Thinking on my previous post: in the West, Churches typically have just one kind of ordination -- for ministers. In South Africa, there often are five kinds of ordination -- for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers: "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). I have four of the above in my own family, on my wife's side -- just no ordained prophets. In more hierarchical Churches, one could add the ordination of bishops. OBSERVATION: The evangelical Congregational practice is a "plurality of elders", which is a similar idea. The plurality includes the minister.
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