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In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching ...
A reference to the qualifications required of deacons appears in Paul's First Epistle to Timothy 3:8–13 (NRSV translation): Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
The Form of Presbyterial Church Government describes four church officers: pastors, teachers/doctors, elders, and deacons. The pastor is a "minister of the gospel", while the doctor is a minister who "doth more excel in exposition of scripture, in teaching sound doctrine and convincing gainsayers than he doth in application". The doctors are ...
The Church of England defines the ministry of priests as follows: . Priests are called to be servants and shepherds among the people to whom they are sent. With their Bishop and fellow ministers, they are to proclaim the word of the Lord and to watch for the signs of God's new creation.
The term Pastor, Shepherd, and Elder are all the same position. The term "Senior Pastor" does not exist in scripture, but - in multi-staffed churches - is commonly used to denote the pastor who does the preaching. Many Protestant churches call their ministers "pastors". Present-day usage of the word is rooted in the Biblical metaphor of ...
Priests and deacons ordinarily perform Baptism, but any Catholic can baptize in emergency circumstances. In cases where a person dies before the baptism ceremony is performed, the Catholic Church also recognizes baptism of desire , where a person desired to be baptized, and baptism of blood, when a person is martyred for their faith.
In accordance with Church of Christ doctrine and practice, only males may serve as deacons (deaconesses are not recognized), and must meet Biblical qualifications (generally 1 Timothy 3:8–13 is the Biblical text used to determine if a male is qualified to serve as deacon).
The word presbyter etymologically derives from Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros), the comparative form of πρέσβυς (presbys), "old man". [6] However, while the English word priest has presbyter as the etymological origin, [7] the distinctive Greek word (Greek ἱερεύς hiereus) for "priest" is never used for presbyteros/episkopos in the New Testament, except as being part of ...