> General Discussions

Minister?

(1/3) > >>

jennie:
May I ask what the word" minister" means or " to minister"? Thank You

Kat:
Hi Jennie,

I found this in the Smith Bible Dictionary.

Minister
This term is used in the Authorized Version to describe various officials of a religious and civil character. Its meaning, as distinguished from servant, is a voluntary attendant on another. In the Old Testament, it is applied
(1) to an attendance upon a person of high rank, Exo 24:13; Jos 1:1; 2Ki 4:43;
(2) to the attaches of a royal court, 1Ki 10:5; 2Ch 22:8 ; compare Psa 104:4;
(3) To the priests and Levites. Ezr 8:17; Neh 10:36; Isa 61:6; Eze 44:11; Joe 1:9; Joe 1:13.

One term, in the New Testament, betokens a subordinate public administrator, Rom 13:6; Rom 15:16; Heb 8:2, one who performs certain gratuitous public services. A second term contains the idea of actual and personal attendance upon a superior, as in Luk 4:20.

The minister's duty was to open and close the building, to produce and replace the books employed in the service, and generally to wait on the officiating priest or teacher.

A third term, diakonos, (from which comes our word, deacon), is the one usually employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel: its application is twofold, -- in a general sense, to indicate ministers of any order, whether superior or inferior, and in a special sense, to indicate an order of inferiors ministers.

I thought this might help you understand where the term came from  :)

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

hebrewroots98:
Jenny,
I have seen where  the denomninational church hardly ever uses this biblical term 'minister' correctly; I hear these people use the term 'pastor in place of MINISTER more often.  I think that the denominational world means to say Minister when they are refering to their preacher/MINISTER but they say PASTOR :-\

And then there is the error with the word PASTOR b/c really most of the people do not understand that the Greek definition of a pastor is ELDER/SHEPHERD/OVERSEER.  Thus, the term pastor is used IN ERROR to describe both a PULPIT MINISTER AS WELL AS A PULPIT PASTOR. LOL ;)

rrammfcitktturjsp:
Susan,

 I was not aware of that.  That is pretty interesting.  Thanks for sharing that.

  Sincerely,



  Anne C. McGuire

jennie:
The word means to me ... to put others above yourself and do what you can to help them. The pastor behind a podium who speaks of God's love and forgiveness is a minister, I think. The pastor behind a podium who shepards in the way of warning of danger or if you will, gathering folks up to protect them, love them and help them. At our church we do have a fellowship time where we have an opportunity to talk to others and say something positive to them. We do love each other, whatever kind of love it is properly called. We are willing to feed, clothe and help however we can. If it means going to someone at 2:00 a.m. that is what we do. We do what we are led to do without judgement or blame. I don't think I am smart enough to judge somebody else's circumstances or life. For  me ,personally, I believe that is left to God.
Just a few weekends ago we had a free yard sale. I know that sounds strange but around here people respond to yard sales. The difference was we took no money from anyone... they just got what they needed. We had an opportunity to "minister" to a grandma and grandpa who were raising their 4 grandchildren because the parents are serving life sentences. Those little boys were so sweet. They took a lot of "little pretties" and told me they were going to save them for their Mama... for when they got to see her again. I was so blessed by those little ones.
The night our house caught afire it was cold and raining buckets. As soon as someone ran into our church to say our house was burning the men took off and came immediately. They covered the burned out places so the rain couldn't get in and cause more damage. They were on ladders, on our roof and doing their best to help. They stayed with us all night and checked on us every day. They got us undies, socks and toothbrushes. They were ministering to us. I don't know all the Greek and Hebrew and such but to us they werre Jesus with skin on that night. That is our church, the place we gather together and I love them as well as all of ya'll who helped us. Bobby knows how I like to cook. We didn't have grocery money for Christmas dinner but we had Christmas dinner because of Bobby. I don't know and understand what the problem with the forum is and maybe I don't really need to know. Maybe I just need to pray and sort things out in my own spirit. In spite of everything I send ya'll much love from old Jennie

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page