Ordination is the formal act of the church, through its recognized leaders, setting apart a qualified individual for a specific office of ministry — elder, deacon, or apostolic representative. It is accompanied by prayer, fasting, and the laying on of hands (Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 4:14). Ordination does not confer grace or ontologically transform the individual; rather, it is the church's public recognition and authorization of a calling and gifting already evident in the person's life and character. The qualifications for ordination are clearly laid out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.
ORDINATION, n. The act of ordaining, decreeing, or setting apart for a purpose or use; a setting apart for a holy purpose; appointment to an office. The act of conferring holy orders; the act of investing with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; initiation into the ministry. "The laying on of hands" for the purpose of setting apart a person to sacred ministry.
In many contemporary churches, ordination has become either a rubber stamp for anyone who feels "called" regardless of biblical qualifications, or a credentialing system driven more by institutional politics than spiritual discernment. Progressive denominations have used the re-definition of ordination to circumvent clear biblical teaching on gender and the office of elder — ordaining women to offices the New Testament reserves for qualified men. The biblical model requires tested character, doctrinal fidelity, and the genuine approval of the existing body of elders — not mere self-appointment or popular sentiment.
• Acts 14:23 — "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord."
• 1 Timothy 4:14 — "Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you."
• 1 Timothy 3:1–7 — "The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task..." [qualifications follow]
• Titus 1:5–9 — "This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might...appoint elders in every town as I directed you."
• Acts 6:3–6 — The appointment of deacons: "...men of good repute...and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."
G5500 — cheirotoneō — to appoint, ordain; lit. to stretch out the hand in approval or election
G2007 — epitithēmi cheir — to lay hands upon; the act of commissioning and blessing
G4245 — presbyteros — elder, overseer; the office to which ordination most commonly applies
• "Ordination is not self-appointment — it is the church's recognition of what God has already been building in a man over years."
• "The qualifications for ordination in 1 Timothy 3 are not a ladder to climb but a portrait of a man already shaped by grace."
• "A church that ordains without examining character has traded stewardship for sentimentality."