Minister (Christianity)

In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community.

[2] In other traditions such as Baptist, Methodist, and Reformed groups like Congregationalists and Presbyterians, the term "minister" usually refers to a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may serve as an elder (presbyter), pastor, preacher, bishop, or chaplain.

They are to be messengers, watchmen and stewards of the Lord; they are to teach and to admonish, to feed and provide for his family, to search for his children in the wilderness of this world's temptations, and to guide them through its confusions, that they may be saved through Christ forever.

They are to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to walk with them in the way of Christ, nurturing them in the faith.

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and some Methodist denominations have applied the formal, church-based leadership or an ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import.

After compulsory celibacy was abolished during the Reformation in northern Europe, the formation of a partly hereditary priestly class became possible, whereby wealth and clerical positions were frequently inheritable.

Among these central traditions have been baptism, confirmation, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, marriage, the mass or the divine service, and coronations.

A bishop is nominally in control of a financially assisted parish but delegates authority to a vicar (related to the prefix "vice" meaning substitute or deputy).

The term Clerk in Holy Orders is still the official title for certain Christian clergy and its usage is prevalent in canon law.

The similar words "Dominie", "Dominee" and "Dom", all derived from the Latin domine (vocative case of Dominus "Lord, Master"), are used in related contexts.

[5][6] Dom or Dominus, as well as the English equivalent, Sir were often used as titles for priests in England up to the 17th century who held Bachelor of Arts degrees.

[7] Chaplain as in English or almoner (preferred in many other languages) or their equivalents refer to a minister who has another type of pastoral "target group" than a territorial parish congregation (or in addition to one), such as a military units, schools and hospitals.

Elders (in Greek, πρεσβυτερος [presbuteros]; see Presbyter) in Christianity are involved in the collective leadership of a local church or of a denomination.

Agents ramify in many ways to act and be in touch with the people in daily life and developing religious projects, socio-political and infrastructural.

In 2021 excavations at the site of a Byzantine-era Christian basilica revealed floor mosaics which provide evidence of women serving as ministers, including deacons, in the church.

The Episcopal Church, the United States branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, was as of 2016[update] divided over the issue of ordination of non-celibate gay people.

As Anglicanism represents a broad range of theological opinion, its presbyterate includes priests who consider themselves no different in any respect from those of the Catholic Church, some parishes and dioceses in "Low Church" or Evangelical circles prefer to use the title presbyter or "minister" in order to distance themselves from the more sacrificial theological implications which they associate with the word "priest".

In Germany and Austria priests are addressed as "Hochwürden" (meaning "very worthy") or with their title of office (Herr Pfarrer, i.e. Mr. Parson).

The French "Monsieur" (like the German "Mein Herr", the Italian "Signor" and the Spanish "Señor") also signifies "My Lord", a title commonly used in times past for any person of rank, clerical or lay.