Ordination & Installation
In Baptist life, ordination to the gospel ministry is a church’s recognition of God’s calling and gifting.
Baptist churches are widely diverse in the process of ordination, but most Baptist churches are unified in that the service of ordination provides a time of affirmation and blessing for the minister. Because careful planning and preparation can add depth and richness to that time of worship, Baptist Women in Ministry has gathered resources meant to assist in the planning of an ordination service. Below are orders of worship used by churches in their ordaining of Baptist women ministers. Also below are litanies, poems, blessings, responses, and charges, all used in previous ordination services. We hope these resources will be helpful to you.
Orders of Worship for Ordination Services
Litanies, Charges and Poems
More and more Baptist churches host Installation Services for new ministers.
Baptist Women in Ministry has collected several orders of worship from recent installation services, and these are provided below.
Orders of Worship for Installation Services
Books
Ordination: Celebrating the Gift of Ministry by Stephen V. Sprinkle Stephen Sprinkle has written a practical theological guide for preparing for ordination in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ, American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), and other closely related denominations. He provides a theology of what ordination is and what it means to the person being ordained, to the life of the church at large, and to the congregation gathered for the celebration. Sprinkle includes “hands-on” practical guidance on how to plan the service, plus samples of ordination services from each of the four traditions. To order, visit Chalice Press.
