Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 4/3/2011

Question
I would like to know if the pastor who is giving the rights of the Lords supper should be Ordained? Thanks for your time

Answer
Thanks for the question, Tony.  When I was in Bible College looking for someone to ordain me I ran into several schools of thought on the issue.  Some felt I should have been ordained by the church I was saved in so I wrote them but since I was no longer a member the pastor that was there would not do it.  So much for that.  Some felt that I needed to wait until after I graduated college and yet others thought a man should be a pastor for several years before he was ordained or be ordained by the church that called him.  I was finally ordained by a church a couple of years after college.  One friend preached at a small church one time and they licensed him on the spot.  Go figure.  

I was saved in a General Association of Regular Baptist Churches and at one time they had several churches in their fellowship who had pastors that had not been ordained.  

Acts 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. KJV

NT:5500 cheirotoneo (khi-rot-on-eh'-o); from a comparative of NT:5495 and teino (to stretch); to be a hand-reacher or voter (by raising the hand), i.e. (generally) to select or appoint:
KJV - choose, ordain.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

As you see, choosing an elder or a pastor is the meaning of the word ordain in Scripture.  In the beginning, the Apostles or their representatives would do the ordaining, which is why we have ordination councils of pastors who ordain a man usually at the request of a church.  Yet, unlike the early Church these men do not automatically assume a position of pastor or an associate pastor in the Church.  We wait for a church to call them, which is really not the way it should be if we wish to be true to the practices of the 1st Century church.  

In the situation you are speaking of, that church called or chose that man to be their pastor so they ordained him even though he had no formal council of pastors to lay hands on him nor does he have a certificate.  That certificate is more important for other places, such as jails or other groups who may require one before you can minister in areas under their control.  Some denominations require one and others do not.  That church believes that man has the pastoral gifts and they made him their pastor so he is ordained.

The other question here is does the Lord's Supper require an ordained man to serve it?  I would say no. It is the Lord's Supper, not the pastor's or the churches.  If a group of Christian businessmen were working in an area where there were no churches, such as places in Japan, Indonesia and other places they could gather and have it because it is a memorial of Christ's death, burial and resurrection and a testimony to the belief in His return.  There is no sacramental value to it so there is no need for special hands to serve it.  It neither adds to or takes away from your salvation nor is it mystical contrary to the teachings of transubstantiation or consubstantiation. It is for all believers so any believer or group of believers can partake.  If I were in an area where I was the only Christian I could observe it by myself even if I were no ordained.

I hope this has helped settle the question in you mind so you can enjoy and worship in the Lord's Supper with no concern over who serves it.  Blessings to you.