When we call a presbytery to ordain an elder, we generally follow a procedure that has been a custom for the past hundred years or more. This procedure may vary a little in different parts of the country but in general they are the same.

It goes about as follows:

A church wishes to ordain a man whom they believe has been called to the work of the ministry. They send out invitations to several churches and elders to come to assist them at an appointed time. When the time arrives the pastor calls the church into conference and asks if they are still of a mind to go ahead with the ordination. The pastor then calls on all ordained persons present, deacons and elders, to come forward and be seated. He then yields the floor to the assembled group. A moderator is elected who, in some instances, inquire of the church if they are satisfied with the quality of the men seated with the presbytery. He then appoints the several functionaries of the presbytery. One is appointed to question the "mouth piece" of the church. (Someone appointed by the church to answer for the church's feelings for the "candidate".) One is then appointed to question the "candidate" on the articles of faith, and one to pray the ordination prayer and the last to deliver the charge. After the minutes of the ordination are read the presbytery dissolves by adjournment.

In proceeding, the church spokesman is usually asked if the church is satisfied that the brother has a gift. Would the church be willing to call him as pastor? The answer is always "yes." Now the candidate is "brought forward" and seated before the presbytery to be questioned on the articles of faith. In most cases the one appointed reads each article and asks as he reads, "Do you believe this?" The answer is always "yes". During the ordination prayer, as many as can, place their hands on the kneeling "candidate" and after prayer he remains kneeling until all the presbytery have touched him. Here the ordination is over. Delivering the charge before the presbytery adjourns has come to be regarded as an essential act of a presbytery.

Now, I ask the question. Is this not a formality? It is! As I have described it, it is more than formality, it is a ritual. As a ritual it is hollow, and beyond the ordination prayer, a travesty of sound reason.

I do not question the propriety of formal ordination. We SHOULD have a standard procedure that all Primitive Baptists agree on. Ordination is not a ritual. The rite of marriage makes a man and woman husband and wife and effects their vital union. Baptism unites a person with the church and the effect is in the rite. Ordination is not a rite. It does not qualify a man to preach the gospel. Ordination is (or should be) the examination of a man respecting his qualifications as a gospel minister and certifies him to administer baptism and the Lord's Supper.

The first thing a church should consider before calling a presbytery to ordain a man to preach is the regard other churches have for him as to his calling. Have those elders whom they have asked to help them ever heard the man preach? I would not sit in a presbytery to ordain my own son if I had never heard him preach the gospel, even if his church felt, ever so much, that he was truly called. It is too often that churches, for the fear of being destitute of a pastor, will hasten to lay hands on a man who has no other qualifications to preach than zeal and eloquence.

Many years ago, when a presbytery was called to ordain a man to the ministry, he was put before them to preach. If he gave satisfaction the presbyter was then organized and he was thoroughly examined. When questioned on the articles of faith he was not asked if he believed each articles; he was require to explain them.

I knew an old elder many years ago who denied the resurrection of the body I was told by one who was present at his ordination, that when he was ask if he believed in the resurrection of the body he replied, "I believe what the Apostle Paul believed about it. He should have been excluded as a heretic.

A man who maintains that he is called to preach and has little or no understanding of our cardinal principles of doctrine, or has any private reservation about any of them should not be loose upon the church.  "Let these also first be proved." E. B. Watts (Taken from 'The Pathway Of Truth' March, 1982)