commissioning

In ecclesiastical usage, commissioning is the transfer of an office or service to a person.

Catholic Church

• the lesser ordinations . This assignment was formerly Institutes called
• today mainly the episcopal assignment of the missio canonica to religious teachers
• the episcopal commission to administer the sacrament of Confirmation
• Since the 1980s, the episcopal commission as pastoral assistant , communion helper , acolyte , lecturer or church service representative , sometimes also by parish officers
• the episcopal commission as vicar general (also with the Old Catholics ). It ends with resignation, transfer or dismissal.
• the papal commission for the Primate Germaniae or the legate

Protestant church

• after selecting a parson or a Rev. by the local congregation follows the appointment, with which the position is taken
• Since 1945 there has also been the church commission for religious instruction in public schools, the so-called Vocation (according to §7 / ​​3.2 GG, analogous to the Catholic Missio canonica )
• to the predicant

Other churches and communities

• Old Catholic Church : essentially as in the Roman Catholic Church
• Free churches : Church commission to give Protestant religious instruction (according to agreement with Protestant Church Berlin-Brandenburg, 2003)
• New Apostolic Church : clear distinction between office ( ordination , only for men) and commission (for functions such as district and community leadership, teaching or auxiliary services)
• Charismatic renewal and Pentecostal movement : commissioning, if necessary, to lead the community (voluntary) or to be a preacher. Fixed structures are sometimes seen as a contradiction to the free work of the Holy Spirit .

Commissions in the Old and New Testament

For almost all prophets , the Old Testament reports an express commission by the voice of God. The confirmation of such a calling by elders (for example with Samuel ) or by a vision (with Ezekiel ) is reported, as well as spiritual assignments to kings .

In the New Testament pastoral jobs are also clear, including the deployment of the disciples to the villages, went to visit Jesus, or the appointment of Simon Peter to lead the Church.

Individual evidence

• Pontifical III (editions 1972 and 1994): De institutione Lectorum et Acolythorum, de admissione inter candidatos ad Diaconatum et Presbyteratum
• Official Journal of the Protestant Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Schleswig-Oberlausitz, KABl. 2004/10 (for religious instruction)
• Deutsches Pfarrerblatt 6/2007, ordination, calling and commissioning to speak and sacrament in honorary office