Q & A

Q. Why should I become a pastor; isn't every Christian a minister?

A. While every Christian is certainly a servant of Christ and is to do work in His kingdom, not every Christian is a minister. Popular Christianity would have us believe that there is a ministry of babysitting, ministry of music, ministry of youth work, ministry of parking lot attendant, etc., etc. While each of these things, in varying degrees, is a form of Christian service, they are not the Holy Ministry of the Church.

So what is the Holy Ministry? It is the office of pastor, established by Christ Himself that He may bestow to the Church the good gifts of His grace. These gifts are given through the preaching of the Word and through the administration of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Not everyone has authority to preach or to commune people. The Augsburg Confession, Article XIV, states: "It is taught among us that no one should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call." (call here means an external call from a church with ordination into the ministry; see the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Article XIV). As Christ called the first apostles and sent them out to be His ambassadors and to do His work, so now the Church calls men and sends them out to carry on the apostolic work of preaching, teaching, baptizing and communing, and to be Christ's representatives to His Church today. Without this work, that is, without the continued official proclamation of the Gospel, without the Holy Ministry, the Christian Church would eventually cease to be.

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