traditions + (non)denominations

The incoming Master of Divinity students have been encouraged to find a denomination in which they would become ordained. Which makes sense – the standard career path for an seminary student is to become ordained and work within that church as a pastor.

I, however, came from a nondenominational church; I don’t have a tradition on which to rely. To complicate that background, some Christians have an attitude that those who choose nondenominational churches do so as a cop-out: they’re avoiding commitment to a tradition by side-stepping the decision.

And although I have no real plans to become a pastor, as someone coming into an MDiv program without any plan on what I’ll be doing when I come out, searching for a denomination seemed like good advice to find some direction. I visited a few churches of varying traditions without much sense of belonging. I google-searched for denominations that ordain women (which, painfully, is an issue). As I went further into reading them, I kept feeling a little put-off by the whole concept. I disagreed with statements of faith, sure, but I was mostly feeling pushed away by the whole idea of a divided church, and the unitarian church doesn’t really bridge the gap of ecumenical conversation and seems to just add to the denominational divides.

I started thinking about ordination as a concept, and looked it up. Definitions use phrases like ‘consecrated, set apart’ … and that didn’t set right with me either. Do I view myself as set apart from other Christians? Does four years of formal education set me apart from the wisdom of an octogenarian who never happened to go to seminary? And this has consequences in rites as well: couples who choose to be married by friends who aren’t ordained, and those married by judges —  are they any less married because their officiant wasn’t consecrated?

I believe in the catholic church. I believe in the pastorship of all people. I believe that anything that gets in the way of following Jesus should work to be eliminated, and for me that includes making ordination into something to put on my resumé when Jesus clearly didn’t care about obtaining the approval or authority of the religious powers.

So, I’m not side-stepping the denominational issue, and I’m not choosing to be nondenominational because I’ve eliminated every single tradition based on technicalities in their statements of faith. I’ve struggled with the decision, and am finally able, with peace and pride, to declare myself an active part of the tradition of the free church.