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NASB | 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 2:15 Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. |
Bible Question: By what authority can a person give to another a ministry degree? I have been an outreach minister and want to ordain several young women who are already functioning as outreach ministers. I know that God is the judge but because I know their character I can attest to the fact that they are pure and without "blemish" before the Lord. What are the legal boundaries here? Do I have to be a church to do this? I have been functioning outside a normal church ever since I was 17 ministering to the hungry, poor and those who do not know the Lord. Please advise. Above all I want to ask for the Lord's blessing on their ministry and spur them on to love and good deeds. But I do want to be able to declare them ministers in all the legal sense of the word. Any advise would help. There are and will be many called to minister ...coming from all sort of orientations. I have been a minister since I was 17...LONG ago. God ordained me...others recognized and declared it...It was how I functioned and still function. Any advise? |
Bible Answer: ourfathersheart: For whatever reason, for which I personally have some very serious doubt about, you claim to have been "minister" from age 17? Might I ask, by whom were you ordained into the ministry? What group of believers so recognized your calling from God? Who laid hands on you and set you aside as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? These questions may seem unimportant, but they do serve a purpose. Unless a group who is established as a religious body, and duely authorized to legally make someone a "minister", your legal status as a minister is likely unvalid. Most established churches require a period of proving ones self to be set aside as a minister. This is quite Biblical. Most usually this cermony of becoming a minister is for the most part called "ordination". One must be "ordained" inorder to take ssomeone under their watchcare to train a person to become a "minister". Ordination and granting degrees are TOTALLY two different aspects of ministery. One is a function of the church, the other a function of an educating school. There is no easy to become a "servant" of Jesus Christ! In the world of today overflowing with so many uneducated false teachers, who are doing exactlly as it seems you were hinting of perhaps doing, this just is not Gods will!!!! There are Ordained people in this forum, and many with Master of Divinity degrees. Some with ever higher learning degrees than that. I do not equate srirituallity with having a degree, however the chances of a person willing to do spiritual study and learning to do ministry in a very serious mannor increase the chances for a better "minister". There is no "short cuts" to God, or becoming a "minister". I strongly warn you not to be a "lone ranger" in "ordaining" or giving a "degree" to anyone. Unless you are authorized to do so. Should you do so you have become like those in the in The Word of Faith Movement which is in my opinion a cult from the pit of hell! If as your pen name says you have "our fathers heart", I believe you will understand what I have said. justme |