Minister: (Oxford English Dictionary)
- 1a. A person acting under the authority of another; one who carries out the executive duties as the agent or representative of a superior.
- 1b. A servant, an attendant; a person who waits upon or ministers to the wants or needs of another.
In the United Reformed Church we believe that every member is called and empowered by God to be a minister: to be a servant of God who tends to the needs of others and conveys the meaning and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our ordained ministers are those who have heard and responded to a specific call, affirmed in and by the community of Christian believers, to provide pastoral oversight to churches by providing for Christian worship and education, proper standards of membership, promotion of Christian witness at home and abroad; and to be ministers of word and sacrament—to preach and preside over our sacraments of baptism and communion.
There are myriad forms of lay ministry, and we honour, encourage and seek to nurture those in many different ways—for example, through participation in ministry teams; involvement in Christian Education (Children’s and Adult); and opportunities provided by our denomination for enhancement of lay ministry.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)