Today’s post was inspired Rev. DeMyron Haynes, a fellow PCA minister ordained three years ago.
He recently said on Twitter that someone might want to examine the nature of our ordination vows. With that, take your Books of Church Order (BCO) and turn to 21-5.
I’m looking at ministerial vows, but I would encourage others to also see the similar vows for elders and deacons in BCO 24-6, as they consider the kind of men God would have them elect to lead His church. Electing elders and deacons will usually be more frequent than the calling of pastors or teaching elders, those who will take the following vows:
1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
This is our “norming norm,” scripture alone. Other sources (history, tradition, creeds, and confessions) provide norms for what we do, but those are normed norms (shaped by others), not the norming norm that can shape or even normalize the others. That’s a good place to start. What else do PCA ministers vow when they’re ordained?
2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will on your own initiative, make known to your Presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?
We all have creeds and confessions. Some of us write them down and submit them to public scrutiny.[1] Confessing what our creed is does not negate the doctrine of Sola Scriptura or the previous ordination vow. It simply allows us to see whether our confession lines up with scripture. In addition, this vow requires ministers to inform the Presbytery (their ecclesiastical oversight) when their views change. I recently heard a well-known conservative pastor in the PCA tell a story about this very thing happening. A man in his presbytery sheepishly told him that his views had changed (on a significant issue - I think it was ordination of women). The man telling me the story said he asked what his friend’s next step would be. The man responded that he was transferring to a denomination where that view was acceptable. He seemed to expect a harsh response, but he didn’t receive one. The man telling the story remembers wishing him well and telling him he was doing the right thing. One might hope that such a thing doesn’t happen often, but if it does, one might also hope it could be conducted with that level of civility.
3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity?
An elder emeritus in my church might call this “informed consent.” We tell you on the front end what you’re signing up for in this area. I’m willing to admit I understood very little of PCA polity until I had to learn it while I practiced it as a pastor. Sixteen years later, I’m still learning.
4. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?
Ironically, I’d like to quote a Baptist (some of whom have elders but none of whom have presbyteries) on this point: “A crucial part of an elder’s work is knowing how to submit to other biblically qualified, gifted, and Spirit-filled men who will, from time to time, see a matter differently. It’s proud to think this will never happen, and it’s proud to think the other elders should always submit to you.”[2]
5. Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?
Pastoral failures are always heart-breaking. I’ve seen too many, and frankly, even one is too many. I’ve seen more than one, and I don’t think they ever become less heartbreaking. As JC Ryle says, “Men fall in private long before they fall in public.”
What might also be good to remember is this - rarely does a man (unless he can answer this question with a bald-faced lie) start out pursuing the wrong things in ministry. Usually, men have pure motives, at least as pure as they can be on this side of heaven. It’s what happens later that Satan uses to tempt them away - thorns that choke away their spiritual cares. If I can sound Piper-esque for a moment: Brothers, love the gospel. Love Christ. Love His Kingdom. Long to see God’s Churches full, that all the chosen race may with one heart and soul and voice sing His redeeming grace!
6. Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?
Zeal without Burnout by Christopher Ashley is one of the best books I’ve read in the past decade. It strikes the right balance both in its title and content. We need to be zealous to do the work of an evangelist and all other aspects of our sacred calling. And we need to avoid burnout and pace ourselves. I’ve heard some say self care is overrated, an excuse for laziness. I’ve also seen (and experienced) what it’s like to burn the candle at both ends and resist the call to rest. Frankly, I think those dueling voice may be talking past each other. Of course we need to work hard, and we should be unafraid to plainly say it. And of course, we who know the finished work of Christ need to rest, to know that our livelihood and our church’s health is not dependent on my never taking a week off. Zeal without burnout. It can happen. It’s a good goal. Read Ash’s book for the rest.
7. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?
Will you adorn the gospel? Will others think more highly of Christianity because of how you conduct yourself in this calling? A question like that hit me like a ton of bricks when I took similar vows a few years before my ordination, during the process of “coming under care” of presbytery. Best I can tell, it was the first question in BCO 18-3, which doesn’t seem overly severe as I read it now. But I remember the gravity of that feeling, and I think it was a good thing then and now to feel a bit of holy fear for the path I was undertaking.
8. Are you now willing to take the charge of this church, agreeable to your declaration when accepting their call? And do you, relying upon God for strength, promise to discharge to it the duties of a pastor?
There’s not a ton to say here, except that this vow is properly numbered. It should be last. After you’ve considered all that other stuff - with all the weightiness and formality of it all - are you still willing to take this calling to be pastor of this church, full of ordinary sinners redeemed by God’s extraordinary, sufficient, and enabling grace?
Yes? Then remember PCA Membership vow #3 and walk in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit as you endeavor to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. Because no matter how high you rise (if ordination and service in the Church constitute rising), you will still need humble reliance upon His grace.
Amen. Godspeed, ordinands.
[1] Trueman, Crisis of Confidence.
[2] Anyabwile, Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, 102–3.