Called For Life

Re Taking Off the Robe, February

Hugh Appel has written an excellent article on a much avoided subject. The issue is a matter of the Reformed doctrine of ministry. If the Presbyterian Church has a strictly functional doctrine of ministry—that is, a minister is a minister only so long as she or he is employed by a particular congregation or agency—then we are right on course. If however, we believe that ordained ministry is a lifetime calling, that retired ministers who fill pulpits, administer sacraments, call on the sick, bury the dead, offer daily prayers, and then, even when they are not able to perform these acts are still ministers, then, what a travesty to cut such people off from the life and work of the greater church. To have retired ministers removed when the presbytery moves in camera is an insult. If, after all their years of service, our retired men and women cannot be trusted to handle sensitive matters of the church, who can be?

One is hard-pressed to find churches of any branch which make such a sharp distinction between active and retired ministers. The present system reflects a low view of the ministry and therefore a low view of the church.