"The Great In-Between Time" A Holy Saturday Reflection

This is the great in-between time. The time of silence after the Earth shook and the Curtain in the Temple was torn in two. The time when all Creation – subject to death – groaned at the death of the Divine Son who took that ignoble, shameful punishment on the cross onto Himself so that we might be freed from death forever.

But in that moment, when darkness covered the face of the Earth and the shadow of darkness fell over men’s hearts, it must have seemed like this was the end of all the beautiful hope Jesus had shared with His disciples, with the broken, with the outcast, with the ones the world said were worthless.

For those who followed him, who hoped against hope that God would send a great Liberator to free them from the oppressive rule of the Romans, it must have seemed like the world had ended. Echoing Jesus’ own last words on the cross, how many disciples, how many of the women and men who followed them, cried out in their heart of hearts, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

They longed for the way He blessed the bread before He broke it in their presence, for the way He shared meals with Pharisees and tax collectors alike, for the way He embraced sinners and challenged would-be saints to to take an honest look at their own hearts, for the way He welcomed children to hear His teaching, for the way He called all to forgive and be forgiven.

But now He lay in a cold tomb, with a stone rolled over the door, the seal of Caesar impressed upon it, the deepest darkness within; and his disciples are in hiding, ashamed that they had fled when they should have stood bravely by their Rabbi, their Messiah, their Lord.

This in-between time, what we call Holy Saturday, reminds us that we all are subject to frailty, illness, decay, and death because of our sins. Our world has been darkened by sin. The innocent suffer, the needy go hungry, the sojourner is deprived of justice – all because of the choices we all have made. We all have allowed our hearts to be darkened like cold tombs, and deep down, we all know that our hearts could be warmed and healed if only we could roll that heavy stone away from the door to let the light of God in. But that stone is too heavy for any one of us to lift.

But death does not have the final say. Hatred will not be the loudest voice forever. Addiction and abuse will not always enslave the ones we love. Christ died so that death itself might be overcome, the fires of hatred quenched by love, the chains of addiction broken, the wounds of abuse forever healed.

Look! A new day dawns! Why look for the living among the dead? It is done! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty He will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit all His promises. He will be their God and they will be His children. See, He makes all things new!

#HolyWeek #HolySaturday #Nazarene

The Fear of the Lord

 Someone recently asked me, "Are we supposed to fear God because we fear being punished?"

Always game to wrestle with a good question - especially one many of us have probably asked at one point or another - I thought it might be beneficial to post my response here:

"When 'fear of the Lord' is spoken of positively in Scripture, it denotes awe or wonder at the incredible strength, depth, and mystery of God. It may be exhilarating or calming, but it isn't fear of punishment.

Our relationship to God should be characterized as one of awe/wonder *and* love. Fear of punishment is antithetical to love and is a sign of spiritual immaturity. Many people first turn to Christ because they are afraid of punishment for sin (I know I did). But if we fear God because we fear being punished, then we are only at the beginning of our spiritual journey.

Entire sanctification/perfect communion with God/theosis  is characterized by being entirely illuminated by God's holy love, so that our relationships with Him, with each other, and with all of Creation are fueled entirely by His grace, and reflect nothing but His love.

As the Beloved Apostle wrote in 1 Jn. 4:16b-19, 'God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us.'"

#Love #Grace #Faith #Sanctification #Spirituality #Mystery #Theosis #Nazarene

Resiliency Rooted in Hope

Below is the manuscript of a sermon first delivered at Cortez (CO) Church of the Nazarene on Jun. 16, 2019

Text: Rom. 5:1-5 (ESV):

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

A Ride Through the Mountains

This weekend, as my family and I headed back through the mountains from District Assembly in Denver, we happened to pass a bike race with athletes peddling through the steep twists and turns leading to Wolf Creek Pass and I couldn’t help but marvel at the determination and fortitude which these bikers possessed. As they pushed up the grueling, miles-long climb to over 10,000 ft. we would watch as they slowly shoved one pedal down, and then the other. They weren’t looking around at the cars as they passed, or even at the beautiful scenery which greeted them with every turn. Their eyes were forward, their shoulders down, and they just pushed on.

This reminded me of a time when I was a little boy, probably no more than Samson’s age, out on a ride with my Grandpa. My Grandpa was an athlete all his life, and competed in 100 mile bike rides up to the year he died at the age of 76, even completing the grueling 400+ mile RAGBRAI race across Iowa. Bicycling was a lifelong passion for him, and I asked him one time how he could compete over such amazing distances. I mean, the task of traveling hundreds of miles on your own power is mind-boggling! Surely you have to plan out your rest stops, your calorie-intake, make sure you have enough water and emergency supplies, while also communicating with your support driver so that you have the help that you need, if you need it. The logistics, planning, training, and expense required made me wonder how anyone could commit to such a daunting task.

But as I asked the question, I remember clearly him stopping and as I pulled up level with him on my own bike, he looked at me and said with a smile, “It’s simple really, you just get on your bike and start peddling.”

Live Isn't Always a Bike Ride

That’s an encouraging story, isn’t it? Sometimes we are tempted to look at life like a bike race or a footrace and assume it’s just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Paul himself repeatedly uses athletic metaphors and imagery, suggesting life is a race that is worth it if we just don’t quit.(1) And while that is certainly true, what do we do when we do feel like quitting? When we feel like the tasks that are in front of us are insurmountable. What do we do when life seems less like a nice, bicycle race through the mountains, with a concrete goal in mind; and instead seems more like a juggling-contest, where more and more balls are piled onto our arms to try and juggle at once, with no clear-cut end game or goal?

That’s a reality I know many of us face today. Our schedules get busier and busier and our lives get lonelier and lonelier. For the first time in our history, more people live in cities than in the country,(2) yet more and more people also live alone than ever before.(3) Economic pressures and the desire for opportunity cause many to uproot from the places where their extended families live, and they often find themselves paradoxically isolated in a crowd of other lonely individuals. And for many, the idea that they must meet all the expectations thrown at them and face the pressure to succeed without any help from others becomes too much for them to bear.

The most recent statistics tell us that depression is the leading health crisis of our time with over 17 million US adults reporting at least one major depressive episode a year.(4) Depression increases the risks of a host of other health problems, and for some, it leads to the ultimate despair: suicide. Suicide isn’t a topic we like to think of often, and the extent of the current suicide epidemic is rarely reported in the media. In the most recent statistics from 2017, over 47,000 men, women, and children lost their lives to suicide; and that’s the highest rate in well over 30 years!(5) I want you to think about that for a second. That’s a medium-sized city lost to suicide every year. That’s 129 people per day. And of those, 22 per day are veterans. Veterans make up just under 8% of the population, but over 17% of suicides.(6)

If a foreign power wiped out a city on U.S. soil, you can bet we’d certainly hear about it in the news! If a terrorist attack wiped out tens of thousands of people, we would remember it for generations! But that is exactly what is happening. An enemy has infiltrated our cities, our communities, even our families; and yet most of us continue with our lives completely unaware of the extent of the problem. This is because the enemy is inside of us. So many of us become our own worst enemies, because we hold on to the unrealistic expectations and hopes which the world feeds us.

The Hope Expressed in Romans

The world expects us to be materially successful, independent, happy consumers with all the best status symbols money can buy. But thankfully, that isn’t what God expects of us, because God knows a much more lasting and meaningful hope can be ours, if we are just willing to accept it. That is the point from which our passage launches this morning. In the previous chapters, Paul laid out the groundwork for justification by grace through faith in the new covenant in Christ, and not through works of the law of the old covenant of Moses. In these chapters he gives the “how” and the “why” of salvation, with David and Abraham being examples of those who lived by faith before. But he doesn’t stop with the theoretical.

He now moves into the concrete to describe exactly what salvation looks like in the life of the believer. He begins with the assumption that his readers have already been justified in Christ. They have understood why they needed to be saved, and accepted the free gift of salvation. But like so many of us, they were probably wondering, “OK, what now?” After all, all of life isn’t just making that initial confession of faith, though we as Evangelicals sometimes seem to stop right there. I don’t want you to misunderstand me. It is absolutely essential that you receive Jesus if you haven’t already done so. He is our only hope for forgiveness of the sins which we have all committed, so that we can be redeemed and restored, and spend an eternity with Him.

But life is more than just the beginning and the end. It is more than just initial justification and the hope of heaven. There is a long space in between, and for most of us, that long space is going to include decades of struggle. For some, that struggle is going to include going through a divorce while trying to raise kids, or it’s going to include coping with a loved one’s drug addiction, or a friend’s suicide, or the loss of a job, or mounting medical bills, and housing and transportation costs. For many, that struggle might seem like you’re stuck in the mud, going no where, or that you’re sliding down the impossibly high hill you’re trying to climb.

It’s to Christians in the midst of that struggle that Paul is now speaking. He begins in v. 1 by speaking of the “peace of God,” which newly justified believers are party to. Though we were once enemies of God, by receiving His free gift of grace, we are enemies no longer. This free gift is accessed through Jesus Christ alone. The Greek word Paul uses for “accessed” begins to paint a picture for us, of  a royal court where no one can see the king except through invitation and by exceptional merit.(7) Except that we don’t possess that merit ourselves, as outlaws and enemies of the realm, there is no way we would have been granted audience with the king. But Christ has vouched for us by his own merit and brokered a peace treaty. Now we stand firmly before the king, in the confidence that comes with a warm invitation, as ambassadors to a once hostile, but now friendly, power.(8)

But “peace” in scripture means more than just the end of hostilities. It is rooted in the Hebrew concept of “shalom,” or “wholeness, well-being, and abundant life.”(9) It is what Christ means when he says in Jn. 10:10b, “I came that [you] may have life and have it abundantly.” In Jewish and Christian gatherings today, it is still used as a greeting. How many of you grew up in a more traditional church, where you “passed the peace?” or where in the liturgy, the pastor said, “Peace be with you,” and everyone responded, “And also with you?” This greeting is an implied prayer. It is saying to our neighbor, our brother or sister who may be struggling, “I’m praying the best for you. I’m praying that you find healing, and wholeness, and well-being in the grace of Our Lord.” Believe it or not, and this sort of floored me when I found out, it’s even the root of the greeting in English, “Hello,” which comes from the Old Saxon word, “Haelen” meaning “wholeness be yours” or “healing go with you.”(10)

Rejoicing In Our Suffering

By proclaiming and trusting the peace with God which we have in faith, we are expressing the prayer and the hope that wholeness will be ours, and having this hope, we are able to rejoice; even in the midst of our suffering. Now that’s a hard concept to swallow, isn’t it? We have all experienced times where we don’t feel like rejoicing at all. And I don’t think Paul is saying God intends for us to fake it here. If you are mourning, mourn! If you are angry, tell God that you’re angry! There’s no point in hiding it, and if we try, it just eats us up inside.

But that isn’t the end of the story. We aren’t expected to just vent our frustrations and struggles to God and move on like nothing happened. Instead, God gives us the tools to meet our frustrations head on, openly and honestly, in the hope that by doing so we will be changed and better able to weather future storms in the process. This is what Paul means in vv. 3-4, when he says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”(11) I do not believe God causes our suffering, but He does give us the tools to find purpose in suffering.

This purpose is rooted in peace and propelled by hope. When we suffer, instead of freaking out or shutting down or fleeing, God is calling us to meet our challenges head on, and doing that requires a plan and frank honesty with ourselves.  There is no shame in this honesty, because as Paul says in v. 5, that honesty and openness to admitting that we are struggling opens us to hoping in a bright future with Him.

A Plan For Building Resiliency

When I was an NCO in the Army, and I would conduct resiliency training for my Soldiers, I broke it down for them in three steps:

When struggling with a series of seemingly insurmountable task, first order your priorities and goals. For people with a strictly materialistic mindset, this probably revolves around professional success, financial security, and physical health. But for disciples of Jesus, our goals need to reflect the things which Jesus cared about. This means that, first and foremost, they must be rooted in love. In Mat. 22:36-40, Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love God with everything we are and to love each other as much as we love ourselves. And v. 5 of our passage this morning makes it clear that we have any hope at all because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts, for us to experience ourselves and pour out into the lives of others. This means that, when we sit down and map out our personal goals, they should be specifically crafted as means for more fully loving God and each other.

The second step is to triage your struggles. When we are depressed, or anxious, or simply overwhelmed with everything we are trying to juggle; it can all seem like one, big impossibly-high mountain that we have to climb. But it might be helpful to break down your tasks into more easily manageable chunks, and treat the ones which are either most urgent or will have the biggest impact. This is what triage means.

In the early years of battlefield medicine, medics struggled to treat the wounds of all the soldiers lying on the battlefield. Many who could have made a full recovery instead bled out before help arrived. And care was often priorities for officers or nobles, while the common man suffered needlessly. But as casualties mounted with technological advances, and field hospitals were flooded with hundreds of thousands of wounded Soldiers, a systematic way of treating them needed to be developed. This was realized by Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, a French field surgeon, during the Napoleanic Wars, who began to treat Soldiers by the seriousness of their wounds and their treatability; irrespective of rank, social status, or nationality.(12)

And this is what we need to do with the challenges which if left unaddressed can wound us so deeply. We break them into smaller chunks, and tackle the ones which are either the most essential to our well-being and mission, or are in the deepest trouble first. This means we may not achieve a solution to every problem right when we would want to, but at least we are making real progress which hopefully relieves some of the stress and brings a measure of confidence to our lives.

The third step in this resilience-building process is observing the cycles which contribute to our struggles. This is especially difficult in Western cultures where we tend to think in linear terms. History builds on itself, and a big part of our theology is the belief that it is all moving toward an eventual goal: the settling of all debts and the restoration of all creation to God. This is certainly true of our salvation history, but equally true is that within lives, families, and generations we often experience cycles where past decisions and actions lead to consequences which make those same decisions and actions more likely in the future.

This cyclical view of time is much more common in the East, but it is reflected in scripture too. Ecc. 3:1-8 tells us,

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.”

And Deu. 5:9 says, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Now, I do not believe this refers to God passing judgment on children for the sins of their fathers. After all, God also says in Exo. 34:6-7, that He extends his steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who remain loyal to Him. Instead, I believe it refers to the natural consequence of sin. Sin, by its selfish, short-sighted nature, naturally breaks relationships and wounds individuals. And these wounds are often carried on to the people around us. In fact, recent studies have demonstrated that violence in communities manifests in clusters, just like the outbreak of physical disease.(13) Violence leads to violence, sin leads to sin, wounds lead to wounds. And these are often carried out into whole family and social systems and across generations. When we realize this, we can begin to discern the causes of the problem cycles in our lives, and directly address (or “triage”) those causes instead of just always trying to treat the symptoms.

The third and final step requires us to take an honest look at how we contribute to the problems and struggles we are facing. It’s natural to look for the causes of our hurts in others. But real transformation has to happen inside of us before it can be seen in our circumstances. The biggest obstacle to this is often our own sense of shame. Especially if our struggle is one which is cyclical, and which we have struggled with for years, it can sometimes lead us to fear that we are failures, that we can never find victory, and so we ignore our own place in the center of the struggle while despair mounts under the surface.

It’s to that fear that Paul speaks in our passage this morning, when he says in v. 5, “Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” We have no shame before God, because He has already forgiven us of our failures and coming to terms with them is the necessary first step toward receiving His grace in the first place. God loves us so much that He is happy to meet us and welcome us to Him just as we are, even with our sins, faults, and shortcomings. But He also loves so much that He doesn’t leave us the way He found us.(14)

And it is in that hope, that He will change us and transform us, bring us wholeness and restoration, that we are able to find freedom from fear and shame. This hope isn’t simply wishful thinking. It is rooted in the fact that the God who has promised it is a God who keeps His promises. We know this, because He has done so in the past. His care for His people throughout the Old Testament is testimony to this fact, and as Paul says here, the love which He has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit is testimony to it as well.

Conclusion

So as you go out to meet whatever challenges and struggles you may face this week, in that in-between-space after salvation, but before the final realization of our hope;(15) remember that God has promised you the tools and the resources to meet them. The ability to meet our challenges, to endure and even rejoice in the midst of suffering is rooted in the peace, the shalom, which only He can provide and which we are promised at the moment of justification; is honed and refined through the building of our character as we grow in sanctification; and is driven by the hope and promise of our glorification in Christ.

I hope the above steps help you in a real, practical way through the midst of that process. But I also want to encourage you to do one more thing. I considered listing it as a separate step, but it is essential through all of them: Pray. Pray continuously. Carve out time to pray in the morning and before you go to bed. Pray in the car. Pray with friends. Pray at church, and at home, and at work. Seriously, set a daily alarm on your phone if you have to. If we do not pray, if we do not keep that essential line of communication open with God, we will not find the discipline to follow these steps through in obedience. It’s true that God’s grace alone is the source of our sanctification, but it does not exempt us from obedience to His commands. And essential to this obedience is our prayer life.

So with that, I pray that the fullness of God’s peace goes with you all, and I pray that He gives you the strength and the tools you need to meet your struggles and grow in the process. Thank you.

Footnotes

(1) 1 Cor. 9:24-27.

(2) Ritchie, Hanna & Max Roser. “Urbanization." Our World in Data. Web. Retrieved Jun. 15, 2019.

(3) Fry, Richard. “The Share of Americans Living Without A Partner Has Increased, Especially Among Young Adults." Pew Research Center. Web. Written Oct. 11, 2017.

(4) National Institute of Mental Health. “Major Depression.” Web. Retrieved Jun. 15, 2019.

(5) American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “Suicide Statistics.” Web. Retrieved Jun. 15, 2019.

(6) U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. “Suicide Among Veterans and Other Americans, 2001-2014.” Office of Suicide Prevention. Written Aug. 03, 2016.

(7) Cragg, Gerald R. “Romans” in the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, vol. 9, 452. Ed. by George . Buttrick, et al. Nashville, TN: Addington-Cokesbury Press, 1952.

(8) Greathouse, William M. and George Lyons. “Romans 1-8” in New Beacon Bible Commentary, 153. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2008.

(9) Ibid.

(10) Ibid.

(11) All scripture quotes are from the ESV.

(12) P.N. Skandalakis, P. Lainas, J.E. Skandalakis, P. Mirilas, "'To Afford the Wounded Speedy Assistance': Dominique Jean Larrey and Napoleon", World Journal of Surgery 30:8:1392-9. Aug. 2006.

(13) National Public Radio. “Researchers Begin to Look at Gun Violence as Public Health Issue,” on All Things Considered. Broadcast Jan. 07, 2017.

(14) Greathouse, “Romans 1-8,” 154.

(15) cf. Greathouse, “Romans 1-8,” 151.

A Part of Something Greater, Part III: Defending Nazarene Apostolic Succession

Introduction

This is part of an on-going series which began as a reflection on my own ordination to the order of Elder in the Church of the Nazarene, and quickly expanded into an articulation and defense of apostolic succession and the ordination of women, and why I think it is important for Evangelical Christians to understand their biblical basis, especially as ecclesiology often gets put on the back-burner in American Evangelicalism (1). Though many Evangelicals may contend that their affirmation of the central Christian beliefs and the expression of their individual faith is enough for obedient discipleship; I would argue this isn’t the case (2). While Jesus definitely came so that we may all be saved as individuals redeemed and restored to His Image; he also desired that we would all be one, as Jesus and the Father are one (3). It is this unity in Christ, exemplified by love for one another that would show the World that we are truly His disciples (4).

So, for the sake of unity, one of the ultimate goals of this series is to not only develop a reasonable and scripturally sound ecclesiology for Evangelicals, which includes apostolic succession and the ordination of women; but also to defend the legitimacy of that succession and our ordinations to other communions who make up the majority of the Christian Faith. These include the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East. Each of these groups affirms the doctrine of apostolic succession and its relevance to ordination and the legitimacy of sacraments, and each declares Protestant apostolic succession (and therefore our ordinations and sacraments) to be invalid.

Their contention that our apostolic succession is invalid is based on two arguments: 1) that we have left the orthodox faith as (variously) held by their individual communions, and so do not have apostolic authority; or 2) that our ordinations, as being traced through the Anglican Communion, are invalid since Anglican ordinations lost their apostolicity after their form and intent were changed during the Edwardian Reforms following the English Reformation (5). In the piece below, I will demonstrate that the Church of the Nazarene retains apostolic authority both in its orthodoxy (right teaching) and in the form and intent of its ordinations.

Orthodoxy in Apostolic Succession

As members of the Church of the Nazarene, we hold that everything necessary to our salvation is inerrantly contained within scripture (6). This includes the central doctrines of the faith, namely those expressed in the only creed universally agreed upon by bishops from the entire Church in ecumenical council, namely the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. The early fathers, called the creeds “symbolum” as in “Symbolum Nicaenum” and “Symbolum Apostolicum” or “symbolon” in Greek. The original meaning of the term meant “watchword” or “badge of identification” and identified the bearer as belonging to a particular community, in this case orthodox Christianity (7). All those who affirm the Creed are orthodox Christians, those who don’t, aren’t. That the creed itself is the definition of the apostolic faith was affirmed by Canon 1 of the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381 and in Canon 7 of the Council of Ephesus (8).

This means that, if one uses the Creed alone as the symbol (in the ancient sense of the word) of orthodoxy, then the vast majority of Trinitarian Christians are in fact orthodox in their belief. This would include most Protestants, the Proto-Protestant Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East. If orthodoxy is a condition for apostolicity, then each of those churches has it.

Now the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Oriental Orthodox Church would all disagree with the above statements, as they all hold Ecumenical Councils beyond the first two to be authoritative and necessary for true orthodoxy (9). But it is this effort to define orthodox doctrine beyond scripture and the central Creed of the Church which simultaneously ushered in the first schism of the Church, and caused the visible institutions of the various churches to lose their catholicity and unity, two of the four marks of the Great Pre-Schism Church. The Creed which was defined at Nicaea and clarified at Constantinople was again affirmed at the Council of Ephesus in Canon 7 (10). But while the Fathers of Ephesus sought to clarify the christological understanding of the Church, they anathematized a portion of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church despite the fact that it held to orthodox christology and to the Creed mentioned above. That their christology was in fact orthodox has since been confirmed by joint declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (11).

This effectively created two visible institutions within the Church: the Great Church and the Churches of the East, which were not in full communion with each other but which were both fully orthodox and who both preserved apostolic succession. Because of this disunity, all subsequent councils lacked true ecumenical character, as a certain number of orthodox bishops in true apostolic succession were barred from participating, and their sees were ignored and invaded by bishops from the other communions, in contravention of Canon 16 of the Council of Nicaea (12). More schisms have followed among bodies who all hold to the Creed and who also preserve apostolic succession, but which lack catholicity and unity and so cannot unilaterally anathematize or formulate doctrine as a means of denying the legitimacy of the other denominations within the Church. No denomination in existence today has the authority to deny the orders, sacraments, or ministry of any other denomination which holds to the central creed of the Church and preserves apostolic succession.

The only guides for deciding orthodoxy remain scripture and the Canons of the first two Ecumenical Councils, including the Creed which they formulated. Subsequent Councils may indeed be helpful and espouse solid theology, but they are effectively local synods with jurisdiction over their own denominations only. I, for instance, affirm the theology expressed in the Canons of Ephesus and the Definition of Chalcedon. But I deny that their councils are truly ecumenical in the way the first two are.

This means that those who would argue the Church of the Nazarene lacks apostolicity because we are “unorthodox” are simply wrong. We still hold to the only Symbol of orthodoxy which the Ecumenical Councils have affirmed, and as long as we preserve the apostolic succession with which we’ve been entrusted, no other denomination has the right or jurisdiction to take that away from us. And as long as the ancient schisms continue to mar the unity of the Churches, this will not change.

The Form and Intent Behind Ordination

Having addressed the first common argument against our apostolic succession from orthodoxy, we now move to the second: namely that our ordinations lack the form and intent present within the ordinations of the apostolic churches. This is an argument most often advanced by Catholics, who point to a papal bull issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1896 which declared that the Edwardine rite instituted by the Church of England “completely null and void,” as they supposedly changed the form of the ordination sufficiently to communicate an intent that was different from that which the apostles intended (13). Since the Church of the Nazarene traces its superintendents back through the Church of England, they contend that our apostolic succession was invalidated at the institution of the Edwardian reforms in 1552, when explicit reference to the Eucharist as a sacrifice and to the priesthood as a sacrificing priesthood was omitted (14). This meant that those ordained according to the Catholic rite prior to the Edwardian reforms, but after the schism in 1534, were still validly (though illicitly) ordained.

That schism does not ipso facto invalidate orders is supported by Canon 8 of the Council of Nicaea which made provision for the reception of Novatians who returned to full communion with the Church, and which recognized the ordinations which they performed while in schism (15). The papal bull referenced above recognizes this, and so affirmed that the bishops who separated from the Catholic Church with the Church of England remained bishops with the authority to ordain, even though they were in a state of schism.

The contention that the Edwardian rite changed the form as a reflection of the intention of Thomas Cranmer and others to deny the sacrificial role of the priest or the nature of the Eucharist as a sacrifice is possible, but is not conferred by the words themselves, as they do not expressly deny the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. Rather, the omission simply serves to allow for freedom of conscience when interpreting scripture with reference to the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, while still affirming its sacramental character as a means of grace. That the Eucharist is a sacrament and means of grace in which Christ is really present is still affirmed in the words of ordination and the doctrines of the Church of the Nazarene today (16).

That the intention of Nazarene ordination is to give the ordained Elder the full apostolic authority to administer the sacraments and lead the Church is evident in the words which were used at my ordination (17) and in the doctrine we hold regarding scripture, that it contains “all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith,” (18). This means the primary intention of ordination (whether Nazarene or by one of our Methodist or Anglican predecessors) is and has always been to transmit the fullness of apostolic authority and all it entails.

If scripture supports the contention that the Eucharist is a sacrifice (or more accurately is the participation of the Church in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross), then the fullness of the Eucharist is inferred by our ordination. If scripture does not support the contention, then it is not and need not be inferred in the ordination. The form and intention behind the rite of ordination used in the Church allows for both interpretations inclusively as the Eucharist is positively defined as a means of grace by which Christ is truly present and does not negatively preclude a sacrificial understanding of the Eucharist or the priesthood (whether ministerial or corporate). And since the form communicates the intention of both the ordaining authority and the recipient of ordination to transmit full apostolic authority, that authority is exactly what is transmitted, since we know we can trace our apostolic succession back to the apostles themselves (19).

That the papal bull of Leo XIII is not as definite as it may initially seem for Roman Catholics is evident by the fact that the eight member commission tasked by Leo XIII to investigate the validity of Anglican Orders was split evenly, 4-to-4 on the question of whether or not Anglican orders were valid, and subsequent investigation by the US Council of Catholic Bishops suggests that a re-appraisal by the Catholic Church of Anglican orders is necessary, given a better knowledge of the tumultuous events and theological positions of the English and Roman bishops during the 16th century (20). In the same document, the USCCB cites the encyclical Sæpius Officio, a letter written by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to all the bishops of Christendom. This encyclical both affirmed the Anglican teaching of the Eucharistic sacrifice and pointed out that the precise terms required by Leo XIII were missing from the earliest Roman ordinals which had been used to consecrate bishops and ordain priests which the Catholic Church naturally considered valid, as they were instrumental to the Catholic Church’s own claim to apostolic succession (21). That the Anglican understanding of the Eucharist includes both a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving on the part of the recipient, and the joining of the recipient to Christ in His one sacrifice on the Cross on our behalf, as well as the reality that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, are all affirmed by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion (22). It goes to follow then, that Methodists and Nazarenes, as heirs of Anglican sacramental theology, affirm this understanding as well.

Conclusion

All of the above evidence demonstrates that the declaration of Anglican orders (and therefore Nazarene orders) as null and void by Pope Leo XIII is likely mistaken in both its estimation of the intent behind the Edwardian reforms and in the forms required for ordination. The deep irony of this is that the standard by which the Pope would require the Anglican Communion to conform would invalidate his very own ordination! Additionally, given the state of schism between multiple denominations in which the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church exists; no single denomination, or pope, or even council has the authority contend the orders of other communions are valid or invalid, beyond what was already decided by scripture and the first two ecumenical councils which were decided when the visible institution of the Church still retained the fullness of the first two marks of the Church: Unity and Catholicity. Until the Church repairs its schisms and decides by Ecumenical Council otherwise, the apostolic succession (and therefore the orders, sacraments, and ministry) of the Church of the Nazarene remains valid, intact, and equal to that of any other Church.

Sources

(1) Hyde, Ian. “A Part of Something Greater, Part I: Apostolic Succession” Written Jun. 21, 2018. (Link); and Hyde, Ian. “A Part of Something Greater, Part II: Women’s Ordination.” Written Oct. 22, 2018 (Link).
(2) Though I fully affirm the Protestant doctrine of Sola Fide, which says it is by grace through faith, and not works, that we are saved (Eph. 2:8-9); what I am talking about here is the obedient Christian walk, which requires community. Though faith saves, if a person refuses to walk with other believers as Christ commands, then do they really have faith in Him?

(3) Jn. 17:21.

(4) Jn. 13:35.

(5) Smith, S. “Anglican Orders.” In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. Web. Retrieved November 15, 2018.

(6) Para. 4. Manual, 2017-2021. Church of the Nazarene. Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(7) σύμβολον , τό. Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

(8) “The Canons of the Council of Constantinople (381),” and “The Canons of the Council of Ephesus (431),” at Early Church Texts. Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(9) The Oriental Orthodox Church affirms the first three ecumenical councils. The Eastern Orthodox Church the first seven, and the Catholic Church claims twenty-one ecumenical councils through the ages.

(10) “The Canons of the Council of Ephesus (431),” at Early Church Texts. Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(11) Pope John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV. “Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.” Signed Nov. 11, 1994. Vatican Website. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(12) “The Canons of the Council of Nicaea (325),” at Early Church Texts. Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(13) Pope Leo XIII. “Apostolicae Curae.” Written Sep. 13, 1896. On EWTN Website. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(14) United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Anglican Orders: A Report on the Evolving Context for their Evaluation in the Roman Catholic Church.” Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(15) “The Canons of the Council of Nicaea (325).

(16) cf. Hyde, “A Part of Something Greater, Part I”, as well as COTN Manual, Para. 13, 515.4, 700.
(17) Ibid.

(18) Para. 4. Manual, 2017-2021. COTN. Web. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2018.

(19) For a full list of all the names in my line of apostolic succession, see Hyde, “A Part of Something Greater, Part I.”

(20) USCCB. “Anglican Orders: A Report.”

(21) Ibid.
(22) (22) Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States. “Five Affirmations of the Eucharist as Sacrifice.” Published Jan. 06, 1994. Web.

*Edited to clarify first paragraph and correct footnotes.

#Apostles #Ordination #ApostolicSuccession #Nazarene #ChurchOfTheNazarene #Catholic #Orthodox #Anglican

A Part of Something Greater, Part II: Women's Ordination

Back in June I wrote a brief piece titled “A Part of Something Greater, Part I: Apostolic Succession” reflecting on my apostolic succession as an ordained elder through the Church of the Nazarene, and in that context briefly outlined my support for women's ordination. Needless to say, this is a very controversial topic which has given rise to a number of passionate articles, books, and sermons both for and against the idea. Below, I revisit the subject of whether the Church should ordain women in more detail and provide biblical evidence for why we indeed should.

Popular Arguments Against Women's Ordination

Since writing that piece, I’ve had many great conversations with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, many of whom disagree with my contention that in Rom. 16:1-7, Paul commends Phoebe as an ordained deacon, Junia as an Apostle, and Prisca as the pastor (with her husband) of a local church. They contend that 1 Cor. 14:33-35 and 1 Tim. 2:11-15 demonstrate that Paul forbade women to teach or speak in church, or to have any authority over men in the churches.

Many go further to claim that due to a misplaced accent mark in Rom. 16:7, Junia may actually be Junias (1) and that in any case, the above passages from 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy preclude her from having the authority of an apostle or Phoebe the office of deacon. In the case of Phoebe, they argue that there is ample evidence of ancient orders of “deaconesses” and that Phoebe likely belonged to one of these (2), or that she was a servant or even hand-maid, as the Greek word for “deacon” can also mean one of these (3). And in the case of Prisca, they argue that she and her husband led something akin to a bible study in their home, and not an actual local church in the full sense of the word.

As we will see, each of these contentions is based on either a misreading of the text out of context, faulty manuscripts, or mistranslations of the Greek. It is my hope that this piece amounts to a convincing defense of my belief that not only should women be ordained today, but that God has always called women to ordained ministry. The Church is just now waking up to that fact.

An Apostle, a Deacon, and a Pastor Walk Into a Bar
First, though the Catholic Answers site cited above maintains it is unclear whether we should read Rom. 16:7 as referring to the female name Junia or the male name Junias, I disagree. The early papyrus P46 (from ca. 200 CE) as well as the early Coptic (3^rd century), Vulgate (4^th century), and Latin (5^th century) all use the feminine name Julia; while the Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest complete copy of the Bible from the 3^rd century calls her Junia (4).

Likewise, the early Fathers uniformly recognize that this passage refers to a woman named Junia (5). As John Chrysostom writes,

"To be an Apostle is something great. But to be outstanding among the Apostles - Just think what a wonderful song of praise that is! They were outstanding on the basis of their works and virtuous actions. Indeed, how great is the wisdom of this woman that she was even deemed worthy of the title of Apostle," (6).

It is clear that Paul doesn’t just intend to communicate that Junia (or Julia) and Andronicus are missionaries “sent” (“apostolos” means “one who is sent”) to minister in the general sense, as the only other Apostles he ever mentions by name are the Twelve, himself, Barnabas, Silvanus, and Timothy (7). All the others have been recognized as ordained clergy in the apostolic line of succession by the later Church. It goes to follow that Junia and Andronicus are as well.

Though some may contend that the fact that the Twelve were all men demonstrates women were not apostles in the same sense, I argue this just reflects the nature of Jesus’ earthly mission specifically to the Jews. After all, when Jesus initially sends out the Twelve in Mat. 10:5, he gives them the instructions, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and in Mat. 15:24, where Jesus says his own mission, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Paul affirms this in Rom. 15:8 when he calls Jesus a “servant (8) to the circumcised,” (ESV). If we used the reasoning that the Twelve were men, to prohibit the apostolic ministry of women; then we must use the same reasoning, and say that since they were all Jewish men, we must prohibit the apostolic ministry of Gentiles.

It seems to me that Jesus chose twelve male, Jewish apostles (and not twenty, or four, or three) because he was restoring a new Israel from the old. Just as the old Israel had twelve sons from which the nation sprang, so the new Israel had twelve new sons from which would spring the Church. And just as the old Israel expanded to include many sons (rather than remaining only twelve always), so the new Israel would expand to have many apostles, but now with both women and Gentiles equally among their number, among the first being Junia. And if the bishops (used interchangeably with "elder" in scripture) are the successors of the apostles, then surely there must be female bishops and elders just as there were female apostles.

That Phoebe is a deacon and not a deaconness is clear from the Greek, where Paul uses specifically the generic male noun "diakonon" rather than its female form; the exact same noun he uses to describe his own office in Rom. 15. This is also the first place where he uses "ekklesia", which refers to the organized, local church at Cenchreae where she pastors with the same authority with which Paul pastors to the Romans in ch. 15. That she bears the authority to act as Paul’s representative in Rome is evidenced by Paul's use of the Epistolatory formula "systemi de hymin" in Rom. 16:1 to commend her as “adelphe hymon” or “our sister,”(9).

Interestingly, even 1 Tim. 3:11 (which seems to envisage only male leadership) opens the possibility of ordination for women to the diaconate, where it says, "Likewise the women..." contrary to most translations which read "Their wives likewise..." (ESV) (10). This betrays a bias on the part of the translators who assume v. 12 restricts the office to men; but if we were to read it that way, we would then have to restrict the office to married men only.

Finally, that Prisca is a co-pastor along with her husband Aquila is clear from the fact that where both are frequently mentioned together, Prisca is more often than not mentioned first in precedence (11); and that both Aquila and Prisca (here spelled Priscilla) correct Apollos’ teaching in Acts 18:26. That Paul considers them equals in ministry is strongly suggested by his description of them as “fellow workers” in Rom. 16:3 (ESV). And that their church is just that, an organized, local congregation is evidenced by his second use of “ekklesia” in v. 5.

The arguments that these three women aren’t who Paul says they are must then fall on other passages for their support. And it’s these passages that I’ll address next.

Misreading 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15
Moving on to 1 Cor. 14:33-35, we find that the passage must be read in the context of its surrounding verses, dealing with speaking in tongues and disorderly worship (vv. 26-32, 36-40). Here Paul is writing in response to a specific problem of women interrupting the service to ask questions. That women can indeed speak publicly, pray, and prophecy in the service is demonstrated by 1 Cor. 11:5, as long as they do so with their heads covered. This itself should be read within the context of Paul's philosophy of submitting to the Torah to avoid unnecessary offense (1 Cor. 9:20), a philosophy which informs the entire dialogue (12).

When taken in the context of the entire Epistle, it is clear that women speaking in church isn’t shameful; but women speaking in the way Paul is referring to – that is interrupting orderly service to ask questions is shameful. The fact that the very people these women may be interrupting may themselves actually be women is demonstrated by 1 Cor. 11:5. If this isn’t the case, then 1 Cor. 11:5 must likewise become artificially generalized and all women must wear head coverings in church and all men must keep their heads uncovered.

Additionally, Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart make the argument that this passage is likely an interpolation or gloss, as it is the only passage of this type which is found in two different places in the Greek manuscripts (13). Even if genuine, in my previous article, I argued that the emphatic of v. 36 likely means vv. 33-35 constitutes a quote or popular concept which Paul is correcting (14)(15).

Finally, I'd like to address 1 Tim. 2:11-15, which if taken prima facie would seem to be a universal prohibition against women preaching. But I do not think Paul intends it to be taken as such. Paul bases his reasoning in this passage on the fallen Eve, forced to submit to her husband as a result of the curse (16). Elsewhere, Paul reasons that the same curse is lifted in the new creation in which we are reconciled to God and each other (17).

If we are reconciled to God and each other in a new creation in Christ, then relationally we are to be as we were in the Garden, in perfect communion with God as when He walked with us there (18), and as equal reflections of God's image (19) in unity with each other (20) whether male or female.

That Paul uses the reasoning of the curse in his injunction toward Timothy may in fact be due to the church in Ephesus coming from a similar hedonistic background as that in Corinth, who had its own Temple to Aphrodite and a thousand "heteiras" or priestess-prostitutes (21). The Church tradition that Timothy was beaten and stoned to death during the festival of Artemis, and presence of her temple (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) tells me that Ephesus was still very much under the curse Paul alludes to.

However, utilizing the general reasoning of the curse to justify the doctrine that all women are forbidden from speaking in church (and by extension, from ordained ministry) doesn't hold up when given the historical-cultural context of Ephesus and Corinth, the textual/manuscript problems of the texts cited, and in the context of Paul's teaching elsewhere (especially Rom. 16:1-7, 1 Cor. 11:5, and Gal. 3:28).

Conclusion: Women Should Be Ordained

Given all of the evidence, it seems clear to me that (contrary to popular belief) women not only can, but should speak in Church. Women not only can, but should lead congregations. And women were definitely ordained during the Apostolic era of the Church. Please understand, my position is not the result of postmodern influences or attempts to make Christian leadership more socially acceptable. After all, my denomination has affirmed women clergy since our founding, decades before women could even vote. My position is an exegetical corrective and not a social one. To maintain that women should not be ordained and should not lead congregations is to ignore the evidence cited above, and frankly stands in opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Footnotes

(1) Fr. Grondin, Charles. Was Junia a Female Apostle? Catholic Answers. Web. Written April 06, 2018.

(2) The Revised Standard Version’s translates Phoebe’s title in Rom. 16:1 as “deaconess.”

(3) See Rom. 15:8, where in the English Standard Version, Christ is referred to as “a servant to the circumcised.”

(4) Preato, Dennis J. “Junia, A Female Apostle: Resolving the Interpretive Issues of Romans 16:7”. God’s Word to Women. Web. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2018.

(5) Thorley, John. “Junia, A Woman Apostle.” Novum Testamentum. Vol. 38, Fasc. 1 (Jan. 1996), 18.

(6) Chrysostom, John. In Epistolam ad Romanos, Homilia 31, 2, in Patrologiae cursus completus, series Graeca, ed. by J. P. Milne, cited by B. Brooten, 141.

(7) Thorley. “Junia, A Woman Apostle,” 18.

(8) Greek, “diakonos”.

(9) Greathouse, William M. and George Lyons. New Beacon Bible Commentary: Romans 9-16. (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2008), 264-265.

(10) Ibid.

(11) Acts 18:18, Rom. 6:3, 2 Tim. 4:19; cf. Acts 18:2-3; as well as Acts 18:26 and 1 Cor. 16:19 where Aquila is mentioned first.

(12) Metz, Donald S. “1 Corinthians” Beacon Bible Commentary: Romans, I and II Corinthians. Vol. 8. Ed. By A.F. Harper. (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1968), 453-454.

(13) Fee, Gordon D. and Douglas Stewart. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 88-89.

(14) Hyde, Ian. “A Part of Something Greater, Part I: Apostolic Succession”. Theological Discussions. Web. Written June 21, 2018.

(15) Verbrugge, Verlyn D. “1 Corinthians.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Edition. Vol. 11. Ed. By Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 387. Only here, the commentator argues against it solely based on the passage’s length.

(16) Gen. 3:16.

(17) Cf. Gal. 3:28; 2 Cor. 2:17-18.

(18) Cf. Gen. 3:8.

(19) Gen. 1:27.

(20) Gen. 2:24.

(21) Strabo, Geographika, Book VIII, 6:20.

*Edited for spelling and grammar.

#Apostles #Ordination #Women #OrdinationOfWomen #ApostolicSuccession #Nazarene #ChurchOfTheNazarene

A Part of Something Greater, Part I: Apostolic Succession

This post lays out the reasons I pursued ordination in the Church of the Nazarene as well as a brief foray into some of the more controversial subjects associated with ordination, such as apostolic succession and the ordination of women. It’s my hope that this post provides a bit of a corrective to the all-too-often underdeveloped ecclesiology of many Evangelicals. At the end, I also included my lineage of apostolic succession traced all the way back to Jesus. Enjoy!

This past weekend I loaded my family into the minivan and we made the three hour drive up to Denver, where I was ordained an elder in the Church of the Nazarene. During the long drive, I had time to reflect on just what all this meant, and how I had come to the place where I would soon be formally consecrated to a lifetime of service. If you had asked me in High School or even in College if I was going to be a pastor, I probably would have laughed at the idea. But God has the habit of making funny ideas stick, and as I was drawn more and more into ministry, I eventually experienced the call to full-time pastoral ministry while deployed with the Army to Afghanistan in 2013.

During this time, I also reflected on what ordination really means. In our individualistically American flavor of the Evangelical faith, community often takes a back seat and authority figures are mistrusted. After all, one of the central foundational beliefs of the Protestant Reformation was the affirmation of the priesthood of all believers (1); and with it, the belief that the Holy Spirit enables Christ followers everywhere, whether lay or ordained, to study and interpret scripture for themselves. Unfortunately for many, the individual becomes the highest authority for scriptural interpretation, with no regard for historical, cultural, or textual context or how the text was received through the tradition of the Church. Add to this juicy narratives of corrupt clergy in popular culture and it’s a wonder anyone would seek ordination at all.

The “Why?” of Ordination

So why do we need ordained elders and deacons? Well, frankly because it is biblical. Not only is communal fellowship, worship, and support extolled repeatedly in scripture as necessary to the Christian walk (2) with Paul even calling it “the law of Christ” in Gal. 6:2; but the two-fold ordination system is itself prefigured in the designation of Jesus’ closest twelve followers as Apostles (3), and his extended seventy-two followers who are likewise “sent" and  who, along with the twelve, prefigure the spread of His Gospel, first to Israel and then to the whole World (4).

Those who are “sent” in this way find their model in the Apostle Paul himself, who is called by God and whose call is then confirmed through the work of the Holy Spirit in community (5). It is clear in Paul’s treatise on the uniquely different roles of members in Christ’s body, that not all are called in this way (6) but all are called to be ministers of the Gospel in their own unique way. For those called to be sent out as leaders in the Christian community, their call is to be recognized and initiated by the apostolic laying on of hands (7) an act which is itself understood to be a means of grace by which the recipient is enabled by the Holy Spirit to minister with special authority in the Church (8).

That this ordination initially consisted of a dual system (of presbyter-bishops and deacons) rather than a tripartite one (of deacons, presbyters, and bishops) is evident in Titus 1:5-8 and 1 Pet. 5:1-2, where both presbyteros (translated “elder” and transliterated “priest”) and episkopos (translated “overseer” or “superintendent” and transliterated “bishop”) are used interchangeably to refer to leaders of congregations. This is further confirmed by the fact that a council of elders ordained Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:14, rather than explicitly bishops. Additionally, in Phi. 1:1 overseers and deacons are greeted, but not elders, presumably because elders are the same as overseers. Finally, the qualifications for overseers and deacons outlined in 1 Tim. 3 clearly envision a system of dual ordination rather than tripartite ordination.

The Sacred Responsibility of Ordination

The sacred responsibility associated with the authority received through laying on hands is grave enough to warrant detailed instructions on the required character of those to be ordained (9), as well as a warning that the one ordaining another shares responsibility for their actions (10). This authority has been passed on through the laying on of hands from the original apostles to every elder-overseer since as a confirmation of the special calling by the Holy Spirit to certain women and men throughout the ages.

That’s right, I said women. That the call to the orders of elder and deacon are open to women as well as men is evidenced by Paul’s recognition of Junia as an apostle in Rom. 16:7, Phoebe as a deacon and Paul’s emissary to Rome in v. 1 of the same chapter, and the New Testament’s repeated references to the missionary team Priscilla and Aquila who also led a house church, where Prisca is often listed first in precedence (11). Jesus regularly pushed the cultural gender barriers of his time, and women formed an integral part of his ministry. The argument that Jesus had twelve male apostles (to the exclusion of women) ignores the limited scope of his ministry which was initially restricted only to Jews as well (12). But just as the Gospel message was opened to the Gentiles in the apostolic era, an act which was prefigured multiple times in Jesus’ ministry; so also was it opened to women. After all, the division between Jew and Gentile at the time was at least as large as that between men and women, and yet the Gospel message was to transcend all these divisions.

The argument that 1 Cor. 14:33-35 and 1 Tim. 2:11-14 explicitly prohibit women from speaking in churches (13) ignores the great redefining statement of human relationships in Gal. 3:28 (ESV) that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female.” Additionally, the placement of the emphatic challenge in v. 36 of the 1 Cor. passage suggests that Paul may have been quoting (and correcting) a popular slogan among the Corinthians, as he does later in the same letter (14). As for the passage in 1 Tim., it may be that the writer is referring only to the churches over which Timothy is to take charge, as a concession to cultural expectation. From context, it is evident that Timothy was not being charged to lead the Church Universal, but rather was tasked with the leadership of a particular grouping of churches (likely around Ephesus, where tradition holds he was later martyred), and so it would make sense that instructions to him be contextualized as well (15). The fact that his reasoning includes the fallen submissive state of Eve seems to contradict the understanding set forth in Galatians and elsewhere that in Christ, the curse which afflicted human relationships with inequality is lifted. Finally, it is worth noting that the very Incarnate Word of God was brought into the World by a woman (16), and that it was women who first preached the risen Christ to the apostles (17). If the Apostles themselves received the Word from women, then who can say that women are unable to preach the Word today?

The Safeguard of Apostolic Succession

The term “apostolic succession” is one which most Protestants probably aren’t at all familiar with, even though it governs the theology of ordination for 72% of all Trinitarian Christians (18)(19). This means that almost ¾ of all Christians believe that it is essential that an ordained minister can trace their lineage back to the original apostles through the laying on of hands by bishops (or, as I argued above, elder-bishops) throughout the ages. It’s such a big deal for the majority of Christians, that one of the common arguments against churches with Congregational or Presbyterian polities (which includes the vast majority of Reformed, Baptist, Pentecostal and Non-Denominational congregations) is that they don’t have apostolic succession, and so their clergy have no authority. This objection to the authority of a significant number of Protestant elders (and the legitimacy of their preaching and sacraments) is a major stumbling block to Christian unity.

For some, this might not be a big deal. But I, like the vast majority of Christians, including the Church of the Nazarene, affirm the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed’s statement that there is only “One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church” (20)(21). And I take seriously Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21 (ESV) that we “may all be one” just as Jesus and the Father are one (22). This means that there is only one Church and it must be Apostolic.

Many of the communions with an episcopal polity believe that their distinct communion is the only true Church. Other churches with valid apostolic succession, and therefore valid sacraments, are defined as “particular churches” by the Roman Catholic Church, while those without are defined as “ecclesial communities. They generally understand catholicity (universal character) and oneness to refer to practical polity as well as spiritual reality; and apostolicity as being defined by both a valid line of succession from apostles to bishops, and through them to priests and deacons, as well as orthodox belief (23).

However, since I believe there are only two orders of ordination (that of elder-bishop and deacon) as affirmed by the New Testament and by John Wesley (24)(25), with the order of bishop being a later development which essentially delegated the tasks of bishops to those who had already been ordained into the order of elder-bishop; that means that I also believe any elder can lay hands on another and ordain them (as long as they also maintain the stream of orthodox belief as affirmed by the scriptures and early creeds). For the sake of order, if a church has bishops, then its elders should refrain from ordaining; but if necessity arises, I believe any elder has the apostolic authority to ordain. I also believe that ordination within the Church of the Nazarene does not simply mean I am ordained into the Nazarene denomination, but that I am ordained through the Nazarene denomination into the Church Universal (26).

Essentially, I believe most ordinations within Trinitarian churches have valid apostolic succession, even if many in those churches don’t fully understand what that means. This paves the way for better inter-church relations between denominations. Though I don’t think it necessary for all churches to merge into one polity, I do think it is essential to the biblical mandate to Christian unity that we at least recognize the legitimacy of other orthodox denominations’ ordinations, sacraments, and right to exist. And to that end, a mutual understanding of apostolic succession among all the churches becomes necessary.

Why the Church of the Nazarene?

So, why did I get ordained in the Church of the Nazarene? Well, number one, because the Holy Spirit called me to a lifetime consecrated to full devotion to Christ and the service of His Church in Word and Sacrament. It’s true that I could have done that in a number of denominations, but after much study, I decided that Nazarene doctrines best reflect scriptural orthodoxy: especially in its Wesleyan-Holiness emphasis that God can free us from sin in this life by the consecrating, sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit (27); its affirmation of the early ecumenical creeds (28); its Arminian belief that God has restored the human will to be able to either receive or reject grace (29); that grace can be walked away from after having been received (30); that that the Sacraments are means of grace and not only symbols (31); its use of both infant and believer’s baptism (32); and its dual system of ordination for both women and men (33).

To address each of these (often contentious) theological assertions would require a bunch more posts, but they were instrumental in my move away from a more Reformed understanding of Scripture. And though the manual never explicitly mentions “apostolic succession”, I believe history demonstrates that our succession is valid along the theological lines I laid out in the paragraphs above.

My Spiritual Lineage

So without further ado, both to outline my claim to apostolic succession and for pure historical curiosity, I’ve included the line ordination from me going all the way back to the apostles below:

I was ordained June 16, 2018 through the laying on of hands at the Colorado District Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene by General Superintendent Dr. Gustavo A. Crocker, District Superintendent Dr. David Ralph, and all the Elders present; Dr. Crocker using these words:

“Ian Devlin Leigh Hyde, I charge thee before God and before the Church, preach the Word, watch thou in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, discharge the duties of your ministry, and take thou authority to administer the sacraments and to lead in the Church of Jesus Christ. And now, Ian Devlin Leigh Hyde, by the power vested in me as a General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, I ordain thee elder in the Church of God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Of the Nazarene General Superintendents…

Dr. Gustavo A. Crocker was ordained in 2003 by General Superintendent Paul G. Cunningham. Paul G. Cunningham in 1965 by Gen. Sup. Hugh C. Benner. Hugh C. Benner in 1923 by Gen. Sup. Roy T. Williams. Roy T. Williams in 1908 by Gen. Sup. Hiram F. Reynolds. Hiram F. Reynolds in 1886 by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst (Methodist Episcopal Church) (34)(35).

Of the Methodist bishops…

John Fletcher Hurst in 1862 by Bishop Thomas Asbury Morris (36). Thomas Asbury Morris ca. 1820 by Bishop Robert Richford Roberts (37). Robert Richford Roberts in 1802 by Bishop Francis Asbury (38). Francis Asbury in 1784 by Superintendent Thomas Coke (39). Thomas Coke in 1784 by Rev. John Wesley (Church of England) (40)(41). John Wesley was ordained presbyter in 1728 by Bishop (of Oxford) John Potter (42) and possibly consecrated bishop in 1763 by Bishop (of Arcadia) Erasmus (Eastern Orthodox Church)(43)(44).

Of the Anglican bishops…

John Potter was consecrated bishop in 1715 (45)(46). Jonathan Trelawney in 1685. William Sancroft in 1678. Henry Compton in 1674. Gilbert Sheldon in 1660. Brian Duppa in 1638. William Laud in 1621. George Montaigne in 1617. George Abbot in 1609. Richard Bancroft in 1597. John Whitgift in 1577. Edmund Grindal in 1559. Matthew Parker in 1559. William Barlow in 1536. Thomas Cranmer in 1533.

Of the bishops before the English Reformation…

John Longland(s) in 1521 (Roman Catholic Church). William Warham in 1502. Richard Fitzjames in 1497. John Morton in 1479. Thomas Bourchier in 1435. Henry Beaufort in 1398. Roger Walden in 1398. Robert Braybrooke in 1382. Thomas Brentingham in 1370. Simon Sudbury in 1362. William Edendon in 1346. Ralph Stratford in 1340. Robert Wyvil in 1330. Roger Northborough in 1322. John of Halton in 1292. Anthony Beck in 1284. Henry in 1255. Walter Kirkham in 1249. Walter de Gray in 1214. William of S. Mere L’Eglise in 1199. Gilbert Glanville in 1185. Peter de Leia in 1176. Roger of Cloucester in 1164. Thomas Becket in 1162. Henry of Blois in 1129. William of Corbeuil in 1123. Richard de Belmeis in 1108. Anselm in 1074. Thomas in 1070. Lanfranc in 1070. Siward in 1058.

Of the English bishops before the Great Schism…

Stigand in 1043. Eadsige in 1035. Ethelnoth in 1020. Wulfstan in 1003. Elfric in 990. Aelphage in 984. Dunstan in 957. Odo in 927. Wulfhelm in 914. Althelm in 909. Plegmund in 891 (47).

Of the Roman Catholic Popes…

Formosus in 864 (48). Nicholas I in 858 (49)(50). Benedict III in 855. Leo IV in 847. Sergius II in 844. Gregory IV in 827. Valentine in 827. Eugene II in 824. Paschal I in 817. Stephen IV (V) in 816. Leo III in 795. Adrian I in 772. Stephen III (IV) in 767. Paul I in 757. Stephen II (III) in 752. Zachary in 741. Gregory III in 731. Gregory II in 715. Constantine in 708. Sisinnius in 708. John VII in 705. John VI in 701. Sergius I in 687. Conon in 686. John V in 685. Benedict II in 684. Leo II in 682. Agatho in 678. Donus in 676. Adeodatus (II) in 672. Vitalian in 657. Eugene I in 655. Martin I in 649. Theodore I in 642. John IV in 640. Severinus in 640. Honorius I in 625. Boniface V in 619. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I) in 615. Boniface IV in 608. Boniface III in 607. Sabinian in 604. Gregory I in 590. Pelagius II in 579. Benedict I in 575. John III in 561. Pelagius I in 556. Vigilus in 537. Silverius in 536. Agapetus I in 535. John II in 533. Boniface II in 530. Felix IV (III) in 526. John I in 523. Hormisdas in 514. Symmachus in 498. Anastasius II in 496. Gelasius I in 492. Felix III (II) in 483.

Of the Popes consecrated before the fall of the Western Roman Empire…

Simplicius in 468. Hilarius in 461. Leo I in 440. Sixtus III in 432. Celestine I in 422. Boniface I in 418. Zosimus in 417. Innocent I in 401. Anastasius I in 399. Siricius in 384. Damasus I in 366. Liberius in 352. Julius I in 337. Marcus in 336.

Of the Ante-Nicene Popes…

Sylvester I in 314. Miltiades in 311. Eusebius in 309. Marcellus I in 308. Marcellinus in 296. Caius in 283. Eutychian in 275. Felix I in 269. Dionysius in 260. Sixtus II in 257. Stephen I in 254. Lucius I in 253. Cornelius I in 251. Fabian in 236. Anterus in 235. Pontain in 230. Urban I in 222. Callistus I in 217. Zephyrinus in 199. Victor I in 189. Eleutherius in 175. Soter in 166. Anicetus in 155. Pius I in 140. Hyginus in 136. Telesphorus in 125. Sixtus I in 115. Alexander I in 105. Evaristus in 97.

Of the Apostolic Fathers to the Apostles…

Clement I in 88. Anacletus (Cletus) in 76. Linus in 67. Peter in 32. Jesus!

Footnotes

(1) Cf. Mat. 28:18-20; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 5:9-10.

(2) Cf. Gen. 2:18; Ecc. 4:9-10; Eph. 4:2-3.

(3) The word “apostle” comes from the Greek apostolos used first in Mat. 10:2 in reference to the twelve closest followers of Jesus and is continually used throughout the New Testament, referring not only to the original twelve, but also specifically Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:1-3, where they are also consecrated (“set apart”) and ordained through the laying on of hands.

(4) Luk. 10:1-16.

(5) Acts 13:1-3.

(6) 1 Cor. 12:27-31.

(7) Referenced in Acts 6:1-6 when the first seven deacons are ordained by the apostles, and in Acts. 13:1-3 when Paul and Barnabas are ordained as apostles.

(8) 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6.

(9) 1 Tim. 3; Titus 1:5-8.

(10) 1 Tim. 5:22.

(11) Acts 18:18, Rom. 6:3, 2 Tim. 4:19; cf. Acts 18:2-3 and 1 Cor. 16:19 where Aquila is mentioned first.

(12) Mat. 10:5-6; 15:24.

(13) “Speaking in churches” or preaching is a fundamental task associated with the apostles. Cf. Acts 6:2.

(14) Cf. 1 Cor. 15:29-34. Also Cf. Verlyn D. Verbrugge. “1 Corinthians.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Edition. Vol. 11. Ed. By Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 387. Only here, the commentator argues against it solely based on the passage’s length.

(15) “Apostle Timothy of the Seventy.” Orthodox Church in America. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(16) Cf. Mat. 1:18-2:23; Luk. 2:1-20, John 1:14.

(17) Luk. 24:9.

(18) Out of 2.385 billion Trinitarian Christians, 1.726 billion belong to either the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, or Anglican Communions. The number of churches which adhere to apostolic succession is actually a little higher, as the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as some Lutheran and Methodist bodies emphasize its importance as well.

(19) “List of Christian Denominations by Number of Members.” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(20) “Historical Statement.” Manual 2017-2021. Church of the Nazarene. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(21) “The Nicene Creed.” Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes, Vol. 1. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(22) Cf. John 10:30.

(23) I define “orthodox belief” as that which affirms the validity of scripture, the writings of the apostolic fathers, and the pre-schism creeds of the 4th century in ordering Christian belief and practice. After the schisms, beginning with the separation of the Assyrian Church of the East, and continuing through the schisms with the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches, I believe no single polity can lay claim to full catholicity or oneness as laid out in the Nicene Creed.

(24) Through whom I also trace my apostolic succession. Wesley observed that for two centuries the Alexandrian Church (which all major communions agree still holds apostolic succession) ordained through presbyters alone.

(25) McClintock, John. Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Vol. 6. P. 170. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(26) Para. 502. “Theology of Ordination.” Manual 2017-2021. Church of the Nazarene. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(27) Ibid. Para. 10.

(28) Particularly the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the Apostles’ Creed.

(29) Ibid. Para. 7.

(30) Ibid. Para. 8.

(31) Ibid. Para. 12-13.

(32) Ibid. Para. 12.

(33) Ibid. Para. 502.

(34) “General Superintendent (Church of the Nazarene).” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.
(35) “Vermont Conference” in Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Spring Conferences of 1886. (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1886), p. 66.

(36) “John Fletcher Hurst.” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(37) “Thomas Asbury Morris.” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(38) “Robert Richford Roberts.” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(39) “Francis Asbury.” Christian History. Christianity Today. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(40) Though ordained Superintendent in 1784 by John Wesley, Coke had already been ordained a presbyter in the Church of England in 1772. If one affirms that elders and bishops form a single order, then this should be the date recorded. But since he took on the role out of necessity, due to the lack of Anglican clergy available to administer the sacraments in the United States after the American Revolution, Wesley confirmed the call by consecrating him in 1784. It was this necessity which also prompted Wesley’s move to take on the role of bishop, which had lain dormant in his role as presbyter in the Church of England, but which was nonetheless valid by virtue of his ordination as presbyter-bishop.

(41) “Thomas Coke (Bishop).” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(42) “John Potter (Bishop).” Wikipedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(43) There is hotly debated evidence that John Wesley may have been consecrated a bishop in 1763 during a private meeting with an Eastern Orthodox bishop named Erasmus of Arcadia. The validity of this evidence would require a whole other paper, but if it is true, then the rest of the lineage would be through the Eastern Orthodox bishops of Arcadia and the Patriarchs of Antioch (rather than through the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church); though they would still end at Peter just as the line through the Popes of Rome does.
(44) Cooke, Richard J. The Historic Episcopate: A Study of Anglican Claims and Methodist Orders. (Eaton & Mains, 1896), 144-145.

(45) “Potter, John.” Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 1911 ed. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018.

(46) Drews, Carl. “The Apostolic Succession of the Anglican Mission in America.” 2004. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018. Used as the source for John Potter through Nicholas I.

(47) The first Archbishop of Canterbury in this line of succession.

(48) The last Pope of Rome in this line of succession.

(49) The dates for Nicholas I to Peter correspond to their consecrations as Pope of Rome. Whether they were consecrated bishops before this date is unknown in many cases.

(50) “List of Popes.” New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. Web. Retrieved Jun. 21, 2018. Used as the source for Nicholas the 1 through Peter. Agrees with the list by Carl Drews, cited above.

Note: A special thanks to Jared K. Henry, whose own efforts to trace his lineage of apostolic succession in his post “My Ordination Means Something...” on his blog, Taking the High Road, inspired me to do the same.

#Apostles #Ordination #Women #OrdinationOfWomen #ApostolicSuccession #Nazarene #ChurchOfTheNazarene

My Philosophy of Ministry

Introduction

As part of the ordination process with the Church of the Nazarene, I wrote a Philosophy of Ministry that articulates my views on theology and leadership within the church. This is a “living document” which can change over time as my emphases and experiences shape my outlook on church leadership.

Core Theology

My Central Mission Statement:

I am called to share the good news with the lost; to love God with everything I am; to reflect the love of God in my relationship with Him, with other people, and with all creation; and to lead others to do the same.

The Good News:

Humanity was created both individually and communally by God in God’s image,(1) to freely and fully enjoy worshipful communion with Him, with each other, and with all creation.(2) By virtue of our being God’s image, we were created with the ability to freely choose between life and death, right and wrong, creation and destruction;(3) as genuine relationship can only happen in the context of freedom.

In freedom, the first humans were seduced with the promise of power which the Tree of Knowledge embodies.(4) In doing so, they willfully followed their own selfish desires without regard to the natural consequences of broken communion which followed. This willful pursuit of selfish desire at the expense of our communion with God is what we call “sin”. Their communion with God was severed as their nakedness was revealed;(5) their communion with each other was severed as one human was cursed to dominate another and their children would be hounded by sin and death; and their communion with creation was severed with their removal from paradise and exemplified in their struggle to survive.(6)

But even though we have all been separated from God and each other by the selfish and rebellious choices of every human being from the first up to today; God did not abandon us. He chose the people Israel to be the avenue through which He would bring Salvation to all who would accept it.(7) He also sent the prophets to proclaim His law, the nature of His desire, and the reality of our sin.(8)And He loved us so much that Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human, took on flesh and was born to a virgin, died on the cross, and was bodily raised from the dead; so that we likewise may not die in our twisted state of separation and sin, but rather also be bodily raised to new life in perfect communion with God and each other in the new, restored, and redeemed creation.(9) In doing so, Christ is the new Adam, and frees us from the curse of the old.(10) This also means our ability to repent and accept the free gift of salvation is restored through the prevenient grace provided in Christ’s sacrifice and communicated through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Christ had the authority and ability to do this because he is fully God and fully man. He was not tainted with the communal state of sin into which all humanity is born. He lived a perfect life free from sin, though he was tempted. He conquered sin and death forever in his self-sacrificial death on the cross and bodily resurrection; thus establishing the promise of bodily resurrection for all who believe in him.(11) During his life, he worked miracles and taught his disciples a new way of life, meant to provide a foretaste of his victorious kingdom and the above-mentioned new creation.

And once he was assumed into Heaven to prepare for the fulfillment of of his promise; he sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to call all humanity to Himself and to guide, comfort, and admonish the Church. The Holy Spirit is fully and equally God, as are the Son, and the Father. They are eternally and mystically One substance, yet three Persons. It is through the Holy Spirit that we come to know and experience God.(12)

The Church in turn is the community of disciples called to embody the foretaste of the new creation, the kingdom of heaven, which stands in stark contrast to the kingdoms of the world. We live by Christ’s teachings and self-sacrificial example. And our greatest testimony to our faith in a broken, hurting and often bitter world, is our love for one another which extends even to our enemies.(13) Our love not only reflects the promise of the new creation, it reflects the love Christ has for the world, and the love expressed in the perfect unity of the Trinity. The more fully this love is expressed in the Church, the more fully we realize the purpose for which we were first created, which is to be God’s image in the world.

Our sacraments were instituted by Christ himself for the benefit of the Church, and include Baptism and Communion. I believe Communion communicates the real presence of Christ to the participant and connects them in worship and proclamation to the whole Body of Christ, in all times and places.(14) And I believe water Baptism using the Trinitarian formula, whether by sprinkling or immersion and whether to infants or adults, is a necessary sign of obedience and public proclamation to the world of both the Christian’s inclusion in the community and their trust in Christ’s promise of the resurrection.(15) This does not mean it is necessary for Salvation, as Salvation comes through faith in the free gift of grace alone.(16)

In all this, I affirm the inspired reliability and sufficiency of Scripture to communicate what is necessary for Salvation;(17) I affirm the tradition of the Church Fathers and Mothers who have shaped its interpretation from the days of the Apostles to today; and I affirm the ancient ecumenical creeds which formulate orthodox belief.(18)

Role of the Pastor

While all Christians are called to utilize their God-given gifts for ministry, the Holy Spirit calls certain ministers, who are referred to in scripture as Elders or Overseers, to special roles in leadership, preaching, discipleship, and administering the sacraments.

As leaders we are called to discern and execute the vision which God has for our particular area of ministry, while being good stewards of the resources placed under our responsibility. As preachers, we are called to bear witness to and proclaim the transforming grace of Jesus Christ in the gospel message. As disciplers, we are called to grow, challenge, counsel, encourage, and equip those believers entrusted in our care as the Holy Spirit leads them to greater maturity, sanctifies them, and in turn calls them to ministry.(19) When administering the sacraments, we take the concrete elements and actions taught to us by Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, communicate the immeasurable grace of Christ freely given to all who are in communion with Him.

As an Elder, I plan to fulfill all these roles; though the emphasis on particular roles may take precedence over others as need requires. For example, as a hospice Chaplain I may preach monthly, usually in the context of funerals and memorials where many of those gathered may not be believers, and who may only hear sermons when they attend weddings or funerals; rather than weekly to a congregation that may have a greater proportion of believers, who may be used to sermon series and themes carried over multiple Sundays. At the same time, I may spend a greater amount of my time and energy on the tasks associated with discipleship, especially counseling and encouragement. Additionally, rather than having set, pre-planned times for the administration of sacraments, they may need to be provided on an emergency basis for individuals who wish to partake in these particular expressions of faith.

Philosophy of Leadership

As a leader in the Church, I am called to both reflect the leadership of Christ to the people, and lead the people to worshipful communion in Christ. As stated above, the type of kingdom which Christ leads stands in stark contrast to the kingdoms of the world. Likewise, the type of leadership which Christ exemplifies stands in stark contrast to the leaders of the world. Where the world rewards leaders who ruthlessly pursue their desires and consolidate power over people under themselves; Christlike leaders are called to selflessly set our desires aside and bring people to true freedom in Christ.(20) Where worldly leaders and the kingdoms they lead seek to protect their group by demonizing outsiders; Christlike leaders welcome the outsiders into our churches, our homes, and our lives.(21) Where worldly leaders and the kingdoms they lead believe power should rest with the powerful and ally themselves to it; Christlike leaders protect the marginalized and defend the cause of the orphan, the widow, and the refugee.(22)

Additionally, the New Testament puts forward very clear standards for leaders in the church. An Elder must be disciplined, faithful, honest, and gracious in all his or her areas of life, starting with the home.(23) After all, our first mission field is our own families, and they often see our true nature.

I think all leaders in the church, whether clergy or lay, are called to this type of Christlike leadership. I also think that, as we are one community, we are all accountable to each other and to the Holy Spirit for our thoughts and actions. Still, as one of the fundamental roles of a pastor discussed above is discipleship and mentorship for those called to ministry, we must be especially watchful of our conduct; as it has the potential to shape (or harm) the faith of future generations of leaders.

Philosophy of Evangelism and Discipleship

There are a number of challenges which American churches are facing in the 21st century, and one of the biggest is how to draw in and communicate the gospel to generations of Americans who are increasingly not only un-churched, but even anti-church. It isn’t simply a matter of updating the music every couple of decades. Many of those who have walked away from (or never entered) a church have deep wounds from those around them which they perceived as religious. Many have walked into a congregation two or three weeks in a row without being noticed. And there have been some who were absent for weeks to care for a family member or because of illness, but no one called, came to visit, or prepared a meal.

If we are to attract, convert, and disciple an increasingly un-churched culture; we need to push past the political, generational, socio-economic, and ethnic divisions in our country and discern what the Holy Spirit is already doing. It’s easy to become discouraged sometimes, but God is doing some amazing things in our culture. For instance, there is a deep desire among younger generations to see ethnic divisions crumble and to be a part of diverse groups. They are passionate about caring and advocating for the poor and marginalized. And they care about the planet and the ramifications of pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Though they are increasingly shaped by sources of information which only serve to confirm previous biases, they have a deep desire for truth that addresses the hard questions encountered in life.

To me, these concerns represent the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, drawing all people to Himself. We just need to be aware of what God is already doing, and develop our ministries to reflect and participate in that work. That may mean starting a community garden, or organizing a highway cleanup, or designating lay volunteers to greet new visitors and call those who we haven’t seen in a while, just to let them know we care for them and are here for them. It could also mean conducting small group bible studies in more comfortable and personal settings, like in homes, or coffee-shops, or other so called “third spaces” where people can relax and grow as a community. Finally, our leaders need to trust God by being vulnerable with each other. By taking risks and letting our congregations know we also sometimes struggle with tough questions, with loneliness, and with emotional wounds; we can build a more trusting and truly united community within the Body of Christ.

Role of the Laity

Our church affirms the calling placed on the life of every believer to be ministers and witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ.(24) This means that, according to the gifts they’ve been given and which the Church is called to cultivate, they can and should be involved in almost every area of ministry. While an Elder is called to discern and communicate God’s vision for the community, lay members are equipped by the Holy Spirit to participate in and execute that vision. Though an Elder is called to preach to the congregation, lay members may pray or give testimony to what God is doing in their lives in the congregational setting. And though an ordained Elder is responsible for the maturity and discipleship of the body of believers, as well as the cultivation of prospective ordination candidates; more mature lay members may still lead bible studies, book clubs, and group discussions, teach Sunday School, and even mentor less mature individuals, all under the supervision of the ordained members of the congregation.

Philosophy of Stewardship

First, I believe the church should be utterly transparent in how it allocates funds. In line with the above discussion on evangelism, many have grown mistrustful of institutions in general and churches in particular. Popular criticism of lavish church facilities and pastors who travel in their own private jets and live in mansions abound; even if this criticism does not reflect the reality of most churches and pastors.(25) A church which makes its financial information readily available goes a long way toward earning people’s trust.

I also think that if an Elder or leader in the Church is going to hold the community to a standard of investment in the church and personal accountability; then the self-same leader should exemplify that standard.(26) That means I should not only tithe as a regular act of trust, discipline, and worship;(27) I should use all my household resources in a responsible manner. This may mean going above and beyond the tithe to support Nazarene Compassionate Ministries or other worthy causes, as I am able. It also means responsibly using my time and energy in ways that edify the community, grow our bonds of love, and that exemplify the loving character of Christ to all those I interact with. And it means finding new ways to eliminate waste (including food, water, electricity, fuel, etc. as well as money).

Additionally, just as the church’s leadership are called to discern and build strategies for responding to God’s vision for the congregation; they are also called to find creative ways to efficiently allocate resources in a sustainable way, while seeing to the needs of those entrusted to the care of the Church.(28) This means having Standard Operating Procedures and detailed recordkeeping in place on the congregational and program level for the allocation and use of funds; as well as detailed financial plans in place when a new ministry or project is started and at regular intervals as it continues.

Finally, stewardship also extends to our care of the planet and the “community capital”(29) which surrounds our churches. This may mean embracing green initiatives when remodeling or expanding our facilities, or instituting a recycling or scrap collection program (which could also bring in revenue). It could also mean having a prayer garden and which incorporates the natural beauty of the surrounding environs, while also utilizing plants adapted to the climate to cut down on chemical pest control measures and watering requirements (which also saves money in the process). On the “community capital” side, the local church could partner with other like-minded area churches, businesses, non-profits, and individuals in ministering to the poor, or by working together on ministry projects, thereby fostering greater cooperation with the greater Body of Christ and negating another popular criticism of the Church as being fractured and divisive.(30)

The Role of the Family

The family is a microcosm of the Church,(31) and the relationships within the family should strive to reflect the perfect love, joy and communion expressed in the Trinity. My wife and I try to make all our family decisions in unity, submitting ourselves to each other, and being examples of Christ-like love to each other and our children.(32) When it comes to ministering in the Church, I recognize that my wife has been given unique gifts and her own will to follow Christ. This means that while she is very supportive of my ministry, her role within the church should be decided based on her own gifts and the leading of the Holy Spirit, and not by her relationship to me as a pastor’s wife.

I also recognize that, while I am committed to raising my children in the knowledge of Christ, their decision whether or not to follow Christ or participate in ministry is ultimately a decision made between them and God. So, while I encourage my family to participate fully in the life and ministry of the Church, I will not force them. Likewise, when it comes to positions of ministerial authority within the Church, they will need to show the same maturity and calling that would be expected of any other believer who desired such a position, and should not be deferentially placed simply because I am the pastor.

Why a Nazarene Minister

I love the Nazarene Church and the work of God expressed in both its history and distinctive doctrines. These include denominational roots in urban homeless ministries in Los Angeles, and an emphasis on supporting Nazarene educational institutions. They also include our teachings on Christian perfection, free will, and divine healing. Additionally, I support our affirmation of both infant and believer’s baptism. And I rejoice in the call God has placed in the lives of women as well as men to become ordained Elders and Deacons. All of these were factors in my decision to serve with and support the Nazarene Church.

Still, I also believe that God is doing great things in other orthodox denominations(33) and I believe it is God’s desire that we overcome our denominational differences and learn to love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. We may not agree on everything and should still stay true to our convictions and doctrinal distinctions; but we can also recognize the legitimacy of each other’s ministries, ordinations, and sacraments. In the meantime, I think it is essential to the ministry of the Church that we begin to work with other denominations in our communities to reach out to the lost, help the poor, and even worship with each other as the opportunity arises.

//SIGNED//

Rev. Ian Hyde

Footnotes

1. Gen. 1:26-27.
2. cf. Psa. 8:1-9, 19:1-6 and 139:13-18.
3. Deu. 30:19.
4. Gen. 3:3-6.
5. Gen. 3:7.
6. Gen. 3:13-19, 23.
7. John 4:22; cf. Rom. 10-11.
8. 2 Chr. 24:19.
9. 1 Cor. 15:12-58; Rev. 21:1-27.
10. 1 Cor. 15:45.
11. 1 Cor. 15:12-58; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5:31:2.
12. John 14:15-17.
13. John 13:35; Mat. 5:44-45.
14. Eph. 4:11-13.
15. John 6:32-58; 1 Cor. 10:16-17, 11:23-29.
16. Mat. 28:19-20; Acts. 16:31, 33; 1 Cor. 12:13.
17. 28th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene, Manual: 2013-2017, 29.
18. cf. Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381; Chalcedonian Creed of 451; Apostles’ Creed; and the Athanasian Creed.
19. Eph. 2:8-9.
20. 1 Pet. 5:2-3; Mat. 20:25-28.
21. Heb. 13:2.
22. Exo. 23:9; Jer. 7:6; James 1:27.
23. Titus 1:5-9; 1 Tim. 3:1-7.
24. Church of the Nazarene, Manual: 2013-2017, 186.
25. According to Pastor Salaries, Average Salary & Jobs Pay, http://www.salarylist.com/jobs/Pastor-Salary.htm, retrieved Feb. 27, 2017; the average annual pay for a pastor is $35,360. In fact, a growing number of pastors must work two or more jobs to provide for their families.
26. 1 Cor. 4:1-2.
27. Deu. 14:28-29; Prov. 3:9-10.
28. Luk. 12:42-46.
29. These are the unique cultural resources which abound in any community, and which both connect it to and differentiate it from other communities.
30. John 17:20-21.
31. John Chrysostom, Homily 20 on Ephesians, 6.
32. Eph. 5:21-33.
33. Defined as those who exhibit apostolic authority and adhere to the ancient creeds listed above.

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