ARTICLE 9 MINISTRY AND CLERGY

9.01 Province. 

It shall be the province of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ to license and ordain clergy and to receive recommendations/requests of Local Leadership Committees for Ray of Hope clergy to serve an Extension either with or without Appointed status. The Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Council holds sole responsibility for the placement, evaluation, renewal, or change of status of all Appointed Clergy and all other clergy persons of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9.02 Universal Priesthood Of Believers. 

Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ affirms the universal priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4-10; Rev. 1:5,6; 5:8-10; 20:6; Mal. 3:16-17; Exod. 19:5,6). God calls all members of the Church to a ministry of the Gospel of Christ in the Church and in the world. 

9.03 Authority of All Believers (Priesthood of Christ, the Body Of Christ). 

All Christians are called by God and authorized by Scripture to respond to the Word, serving as Christ served, to the end that the church may be edified and the world transformed. Every Member of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ has this ministry and solemn responsibility. (John 14:12-14) 

9.04 Clergy Legally Recognized to Serve. 

The clergy of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ are members of the People of God, called by God and authorized and legally recognized by Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ to serve among the people as Professional Ministers of the Word and Sacraments. 

9.05 Responsibilities. 

In accordance with their call, the Clergy of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ administer all the Rites/Sacraments/Ordinances/Rituals of the Church. In accordance to their call, the Clergy are the Guardians, Teachers and Preachers of the Christian Faith, to the end that the world may believe and the Church may be renewed, equipped and strengthened in its ministry. The Clergy of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ have the sole jurisdiction over the sharing, delegation and supervision of these responsibilities. 

9.06 Qualifications. 

The Clergy of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ are those persons of professed and demonstrated call to be professional Christian clergy persons who meet the qualifications established by the Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Council as found in the PMVM of Ray of Hope Church. Only those persons who hold a current Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ License to Professional Christian Ministry are to be recognized as the Clergy of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

9.07 Ray Of Hope Church Vocational Ministry Training Program. 

Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ conducts a Vocational Ministry Training Program that is designed to educate its participants and provide them with proficiency in the following areas:

1) Bibliology, the doctrine of the Bible: general and special revelation; the inspiration, infallibility, canonicity, illumination, and interpretation of the Bible.

2) Theology Proper, the doctrine of God: the existence, attributes, and decrees of God; the Trinity.

3) Christology, the doctrine of Christ: the divine-human natures of Christ and the hypostatic union; the offices and present ministry of Christ; the theophanies and prophecies of Christ. 

4) Pneumatology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit's work in relation to Christ and in regenerating, baptizing, indwelling, gifting, and healing believers. The Holy Spirit's role as the Vicar Of Christ and the source of all ministry and power in the Christian Church. 

5) Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation: the death of Christ, substitution, propitiation, reconciliation, justification by faith alone, regeneration, election, free will, grace, faith, perseverance.

6) Anthropology and Harmartiology, the doctrines of man and sin: the origin, fall, and nature of man; the definition of sin and imputation of sin.

7) Ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church: the relationship between Israel and the Church; the local church and the universal Church; the imagery used to describe the church (body, bride, priesthood, temple, flock); the government of the church; the ordinances of the church; evangelism, spiritual gifts, and ministry.

8) Eschatology, the doctrine of last things: heaven, hell, return and thousand year earthly kingdom where Christ shall rule from Jerusalem, resurrection(s), judgement(s), and humanity's eternal state.

9) Angeology, the study of the various words translated as heavenly hosts, cherubs, seraphim, angels, guardian angels, archangels, messengers, The Angel Of The Lord, and their meaning, their role, their function as described in the Bible. Application of the term angel to human beings in Scripture. The study of all benevolent spirit beings. 

10) Demonology, the study of all available materials regarding the rebellious spirit beings who are the "cohorts" of Satan and adherents to Satan's ongoing agenda of wickedness and sin.

11) Satanology, the study of the rebellion of Lucifer and his fall from being God's most beautiful created being to total loss of favor with God. Primary sources for this study are Genesis, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Gospels, the Letters, and the Book Of Revelation. The study of Satan's introduction of sin into creation and a study of the world before that introduction. Satan's past, present, and future role in the rebellion against God. The certain and eternal destiny of Satan and all of his cohorts and wicked friends.

12) Church Administration For Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Financial, Church Council, Local Leadership, church offices, legal and taxation.

13) Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Historical Record, the study of the story of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ as it is recorded in minutes of Board and Council, Leadership and other Committees from the earliest extant records to the present.

14) Polity and Christianity, an overview of the various governing systems that are used among Christians around the world. Particular attention given to four models; Papal, Congregational, Non-Cleric, and Communal.

15) History of Christianity, a primary emphasis on the Western Church, with a secondary emphasis on the Eastern and Third World Church.

16) Christian Worship history, background, practices, organization, philosophy, and rationale for variations in the expression of Christian worship.

17) World Religions Outside Christianity, introduction to source materials for accurate information on global religions that do not worship Christ as the Divine Son of God.

18) Religious Life, day-to-day living as an ordained servant of Christ - professional conduct and professional ethics, relationships, work load, rest and health, spiritual nourishment, personal finances, balance with secular work, prayer, personal faith and conversion, personal sin and failure, personal crisis in faith and relationship to Christ and the Church, on-going and life-long study, mental and emotional health, relationship to congregation as "leader" and as a "member" or "participant", religious communities or religious orders/vows, House Of Clergy, Secular friends, family and associates. Study of the ordained ministries of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ and qualifications for ongoing status of "good standing". Planning retirement, and care of elderly and ill persons in Religious Life at Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

19) The Priesthood Of All Believers, the study of the Christian life as lived in the power of the Holy Spirit by all who are born-again into Christ. The responsibilities, the privileges, and the honor of being the Body Of Christ in the world today.

20) Pastoral Care, the care of souls, home visiting, shut-in ministry, the differently abled, death and dying, hospitals and the clergy, marriage/divorce -the church and the law, prisons, correctional facilities and the clergy, ministry to the terminally ill, AIDS ministry, the difference between professional counseling and pastoral care.

21) Sexuality and Christianity, the his/herstory of various approaches taken in the past and in the present regarding sexual orientation, sexual gender expression, sexual dysfunction and illnesses and possible treatment assistance, care of the pre-born, the infant, the child, the adolescent, the young adult, the mature adult, the middle aged adult, the older adult, the elderly in the Christian Church, and Ray Of Hope's unique approach to this ministry of life.

9.08 Qualifications for the Director of the Vocational Ministry Training Program, shall be those established by the Council Of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ.