Prayer for Good Friday

Good Friday provides an opportunity to meditate on our need for Easter. When we survey the wondrous cross, we pour contempt on our pride, and come with sharpened hunger to the festal table the risen Christ spreads for us on Easter morn.

If you are in the Washington, DC, area during Holy Week, you are welcome to join us for our Good Friday service, which is usually held at 6:00 pm. Please check our website to confirm service times this year (2021 Good Friday service details here). 

Prayer for Good Friday

Included in the Liturgical Forms and Prayers of the URCNA is a prayer for use in a Good Friday service. Though intended for public worship, this prayer is also commended for personal or family use as well:

Our Father, who so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son, we acknowledge and marvel at Your mercy. Even while we were enemies, You reconciled us; even while we were strangers, You made us fellow heirs with Christ of all eternal blessings; even while we stood condemned, You redeemed us; even while we were imprisoned, You delivered us from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. On this solemn occasion, we loathe our miserable estate and celebrate Your marvelous grace. Beneath the cross of Christ, we come to know that ours is the guilt, but Yours the forgiveness; ours the condemnation, but Yours the gift of justification; ours the bondage, yet Yours the freedom of adoption and new obedience. Even the faith with which we confess our dear Savior’s sacrifice was won for us by His death. Therefore, we cry out to You in sorrow for our sins and in thanksgiving for Your gift. Give us the grace, we pray, to receive again this word of the cross, which alone can refresh us on our pilgrim way, and send us out again into the world as witnesses to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

Many American Christians tend to be a bit allergic to written prayers, but they are an important part of the Reformed tradition on the European continent. While such prayers are for voluntary use — our Church Order doesn’t require them — they are a valued resource. While they are suitable to be read in the home or for a service, they can also serve as useful outlines for more extemporaneous prayers.

What follows is a brief commentary on our Good Friday prayer.

Commentary

Our Father, who so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son, we acknowledge and marvel at Your mercy. 

Our prayer opens by addressing God as Father, as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 6:9, and acknowledging the great mercy he showed us by sending his Son to die for us on the cross. Our Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that the Creator God “is my God and Father for the sake of Christ his Son.” The death of Jesus secured our adoption as sons and daughters so that we pray to God as our Father. 

Even while we were enemies, You reconciled us; even while we were strangers, You made us fellow heirs with Christ of all eternal blessings; even while we stood condemned, You redeemed us; even while we were imprisoned, You delivered us from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. 

The first petition, as it were, is a confession of sorts acknowledging the fallen state we find ourselves in apart from God’s mercy: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God sent Jesus to die for us while we were enemies, strangers, condemned, imprisoned, and under the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. By beginning our prayer with this humble approach, we acknowledge the magnitude of God’s gift given on Good Friday.

This is always a wonderful way to start our prayers to a holy God, and this form provides an excellent model for us.

On this solemn occasion, we loathe our miserable estate and celebrate Your marvelous grace. Beneath the cross of Christ, we come to know that ours is the guilt, but Yours the forgiveness; ours the condemnation, but Yours the gift of justification; ours the bondage, yet Yours the freedom of adoption and new obedience. Even the faith with which we confess our dear Savior’s sacrifice was won for us by His death. 

Next, the prayer moves to the particular occasion for which it is offered, Good Friday.

Good Friday is one of the “evangelical feast days” that celebrate the saving works of our savior. Reformed Christians don’t hold to a church calendar, per se. We desire our worship to be biblical, and we do not believe the New Testament teaches us that keeping a calendar of feast days is a useful pattern for the people of God in the new covenant (Colossians 2:16). Rather, we hold that the weekly rhythm of the Lord’s Day is the most important liturgical rhythm for saints under the new covenant and that Christians should celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. 

And yet, we acknowledge that it is reasonable and permissible to regularly, even annually, acknowledge key anniversaries in the history of redemption. Good Friday is one such “solemn occasion.” We should “preach Christ and him crucified” in every sermon, but on Good Friday we are able to dwell on the weighty message of the cross. Thus, on Good Friday the purpose of the cross of Christ, in particular, is highlighted, namely, our great sin which required such a great sacrifice. 

The special services Reformed Christians mark are called “evangelical feast days” because they are based on the crucial gospel (evangelical) events in our Savior’s life. We believe Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the spirit may be celebrated with annual services that focus on Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Reformed Christians preserved these ancient celebrations because they were not man-made or man-focused, unlike the medieval church calendar’s celebration of saints’ days and other feasts.

One of the benefits of marking Good Friday is that it allows for a robust celebration and focus on the resurrection on Easter Sunday. There is no Easter joy without Good Friday sorrow — the story of the cross and the tomb are intertwined. But celebrating both of these radical extremes in a single service can be quite difficult. As a result, Easter in the modern church often skims over the bad news of the cross. We believe there is wisdom and richness in given each moment in Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection its due attention.

Therefore, we cry out to You in sorrow for our sins and in thanksgiving for Your gift. Give us the grace, we pray, to receive again this word of the cross, which alone can refresh us on our pilgrim way, and send us out again into the world as witnesses to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

Again I say: Good Friday provides an opportunity to meditate on our need for Easter. Confess your sin, pour contempt on your pride, and come with a sharpened hunger for the festal table the risen Christ spreads for you on Easter morn.

We hope you’ll join us for our Good Friday service at Christ Reformed Church.

Discipleship and Discipline: The Most Distinctive Mark

This article was originally published in two parts in Christian Renewal magazine, December 2019.

It is perhaps a silly question to ask what is the most distinctive among the three marks of the true church that are set forth in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession.

After all, we are not living in a golden age of preaching, and the sacramental theology of the Belgic confession has rarely held sway in the Reformed churches, much less broad protestant Christianity. The pure preaching of the gospel and the pure administration of the sacraments are surely distinctive marks in our day. 

Yet I think I can make a case that church discipline may be the most distinctive, and perhaps the most overlooked, of the three marks. It may also be the most poorly understood, even among members of Reformed churches that are formally committed to its practice. 

Discipline and Discipleship

Recently, I’ve had a reason to think long and hard about church discipline here at our church in Washington, DC, and I’d like to spend a few columns sharing those thoughts with you. 

No, I haven’t been thinking about church discipline because we are in the middle of a messy discipline case or have a greater than usual need for “correcting faults” at the moment. Rather, I’ve been thinking about discipline as I wrestle with the challenge of recruiting, training, and retaining church officers at our church in DC, particularly elders. As I’ve reflected on the role of elders and their necessity in a Reformed church, I keep coming back to the mark of discipline.

Like virtually every small church I know, Washington DC has struggled to ordain a sufficient number of men to serve as elders. We organized with a single elder in 2016, and in 2018, when this elder moved away, we were able to ordain three new elders. That lasted less than eighteen months, and now two more elders are moving away. The standard challenge of a small Reformed congregation is exacerbated in an urban context. With very few stable residents, and few older retired men, and very few members who grew up in a Reformed church, the challenge is severe. 

So why does it matter? Why do we need elders, anyway? If elders are just a governing board for the church, as a non-profit board, why can’t anyone serve in this capacity? 

Well, one answer to that question is the Reformed conviction that “church discipline” is a mark of the true church. 

One of our elders put it best when he noted that the shepherding role of elders is ultimately much more powerful when it functions in a proactive, formative fashion, encouraging and nurturing praiseworthy behavior. This is far more effective than punishing errant behavior, responding to faults among God’s people in a reactive and corrective fashion. As the old adage goes, you catch more flies with honey, and as every parent knows, positive feedback that praises good behavior is a far more effective manner of formation than negative feedback that seeks to correct faults. Like water flowing over a rock, positive encouragement shapes God’s people gradually, consistently, and effectively over time. 

Another way to say this is that discipleship — walking daily with God’s people — is the positive side of discipline. Discipline and discipleship are thus two sides of the same coin, the one positive and the other negative. The close relationship between these two concepts is reflected conveniently in the close relationship of the two words. 

Now, in saying this I’m sure I’m not saying anything in the least novel or radical. Any elder worth his salt would say that this is obviously the case. However, it is a basic point that isn’t very often taught and explained to God’s people, which is unfortunate. While discussing church discipline in a recent officer training session, someone mentioned that they typically thought of discipline as the bad or negative mark. And anything that is perceived as being negative will naturally not attract our attention or our affection. 

What church wants to be known as the discipline church? None, really. But, in contrast, what if you said that you were a church that took discipleship seriously? That committed serious efforts and training to this positive, pastoral, and formative practice?

The Nature of the Relationship Between Discipline and Discipleship

When we understand that discipline and discipleship go hand in hand — that the one is the positive expression and the other the negative expression of the same reality — this opens up new perspectives on the distinctively Reformed understanding of the work of the elder in the true church.

Positive discipleship as a daily practice is the essential building block of faithful church discipline. You see this when you consider what Matthew 18 teaches about church discipline. The familiar steps of discipline emphasize the importance of discipleship: First, take your offense directly to your brother; second, take trusted, neutral witnesses to confront your brother; third (and only third), tell it to the church. 

When “church discipline” is understood merely as the formal, churchly matter of step three, it is overwhelming in a negative, and often a punitive, matter. By the time it has gotten to that stage, the sinner has been confronted with the ugliness of his sin on at least two occasions. He’s dug in his heels over his offensive behavior, which was serious enough in the first place to deserve a loving rebuke. 

But properly understood, “church discipline” also includes the first two steps. Church discipline includes the first faithful act of going and telling a brother his fault, keeping matters “between you and him alone.” This act is premised upon a relationship, upon the faithful daily prayer and practice of forgiving debts as they have been forgiven. This requires a vital and trusting relationship between two members of the body of Christ — be they friends, spouses, parent and child, or mere acquaintances. Church discipline requires eschewing gossip and griping. It requires courage to confront. It requires daily practice of repentance, daily confession of sin.

This first step of discipline — telling your brother his fault — is closer to our idea of discipleship, than our traditional concept of “discipline.” Think about it in terms of frequency. Church discipline, in this sense, should occur daily in your church, not once a year or once a decade. When church discipline is understood holistically, including the first step with the third, it becomes a mark of the church that should be on display each and every day. 

Elders, Discipleship, and Discipline

So where do the elders fit in with this first step of discipline? 

First of all, this first step of discipline requires the presence of the gospel, and the elders are the front line in assuring that the gospel is the heart of the church’s pulpit ministry. Believers can only confess and confront one another with their sins when they have a healthy sense that God justifies the wicked, that they are sinners saved by grace. Every preacher, even the best preacher, needs the regular oversight and accountability of faithful elders. Reminding him when he hits the mark, warning him when he veers off into moralism or topical preaching that obscures Christ and him crucified. When our preaching reminds us all daily that we are “simultaneously sinners and saints,” we will be more inclined to hear and receive the loving rebuke in joy. Elders must take seriously their role in ensuring the pure preaching of the word. 

Second, this preached word needs to be subjectively applied in the church, which is a related but distinct task to overseeing the objective content of the word. Elders are the key eyes and ears of the body of Christ, as they engage in relationships with God’s people. Ask any pastor, it can be very difficult to get a clear read on how effective your preaching is: “Great sermon, pastor!” Faithful elders, however, can discern through conversation exactly what pulpit message is cutting through the haze and being received by God’s people. They can only do this when they have established vibrant, discipling relationships with the flock under their care. Not only does this provide feedback to the preacher in his pulpit ministry, it allows the elder to himself magnify and apply the message to the flock. 

The third aspect of the Elder’s role in discipline is hospitality. You are only going to feel free to confront, and to confess, your sins to a brother when a close and intimate relationship has been established. It is necessary that believers come to know one another as family, as brothers and sisters in the Lord. And that bond is ultimately forged in the radical practice of Christian hospitality.

Rosaria Butterfield describes Christian hospitality as making space for outsiders and insiders alike to enter into a uniquely Christian community, to be vulnerable, and to share our burdens with one another. I do not mean by this to exclude the pastor from the practice and modeling of hospitality, but as a simple matter of scale, the elders are required to extend and model this ministry throughout the body of the church. Thus, all faithful under-shepherds become the hands and feet of our Lord, modeling the loving, caring relationships in the church that are willing to cut through the superficial relationships of our entertainment age. This happens over the breaking of bread and through the shedding of tears. It is largely in the practice of hospitality that the preached word is embodied and carried and applied in the life of the church. 

Think again of the subject of frequency we addressed above. When we think only of the third, or extreme, phase of discipline, it is an infrequent and occasional practice in the church. How important can that be to the daily life of the church? But when we incorporate the first phase of discipline, it is a regular practice of the church. It is in the elders that the congregation sees mature believers receiving the preached word and putting it into practice in their daily life. The pastor, a preacher, cannot daily model that receiving and enacting behavior. 

The Most Distinctive Mark

How faithfully is the first step of discipline — daily confrontation, confession, and forgiveness — practiced in Presbyterian and Reformed churches? How distinctive is this discipline, when it is faithfully practiced? How self-consciously do our elders understand the nature of their task as the hands and feet of the Lord, receiving God’s gospel word, putting it into practice, and through Christian hospitality and discipleship creating the space for repentance and forgiveness?

In my view, this is a radically overlooked, and under-appreciated mark of the church. But connecting discipline with discipleship, and teasing out the elder’s role in this work, is really only the first step in restore discipline to its rightful place alongside word and sacrament. 

In the remainder of this article, we’ll explore the vital connection between the first step of discipline, and the final or extreme step. Perhaps our weakness in attending to the first phase of discipline explains why the third phase isn’t often practiced in our churches and often doesn’t go well when it is. We’ll also see how the mark of discipline is also properly entailed in the mark of pure sacraments, and how the Lord’s Supper is the manifestation of the church’s discipling and disciplined relationship with her people.  

Private Repentance is Also a Manifestation of Church Discipline

The URCNA Church Order teaches us that Christian discipline is spiritual in nature. When properly exercised; God is glorified, sinners are reconciled with God, neighbor, and church; and the offense is removed from the church of Christ. These are spiritual blessings, wrought by the Holy Spirit through the power of the gospel applied to God’s people through the preached word and the sacraments (Article 51).

Subsequently, we are taught that in the case of private sins, the rule taught in Matthew 18 shall be followed. This passage is well known among believers, but it is worth quoting the key portion in full:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matt 18:15 – 17)

I think we tend to think of church discipline as only the final phase of Christ’s instruction when the sin of an obstinate brother is told to the church. In the Reformed tradition, the consistory represents “the church” in this proceeding. Perhaps it might even be the case that we only think church discipline is occurring when someone receives the sanction, i.e., “is disciplined.” But this is too negative a view. We should understand “discipline” to be everything up to and including the sanction, when necessary.

I think a plain reading of both Matthew 18 and our church order should acknowledge that the private interaction between a sinner and his offended brother is a part of church discipline, as well as the case where one or two witnesses are involved. Indeed, it is impossible to reach the ultimate phase of discipline without first working through these first phases. Furthermore, when successful, these first two phases are indeed accomplishing the ultimate goals of discipline: God is glorified, reconciliation takes place, and the offense is removed from the church of Christ. All of this takes place without the consistory even being aware (CO Article 53).

How then might we know it is happening? Well, it is far more likely that we will know when it is not happening, and often it is not. Christ’s instructions for addressing private sins are simple, but that doesn’t mean they are easy. Indeed, this is the fruit of much gospel ministry, when victims of sin respond not in anger but in love, humbly and lovingly seeking repentance. It is a miraculous work of the Spirit every time a sinner receives a reproof in love and repents of his sin. These simple acts — which, given our great sinfulness, should occur frequently — are incredibly difficult. They are fruits of the Spirit… not fruits of our own efforts.

Indeed, in my last column, I pointed out the importance of Elders as faithful under-shepherds in cultivating these regular acts of discipline in the church. Often, I think pastors and elders will need to model and encourage private discipline among their flock. Preaching alone may drive some of this activity, but a great deal more will occur through the faithful guidance of Elders discipling the church in the work of private discipline.

Private Discipline and the Ultimate Phase of Discipline

It should be obvious that a church that regularly practices private discipline among its members will in all likelihood experience the ultimate phase of discipline — excommunication — less frequently. Little sins do give birth to bigger ones. The more aware we are that sin is ever crouching at the door, the more faithful we can be in repenting from it and averting its advance.

Perhaps not as obvious is that church discipline will likely go much better at the consistory level when the preceding steps have faithfully been attended to. It may in fact be the case that more matters are reported to the Consistory if more private confrontation is taking place. The more private sins that are dealt with, the more private sins will eventually make their way before the elders of the church. 

Let’s take an example from church history. We possess the rather copious minutes of the Genevan Consistory during Calvin’s tenure as pastor, and Reformation historians often chuckle at some of the cases that made their way before consistory. For instance, the man named his dog after Calvin. By our standards today, this seems like a rather petty matter, and perhaps it seems a bit invasive that the church should become involved in such a case. But in context, this matter was a rather public offense, meant to humiliate an officer of the church precisely because of how he was exercising the spiritual authority of the pulpit. When conflict like this is tolerated or excused, greater offenses, greater disparagement of the church’s authority are sure to follow. 

Perhaps if we addressed conflict more faithfully, more regularly, even when it seems a bit petty, we could avoid some of the full-flowering of this conflict when it develops? Perhaps faithful discipline, in both the earlier and later phases, could soften hearts and reconcile sinners.

Discipline and the Sacraments

Faithful church discipline — private and public — is crucial to reaping one of the central benefits of the sacraments, namely, their ability to seal the gospel promises unto us.

Our confessions teach that sacraments are “visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible” (Belgic Confession Article 33), they help us understand the promise of the gospel and seal that promise (Heidelberg Catechism 66). In my experience, it’s pretty easy to grasp the “sign” aspect of the sacraments. They are pictures of God’s gospel: the washing away of our sins in baptism by the blood of Christ, the broken body, and the shed blood in the supper portray the work of the cross.

But sealing is another matter. I think the key to understanding the sealing function of the sacraments is their particularity. The preaching of the gospel is general; it is heard far and wide. Anyone can hear it, a passerby on the street (if the church door or windows are open), or a family visitor or guest attending a relative’s baptism. 

In contrast, the sacraments are particular — they literally touch particular individuals. They come in physical contact only with those covenant members who properly receive them from the hands of Christ’s ministers. The sacraments thus discriminate, and the ministers of the church are called upon to apply the discriminatory criteria of Christ our Lord in determining who should receive them. Herein lies the sealing function of the sacraments.

When you receive a sacrament — most frequently the Lord’s Supper, but also one’s own baptism, even if primarily in the recollection of the thing — you are receiving not only the elements themselves but also the pledge and blessing of the church. The sacramental recipient is told through the rite that he is a member of Christ, a member in good standing of the covenant community. 

Do you ever doubt the gospel? Of course. Do you ever doubt that the preached word applies to you? Perhaps. Can it really be true? Can the Father really love me that much, would he, if he knew my darkest sins? 

The sacraments come to us in all their particularity and tell us “this gospel is true of you, this spiritual reality has touched even you.” That is the sealing function of the sacraments. They function like an embossed seal on a birth certificate that ensures that it is an official government document, which proves that this piece of paper has come in contact with a certain government official, namely, the one who wields the seal and has authority to make the document official. Thus, the gospel touches us, is authenticated in us, in the sealing of the sacraments.

That is a beautiful, profound, and comforting truth. God knows the weakness of our faith and gives sacraments as crutches to support it.

Do you see now how the sealing function depends in large part upon the faithful exercise of discipline in the church? The ministers of Christ church administer the sacraments faithfully, and in a trustworthy fashion, only insofar as the church exhibits the mark of discipline. For their application of the sacrament to this sinner to truly seal the sacramental blessing it is necessary that they know that this sinner has been born in a covenant home (in the case of baptism), or has made a credible profession of faith and is living as a repentant sinner in the sure hope the grace of Christ (in the case of the supper).

In other words, for the sacrament to seal, discipline and discipling must be taking place in the church. So in our Reformed understanding, the ordinary fencing of the table is an essential element of a well-disciplined church, and it is important for the sacraments to accomplish their aim. Also, the extreme sanction of discipline — exclusion from the supper and even excommunication — is to the benefit of both the unrepentant sinner and of those who come faithfully to the supper. They thus know the pledge of the church concerning their faith is sincere. We may have healthy disagreements about how we fence the table, but Reformed churches must remain committed to doing so.

Conclusion: The Virtuous Cycle of Word, Sacrament, Discipline

When the promises of the gospel are sacramentally sealed to sinners on a regular basis — and when this sealing function is empowered by the faithful discipline of the church — sinners are in a much better position to regularly confront and repent of sins, both their sins and the sins of other. They know they are sinner-saints, covered by the blood of Jesus, and grow in this confidence. The word preached resonates more strongly. Thus our Lord’s Supper form says, 

“As the Word has promised us God’s favor, so also our heavenly Father has added this confirmation of His unchangeable promise. So come, believing sinners, for the Table is ready. “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” ”

— URCNA Forms and Prayers, “Celebration of the Lord’s Supper: Short Form 1”

The promises proclaimed by the word preached are confirmed by the sacrament and applied in our lives by both private and public discipline. Forgiveness is heard, felt, and experienced. It is given and received, first from God in Christ, and then among the members within his body.

Our flocks should be encouraged to practice discipline by confronting offenses from a brother, by repenting when confronted, and by forgiving one another. This is a mark which they, as much as the officers of the church, must pursue in their daily lives. Would that the Lord would give us the grace to practice this kind of discipline in our churches. Then our churches would truly be distinctively places where the Gospel is known, through this most distinctive mark.

The Form for the Ordination of Ministers of Word and Sacrament

We are a liturgical church, in keeping with our Dutch Reformed tradition. In this post, we continue our series of blog entries providing commentary on the United Reformed Church’s liturgical forms contained in our Book of Forms and Prayers. All of these forms, including the form for the Ordination (or Installation) of Ministers of Word and Sacrament, can be found online at formsandprayers.com.

Ordination of Ministers is an essential work of the church, and this liturgical form, though infrequently used, contains a rich vein of instruction for Christ’s church. It is a valuable practice for the congregation to read through this form before an ordination service, that they might benefit all the more from the instruction they will receive during the ordination service.

Congregation of Jesus Christ, the Council has made known to you the name of our brother _________, who is now to be ordained to the ministry of the Word and sacraments (or: installed in the ministry to which he has been called).

The form begins by naming the “brother” to be ordained, because the United Reformed Churches of North America (URCNA), in keeping with the teaching of the word of God and the ancient practice of the Christian church, ordain only men to the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament. This is far from a universal practice today and definitely founded upon counter-cultural claims God’s work makes about the very nature of God’s creation and our humanity. God’s word clearly teaches that we are created “in the image of God,” “male and female.” Men and women thus equally reflect the image of God, and share in equality of nature (Genesis 1:26-27), but not without a diversity of callings and roles that is taught throughout scripture.

It is far outside the scope of this blog post to fully address the many issues related to gender, but it is important to reflect on how these issues are reflected in a church’s practice and teaching about ordination. It is important to note that the biblical teaching about the ordination of ministers throughout teaches that men are uniquely called to this office, and the bible furthermore teaches that this diversity of callings within the church is grounded in the creation order itself (1 Timothy 2:8-15). While many women played a crucial role ministering to the Lord during his earthly ministry (Mark 15:41) and served as the first witnesses to the resurrection (Mark 16:7), Christ called twelve men to serve as his Apostles (Mark 3:13-14). Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy clarifies that this is not merely due to the cultural biases of his time, but is grounded in the creation order itself.

While many in our age may disagree strongly with our practice, we are convinced that we must submit to the clear teaching of the Word of God on this matter. Furthermore, we should not abandon lightly this teaching of Christ and the Apostles which has been the longstanding practice of the church.

Note that a minister is only “ordained” once. When he takes up the office of Minister in a new church, he is “installed” in that office. This form is used for both of those services.

The Holy Scriptures teach us that Christ Jesus gathers, protects, and preserves for Himself a church out of the corrupt race of men for life eternal and gives to His church such teaching and care that she may grow in faith, love, and service. For this work, Christ, by a particular grace, uses men, appointing them to the preaching of the gospel and for the building up of His body. The apostle Paul solemnly charged Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2), and our Lord Jesus charged His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). The apostle Paul declares that the Lord Jesus Christ has given “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12). For this reason, the church has recognized the distinct office of the minister of the Word.

The work of ordination is the work of Christ himself. It is his work of growing and building the church, which is uniquely the place of his saving activity in this fallen world. So our understanding of ordination is first grounded upon our understanding of the church itself. For a fuller appreciation of what we confess about the church, see our Belgic Confession, Articles 27 – 35).

A man may not and cannot set himself apart from this work. Because ordination is Christ’s work, it is not merely the work or credential of the man being ordained. Rather, Christ is through the church making a “solemn approval of and attestation to a man’s inward call, his gifts, and his calling by the church” (Book of Order, XX.2, Orthodox Presbyterian Church).

The URCNA, along with most Reformed churches which had their roots in continental Europe, understand the Minister of the Word to be a distinct office from Elder, as opposed to a “Teaching Elder” that is a subset of this office. While this is not a major difference, it is reflected in our form.

The minister of the Word is called by the command of God to preach the gospel of His kingdom. This preaching has the twofold object of calling sinners to reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ and nurturing believers in the faith and life of the kingdom of God. Ministers are called “ambassadors for Christ,” as though He were pleading by them, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). Therefore, this preaching must be addressed to all people. The preaching of the gospel must especially be addressed to the gathered congregation for the nurturing of Christian faith and life and for strengthening them against all error. Paul charged Timothy “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus …: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). And he charged Titus that a minister “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). The minister of the Word is called to administer the sacraments which the Lord has instituted as signs and seals of His grace. Christ gave this charge to His apostles, and through them to all ministers of the Word, when He commanded them to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), and when He said of the Lord’s Supper: “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24-25). The minister of the Word is called to the service of prayer. In speaking of their calling, the apostles say, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). So, too, it is the calling of all God’s ministers to lead the people of God in “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings … for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

The first calling of the minister is to preach to the gospel of the Kingdom, which has a twofold object. The minister must address sinners outside the church, calling them to faith in Christ and reconciliation with God. Further, the minister must nurture believers In their faith and life in the Kingdom.

As suggested by the title of this office, “Minister of Word and Sacrament,” the minister is also called to administer the sacraments. The Apostles were commanded to baptize and to “do this in remembrance of me” with regard to the Lord’s Supper. John Calvin called the sacraments “a visible word,” and their administration is the special charge of the minister because the sacraments depend upon the preaching of the word. They cannot be celebrated apart from the ministry of the word, and the proper celebration of the sacraments entails the instruction of the Word. They are Christ’s sacraments, and therefore, to be administered by his ministers.

Finally, the minister is called to prayer. This includes both prayer for God’s people and the leading of prayer with God’s people. The pastoral prayer, though sadly a fading practice in the Christian church, is a crucial ministry of Christ among his people here at Christ Reformed Church.

The minister of the Word is called, together with the elders, to shepherd the people of God in their Christian life, giving guidance and counsel in all that they need, exhorting them to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and keeping the church of God in good order and discipline. They are pastors, appointed to shepherd the church of Christ, which He purchased with His own blood, in keeping with the Lord’s command: “Feed my lambs.… Feed my sheep” (John 21:15,17). They, together with the elders, watch over the house of God for the right and fruitful ordering of the faith and life and worship of the people of God. In their exercise of the keys of the kingdom, what they “bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,” and what they “loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18).

While all believers have a duty and obligation to care for one another in the church, the body of Christ, ministers along with elders have a special obligation to do so. They must know their sheep, their needs, their burdens, their weaknesses, so they may care for them faithfully. They also exercise the keys of the kingdom, with discipline being one of the marks of the church (Belgic Confession, Article 29). When the minster spreads the Lord’s table for a member of Christ’s church, he is publicly affirming that this individual believer is, according to their known doctrine and life, a child of God and a member of the body of Christ.

At this point, the Ordination Form provides different paragraphs for different offices unto which ministers may be ordained:

1. As a pastor of an established congregation

2. A foreign missionary

3. A home missionary (or church planter)

4. A teacher of theology (in a theological school or seminary)

5. Someone called to another task, such as a chaplaincy

Here we will look at the portion of the form dealing with a man called to pastor an established congregation.

We now proceed to ordain [or: install] brother _______ as a minister of the Word and sacraments in this congregation. We rejoice that the Lord Jesus, in His faithful love, has provided a minister to serve as pastor and teacher to this people, and also as their leader in the missionary calling of this church. We receive this servant of our Lord from the hand and heart of the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. We are grateful that our Savior has committed preaching, teaching, and pastoral care to the office of the minister of the Word, and that He will continue to use sinful men for such high and holy purposes until the day of His return.

No one is able to fulfill this holy ministry in his own strength; therefore, we set our hope on Jesus Christ our Lord, who said: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

I love how we are reminded yet again that the minister is received “from the hand and heart of the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.” Furthermore, ministers are sinful men. Their ordination does not reflect superhuman piety or gifting. They are members of the body of Christ, like every other believer, but they have been called and set apart for a special task. Ministers are like the Levites in the Old Testament, who didn’t receive an inheritance in the land — that is, a common calling of farming and laboring in the world — but rather were set apart to guard and keep the temple and worship of the Lord.

Now, in order that it may appear that you, ______, are willing to accept this office, you are requested to stand, and in the presence of God and His church give your answer to the following questions:

1. Do you believe that in the call of this congregation you are called by God Himself to this holy ministry?

2. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice, and do you reject every doctrine in conflict with them?

3. Do you promise to discharge the duties of your office faithfully, to conduct yourself worthily of this calling, and to submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church?

Answer: I do so believe and promise, God helping me.

The ordinand here publicly testifies of their personal agreement with the call of God in and through the call of the congregation. In speaking of the call to ministry, we distinguish between the subjective call and the objective call. A minister’s call isn’t merely a feeling he has of a personal purpose and opinion of his own gifts. Indeed, a call isn’t real until it is received “in the call of the congregation.”

Furthermore, the ordinand indicates their agreement with God’s word and rejects all doctrines in conflict with them. URCNA Church Order Article 6 makes clear that at this point in the service, “before the laying on of hands,” the ordinand is to sign the Form of Subscription. Those who sign the Form of Subscription not only commit to teach and defend the doctrine of Scripture and the confessions, they also commit themselves to reject all errors that militate against it. This includes admitting to one’s elders any disagreements with the church’s doctrine which may arise at any time and submitting honestly to the review of the church.

The officiating minister shall then say (in the case of ordination: with the ceremony of the laying on of hands, other ministers present participating):

May God, our heavenly Father, who has called you to this holy office, enlighten you with His Spirit, strengthen you with His hand, and so govern you in your ministry that you may be engaged in it faithfully and fruitfully, to the glory of His name and the coming of the kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The laying on of hands is not a magical act that transfers power from one individual to another. It is an apostolic practice that symbolizes that the ordination comes not from Christ through his ministers (Acts 6:6,13:3, 1 Timothy 4:14,5:12). Christ’s servants, the ministers in the church, express their agreement and approval of this call, and the qualifications and gifts necessary to fulfill the call. This is why Paul instructs us to “not be hasty” in this act. Furthermore, it reflects the fact that Christ himself is calling this man to ministry through the entirety of the visible church, especially when visiting ministers and elders from other churches are able to participate in the act.

The officiating minister shall address the congregation:

Dear people of God and members of this church, since this solemn act involves obligations also on your part, I ask you before God:

1. Do you, in the name of the Lord, welcome this brother as your pastor?

2. Do you promise to receive the Word of God proclaimed by him and to encourage him in the discharge of his duty?

3. Will you pray that he may, in the power of the Spirit, equip you in the work of advancing God’s kingdom for the honor of Christ our Lord, the building up of His church, and the salvation of men?

To these questions, what is your answer?

Answer: We do, God helping us.

The local congregation has a role to play in the ordination of the minister as well and takes vows to fulfill this work. They will welcome him as their pastor, receive God’s word proclaimed by him, encourage him, and pray for him. Our Church Order stipulates that the Council of the local church can only call a man after having received the advice of the congregation, who therefore plays a crucial role in the selection of their pastor. Classis, the regional body, also plays a role, having examined those who become candidates for a call.

After the completion of the vows, an elder or minister issues a charge to the minister:

Beloved brother and fellow servant in Christ, take heed to yourself and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you a guardian, to feed the church of the Lord which He obtained with His own blood. Love Christ and feed His sheep, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, and not domineering over those in your charge, but humbly serving all. Set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Attend to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching, and to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have. Take heed to your teaching. Be patient in all trials. Be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will obtain the unfading crown of glory.

The ordination service is not only a milestone in the life of the church, it is a milestone in the life of the minister. It is his ministerial birthday. The charge impresses the significance of the call of Christ upon the new minister, echoing much of the language we see in Paul’s letters to Timothy.

It is followed by a corresponding charge to the congregation:

And you, beloved Christians, receive your minister in the Lord with all joy, and hold him in honor. Remember that through him God Himself speaks to you. Receive the Word that he, according to the Scripture, shall preach to you, not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God. Let the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and bring the good news, be beautiful and pleasant to you. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17). If you do these things, the God of peace shall enter your homes. You who receive this man in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward, and through faith in Jesus Christ, the inheritance of eternal life.

Moderns Christians, and particularly Modern American Christians, are rugged individualists. We don’t take well to authority. The charge reminds us that, while Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden is light — it is still a yoke. The Heidelberg Catechism’s teaching on the fifth commandment reminds us that we are to bear patiently with the failings of those God puts in authority over us (Heidelberg Catechism, 104).

Finally, the form closes by calling on God in prayer, which includes a congregational recitation of the Lord’s prayer.

No man is of himself sufficient for these things. Let us call upon the name of God:

Merciful Father, we are thankful that it pleases You by the ministry of men to gather Your church out of the lost human race to life eternal. We acknowledge the gift of this, Your servant, sent to this people as a messenger of Your peace. Send now the Holy Spirit upon him. Enlighten his mind to know the truth of Your Word. Give him the ability to make known the mystery of the gospel with boldness. Grant him the wisdom to care for and guide the people over whom he is placed. Through his ministry, build up Your holy church, and grant her increase in number and in virtue. Give Your servant courage through Your Spirit to fulfill his calling against every difficulty and to be steadfast to the end. We pray that this people will receive him as having been sent by You. May they receive his teaching and exhortation with all reverence, and believing in Christ through his word become partakers of eternal life. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Your dear Son, in whose name we pray:

The congregation shall say:

Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Almost all of our liturgical forms close in prayer. Many believers today don’t appreciate the value of form prayers, but they are an important part of our Reformed tradition, and our book of forms and prayers is full of them. There are prayers for use in corporate worship and for personal use in the home. I commend these prayers to you, as they are a rich vein of instruction, and using them with regularity can deepen and strengthen our own prayer life, not to mention serve as excellent training for when we are called upon to pray in public.

Conclusion

Congratulations if you are still reading! The Form for the Ordination of a Minister is not a brief or an insignificant affair. I like to think of our liturgical forms as topical sermons, and it is wise to preach a shorter sermon on this occasion that merely complements the material contained in the form.

The form’s length and the instruction contained in it reflect the centrality of the church and the ministry of word and sacrament in the Reformed tradition. The ordination of a man to this ministry is a great celebration in the life of the church, and a momentous occasion in the life of the minister. It is not to be taken lightly.

Introducing Our URCNA Liturgical Forms

All worship is liturgical, that is, it follows a set rhythm and pattern. A church’s liturgy can be described in various ways: informal or formal, high or low, explicit or implicit. But all churches have a liturgy. 

Christ Reformed is a member of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA), a federation of churches in the Dutch Reformed tradition. While there is great freedom and much diversity in how our congregations worship, all churches in the URCNA voluntarily commit to using a common body of liturgical forms for the celebration of key moments in the life of the church, such as sacraments, profession of faith, and ordination ceremonies. These liturgical forms have been approved by our churches at our Synod (bi-annual gathering), and published in a book along with a collection of prayer, Forms and Prayers (2018). The entire collection is also available online at www.formsandprayers.com. 

What is a “liturgical form”? It is merely a standard script directing the minister on how to perform a particular rite in the worship of the church. It may include many elements, such as an introduction, prayers, vows, or other teaching.

In the coming months we plan to present a series of blog posts exploring our liturgical forms, beginning here with the preface to our collection.

The “Preface” to our Liturgical Forms

The “Preface” to Forms and Prayers begins with a simple claim:

Liturgical forms are an important part of the Reformed faith.

The Protestant Reformation was a renewal of the church’s worship, as much as it was a renewal of doctrine and life. Just as catechisms and confessions were used to teach the rediscovered principles of Scripture alone and faith alone, so too liturgical forms were prepared to teach the proper understanding of the church’s sacraments and guide faithful practice.

Note that liturgical forms are a resource for teaching the doctrine of our worship. They are filled with biblical instruction that explains what we understand to be taking place in our worship.

Next, the preface walks through the organic development of these forms as they arose from debates about the nature of the church’s worship, and most importantly, about the meaning and significance of the sacraments.

Liturgical Forms were prepared initially for the celebration of the two biblical sacraments confessed by Reformed Churches: baptism and the Lord’s supper. In time, additional forms were provided for other ceremonial moments in the life of the church, including profession of faith, marriage, ordination of ministers and elders, and excommunication and readmission. These forms were prepared to enact and teach the sacramental doctrine found in our confessions and catechisms.

Because the Reformed drew upon scripture alone as the foundation for this doctrine, they contain rich biblical teaching. The forms at this site are therefore a timeless resource of sacramental and practical theology for all believers today.

The Reformed Churches on the continent of Europe drew from a common pool of liturgical forms, and there is much overlap in the German, French, and Dutch speaking churches. The preface sketches this development in broad outline:

The book of Forms and Prayers recently published for use in the United Reformed Churches of North America (URCNA) is reflective of the Dutch Reformed tradition. This tradition was heavily shaped by an early Psalter published for Dutch speaking refugees in Heidelberg by Petrus Dathenus in 1566. Dathenus drew heavily upon the liturgy of the Church Order of the Palatinate (1563), where Heidelberg was located, which had largely been prepared by Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus. This liturgy drew upon the forms prepared by John Calvin for Geneva in 1542. The work of all these Reformed liturgists can be traced back to the earlier work of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli. 

As a rule, the Reformers did not seek to reinvent the wheel, but rather recovered and restored the most faithful practices of the medieval and ancient church. Their work reflects the writings of church fathers such as Augustine, Tertullian, and Chrysostom. Though notably Reformed in character, these forms exhibit ancient practice and thought.

Finally, it is worth noting that the Reformed tradition on the continent developed a different sensibility about liturgical forms than the Presbyterian churches that arose from English-speaking lands. The Dutch Reformed and their continental brethren were comfortable with committing to a common body of liturgical forms, that would be approved for use by a general gathering of the churches, or a Synod. We agree to uphold our Church Order in which we commit to use “the appropriate liturgical form” for sacraments and other key rites in the life of the church. By using approved forms, we recognize the fact that these liturgical practices are a formative part of the life of the church; they teach our faith in a similar fashion to the creeds and confessions that summarize it doctrinally. 

So, for instance, in the sacramental life of the church, we not only commit to a common doctrine of the sacraments in our confessions (Heidelberg Catechism 66 – 85); Belgic Confession Articles 33 – 35 ), but we also commit to a common liturgy and practice of the sacraments, for the liturgy and practice are the means of manifesting the doctrine in the life of the church. Good theology (orthodoxy) can be undermined by bad practice.

This is why the preface also identifies, in broad historical overview, how and when our forms have been approved:

The Synod of Dort (1618 – 1619) approved liturgical forms for the use of the Dutch churches, and this liturgical tradition remained fairly stable in Dutch speaking churches for hundreds of years. Reformed church synods in North America approved English translations of these liturgical forms, notably in 1912 and 1934, with minor alterations and revisions.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, there was a great deal of liturgical innovation, not all of it taking the sacramental theology of the Reformation as its starting point. The URCNA Liturgical Forms committee sought to preserve the best of our tradition, and provide a collection of liturgical forms reflecting what was in use by our churches in the early part of the twenty-first century. Revisions were undertaken to ensure the language and sentence structure was clear and understandable to modern readers. After many years of work and much deliberative input from all our churches, these forms were approved by the Synod of the URCNA in 2016.

You can view all of our liturgical forms at www.formsandprayers.com.