living and serving in Christ’s name, this call is celebrated sacramentally in baptism as persons are claimed for Christ by the Holy Spirit and the Church. All who are baptized spend the rest of their lives responding to God’s call and claim. The particulars of each person’s call and ministry vary with time, place, talents, experience, personal situation and responsibilities, and, importantly, the needs of the world. Ministry is lived in every aspect of one’s life as God’s love is shown in word and deed.
The particular ministry of reconciling all God’s children with one another, with creation, and with God was given to God’s people in scripture: “All this is from God, who reconciled us…through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Godself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). This ministry is claimed daily by the United Church of Christ as it is called to love God, neighbor, and self, and to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Matthew 22:36–40 and Micah 6:8).
Christians are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, under the sole headship of Jesus Christ. This is a living body (1 Corinthians 12), called, formed, and sent into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. Loving and serving God, the Church has multiple purposes:
• embodying and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to all
• nurturing and empowering the gathered Church through worship and sacraments, fellowship and mutual care, education and spiritual formation
• acting in the world through deeds of justice and loving kindness
The Church is a covenantal community; members belong to God in Jesus Christ and therefore to one another in Jesus’ name. The Church acknowledges that its members have many diverse ministries in the world and in the Church. It also recognizes a specific need for representative servant leaders “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). The United Church of Christ, along with the Church Universal through the ages and throughout the world, affirms God’s call to some individuals to be such leaders who help the Church to be what God intends it to be. These persons are set apart through prayer and the laying on of hands in the rite of ordination.
In ordination, the individual makes a lifetime commitment to God in Jesus Christ and to the Church, relying on the Holy Spirit. As Ordained Ministers enter the apostolic ministry—Apostolic ministry: The United Church of Christ “claims as its own the faith of the historic church” and joins the witness of Jesus’ apostles, at the same time challenging each generation “to make this faith its own.” Ordained Ministers witness to this faith as they engage in the ministries of Word and Sacrament within the United Church of Christ and the Church Universal—they continue the witness of Christ’s followers from New Testament times. They receive authority from the Triune God to serve in Jesus’ name.
Ordained Ministers have particular responsibilities for the proclamation and practice of the Christian faith and for the life of the Church itself. Ordained Ministers are authorized to serve and to lead on behalf of the United Church of Christ and the Church Universal, a ministry that encompasses the fullest range of leadership ministries: priestly and prophetic, representative and servant.
They are called to embody the love of God for the world and to proclaim the good news on behalf of the Church, personally and publicly pointing the Church to its dependence on Jesus Christ, the source of its faith, mission, and unity. Ordained ministry of the United Church of Christ is in accord with the Church Universal as this ministry serves the unity of the Church and continues to witness to the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth and his followers across generations.
As did prophets and priests of the Hebrew Scriptures and disciples and apostles of Jesus in the New Testament, Ordained Ministers stand with the people before God and carry the Word of God to the people. Ordained Ministers belong to both God and the people. They are nurtured and sustained by both, and they are responsible to both.
In the United Church of Christ this relationship and responsibility is called Ordained Ministerial Standing. Ordained Ministerial Standing: Formal relationship between an Ordained Minister and the United Church of Christ through an Association. It is embodied in a covenant under God among the Association, the Ordained Minister, the Local Church of membership, and the ministry setting.
Because both the demands upon Ordained Ministers and the needs of the Church are multiple, no person will have all the needed gifts to offer to all people in all situations. Nevertheless, all Ordained Ministers are servants of God in their ministry on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ. Ordained ministry is ministry of the Church entrusted to individuals; it is not the ministry of individuals acting independently.
Ordained Ministers are persons of faith, claimed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and committed to the Church and its ministry. They seek to serve God and the world in humility, able and willing to offer and receive wisdom. The Church looks to them to be learned persons and to have a deep knowledge of the Scriptures and of the Church historically and ecumenically.
For a variety of reasons, there are instances when an Ordained Minister is not available to represent and serve the Church. In such circumstances, an Association of the United Church of Christ may identify one of its lay members as having gifts and graces appropriate for that ministry setting, as well as a call from God, and grant them Lay Ministerial Standing or Licensure. Lay Ministerial Standing or Licensure represents a temporary, accountable covenantal relationship among the Association, the individual member, and a Local Church of the United Church of Christ.
Lay and Licensed Ministers are, for a season, charged with particular roles and tasks in which they are in service to or on behalf of a particular congregation as representative servants of the United Church of Christ. During a Lay/Licensed Minister’s service, the Local Church, the Lay/Licensed Minister, and the Association Committee on Ministry should be in discernment together as to whether the Lay Minister’s call by the Holy Spirit is to a life of ministerial leadership as an Ordained Minister of the United Church of Christ.
The United Church of Christ Manual on Ministry describes three representative roles that characterize ordained ministers. These are distinct, though deeply connected expressions of servant leadership in the life of the church:
• Priestly – Providing sacramental leadership, including presiding at Baptism and Holy Communion.
• Pastoral – Holding responsibility for the spiritual care of others through guidance, oversight, presence, teaching, and accompaniment.
• Representative – Demonstrating and embodying the public presence of the United Church of Christ in the wider community, serving as a visible sign of the church’s covenantal life and witness.
Ordained ministers are called to exercise these servant roles in and on behalf of the whole United Church of Christ. Those serving in Lay Ministerial Standing or with Licensure may be authorized by an Association to carry out specific priestly, pastoral, or representative functions in order to meet the needs in and on behalf of a particular local church or Association setting. Such authorization is grounded in appropriate formation, discernment, and accountability, and is granted so that ministry is carried out faithfully and in partnership with the wider church.
The LAMP Program has been intentionally created and structured to provide meaningful formation in all three of these connected expressions of servant leadership, equipping individuals to serve faithfully within their authorized context and in covenant with the wider church. Hence the titles Servant of the Word and Sacramental Servant for Lay Ministerial Standing and the Certificate of Theological Education and Leadership for Licensure serve as foundational markers within our framework, reflecting a commitment to shared ministry and to ongoing formation in servanthood that is both theologically grounded and practically lived out.