Persons who have not pursued the regular course of theological study shall not be admitted to the ministry unless there is convincing evidence of their exceptional gifts of godliness, humility, modesty, good intellect, and discretion, as well as the gift of public speech. When any such person presents himself for the ministry, classis shall (with synod's prior approval) examine him, and upon a favourable outcome allow him as candidate to speak an edifying word in the churches of the classis for a set period of time. Thereafter the classis shall further deal with him as it shall deem edifying, observing the ecclesiastical regulations adopted for this purpose.
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This article states that the rule is: No admission to the
Ministry of God’s Word without a theological training, but it
does stipulate a course of action in the case of an exception.
There may be persons with exceptional gifts.
These gifts – which are also required from those who have
followed a theological training – must be convincingly evident as
being exceptional.
Not for nothing is “Godliness” mentioned as the first one of
these gifts. The person concerned must be filled with the Holy
Spirit and the fear of the LORD.
“Humility” is the second – his exceptional gifts could easily
make him proud and full of conceit. However, his Godliness has to
be proved in his humility.
“Modesty” means that he leads a quiet and unblameable life.
One of the gifts must also be an exceptionally ”good intellect”.
He must have an understanding of the Scriptures and be able to
expose them to others.
“Discretion” means that he must be able to distinguish between
sound doctrine and heresy, and have a degree of insight into the
human character.
Apart from all this he should possess the gift of public address,
enabling him to clearly express himself.
When such a person presents himself for admission to the ministry
in this extra-ordinary way, the classis shall examine him, upon
approval of synod.
This means that the local consistory and the classis, to which
his congregation belongs, have to be convinced that he possesses
all of these exceptional gifts. When that has been achieved, each
will present a certificate concerning these gifts to the synod.
Investigations having been made and the synod having been
sufficiently assured as to the truth of these testimonies,
approval is granted and the classis will then subject the person
concerned to a preparatory examination.
This examination is identical to the one mentioned in Article 5,
with the exception that the knowledge of ancient languages is not
essential.
If the examination has a favourable result, the classis grants
him permission to officiate in the churches of the classis for a
certain period of time. In this way he has the opportunity to
practise. This happens under supervision of the consistories of
the classis-churches, while the ‘sermons’ are examined by some of
the ministers appointed by the classis for this purpose.
When it becomes apparent that this also has favourable results
the classis declares him eligible to be called to the Ministry of
the Word.
All this is included in the ‘general regulations’ mentioned in
the final
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sentence of this article.
It may be clear that the churches want to be diligent in caring
for the faithful preaching of God’s Word in the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ.