Institution of Ministers (1928 BCP)

Institution of Ministers (1928 BCP) is the office in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for instituting a priest into a parish or church as its rector. It belongs among the Occasional Offices and should be distinguished from ordination: the minister has already been made priest, while this rite receives him into a definite pastoral cure under episcopal authority, parochial recognition, and public prayer.

The office is therefore both canonical and pastoral. It joins the bishop's letter, the parish's election, the wardens' presentation of the keys, the minister's promise of shepherding, and the Church's prayer for Word, Sacrament, discipline, doctrine, and holy life. The result is a compact Prayer Book theology of parish ministry.

Episcopal Institution and Pastoral Cure

The rite begins with the bishop's letter of institution. The language is juridical, but it is not merely administrative. The bishop grants the priest authority to serve in a particular parish, while binding that ministry to communion with the bishop, obedience to rubrics and canons, and faithful pastoral care.

We do by these Presents give and grant unto you, in whose Learning Diligence, sound Doctrine, and Prudence, we do fully confide, our Licence and Authority to perform the Office of a Priest.

You are faithfully to feed that portion of the flock of Christ which is now intrusted to you; not as a man-pleaser, but as continually bearing in mind that you are accountable to us here, and to the Chief Bishop and Sovereign Judge of all, hereafter.

This first movement sets the theological limits of the whole office. The rector is not installed as a religious proprietor, nor is the parish treated as a self-contained society. A priest receives a cure of souls within the Church's visible order. His accountability is both episcopal and eschatological: he answers to the bishop in this life and to Christ, "the Chief Bishop and Sovereign Judge of all," at the last judgment.

Parish Recognition and the Keys

At the service itself, the bishop or appointed institutor enters the chancel with the new incumbent and the clergy. The wardens stand near the altar, and the senior warden holds the keys of the church in open view. The symbolism is deliberately public. The parish that elected the rector acknowledges him, and the building entrusted to its worship becomes the place of his pastoral charge.

Dearly beloved in the Lord, we have assembled for the purpose of instituting the Rev. A. B. into this Parish, (or Church,) as Priest and Rector of the same.

In the name and behalf of -- Parish (or Church) I do receive and acknowledge you, the Rev. A. B., as Priest and Rector of the same; and in token thereof, give into your hands the keys of this Church.

I, A. B., receive these keys of the House of God at your hands, as the pledges of my Institution, and of your parochial recognition, and promise to be a faithful shepherd over you.

The keys do not confer priesthood; they signify reception into a local trust. The rite holds together episcopal authority and lay recognition without collapsing one into the other. The bishop institutes, the parish receives, and the priest promises faithful shepherding "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

Books, Rule, and Ministry

The central gesture of the office is the delivery of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer (1928), and the books of canons. These are not decorative objects. They name the rule by which the rector is to preach, pray, administer discipline, and order parish life.

Receive these Books; and let them be the rule of thy conduct in dispensing the divine Word, in leading the Devotions of the People, and in exercising the Discipline of the Church.

This sentence gives the office its Anglican center. Scripture governs the divine Word; the Prayer Book governs common devotion; the canons govern visible discipline. Classical Anglican ministry is therefore neither private inspiration nor bureaucratic management. It is a pastoral office ordered by Word, prayer, sacrament, and ecclesial discipline.

The accompanying versicle points the congregation from Mosaic law to the grace and truth revealed in Christ.

The Law was given by Moses; But Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.

The rector's ministry is not founded on personal charisma. It is a participation in Christ's ministry through appointed means, under Scripture and within the Church's common prayer.

Prayer for the Minister and Congregation

The office then prays for the priest and for the congregation. The first collect asks that the newly instituted minister be replenished with true doctrine and innocent life. The second addresses Christ as the purchaser of the universal Church and asks blessing on the ministry offered in the house called by his Name.

Give thy grace, we beseech thee, to thy servant, to whom the charge of this Congregation is now committed; and so replenish him with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue him with innocency of life.

O holy Jesus, who hast purchased to thyself an universal Church, and hast promised to be with the Ministers of Apostolic Succession to the end of the world.

The prayer to the Holy Ghost turns immediately to the people. The institution of a minister is not complete as a clerical event; it asks for the congregation's illumination, truth, religion, goodness, and perseverance.

Visit, we pray thee, this Congregation with thy love and favour; enlighten their minds more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel; graft in their hearts a love of the truth.

The sequence is deeply Trinitarian: the Father gives diverse orders in the Church, the Son purchases and accompanies his ministers, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies the congregation. The rector's ministry is therefore framed as a gift of the triune God for the edification of a local flock.

Scripture and Sacramental Ministry

The benediction quotes Hebrews 13 and identifies Christ as "the great Shepherd of the sheep." That biblical image interprets both priest and people. The priest shepherds only under the one Shepherd, and the congregation's good works are produced by God's own working in them.

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant; Make you perfect in every good work to do his will.

The minister's personal supplication then joins humility to sacramental and doctrinal responsibility. He asks to serve at God's altar, to have memory and understanding filled by God's law and Spirit, and to be made useful for the salvation of the people committed to him.

Grant that I may faithfully administer thy holy Sacraments, and by my life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word.

This prayer connects institution with the broader sacramental order of the 1928 BCP. The rector is charged not only to preach and govern, but to administer the holy Sacraments faithfully. His life and doctrine must cohere, because the office assumes that pastoral credibility is inseparable from holiness.

The Church as Apostolic Temple

After the minister's supplication, the office turns again to the whole Church. The collect draws on Ephesians 2:20-22, asking that Christians be joined together in unity of spirit and the bond of peace, built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ as the chief cornerstone.

O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.

Defend them from the sins of heresy and schism; let not the foot of pride come nigh to hurt them, nor the hand of the ungodly to cast them down.

The prayer shows why institution belongs to ecclesiology as well as parish administration. A local congregation is not isolated from the "holy Apostolic Church." Its peace, doctrine, worship, and pastoral government are part of the Church's larger unity in Christ.

Anglican Theological Use

For classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal theology, the office is a strong witness to ministry under Scripture, canons, and common prayer. The rector is accountable, the parish is recognized, and the bishop's authority serves pastoral order rather than clerical self-assertion. The office's references to doctrine, sacraments, discipline, and the flock of Christ also connect it with the Ordinal (1928 BCP) and Litany and Suffrages for Ordinations (1928 BCP), even though institution is not itself an ordination.

High Church and traditional Anglican Catholic readers naturally emphasize the office's episcopal institution, apostolic succession language, altar setting, and sacramental charge. Evangelical and low church readers can also receive the rite because its rule of ministry is the divine Word, its pastoral test is life and doctrine, and its end is the salvation and edification of the people. In this way the office displays a characteristically Anglican pattern: visible order exists to serve biblical truth, sacramental faithfulness, holy discipline, and congregational peace.

Use in Parish Life

The office is most directly used when a priest is instituted as rector of a parish or church. It also provides enduring language for teaching about the pastoral relationship. A rector is not simply hired staff, and a parish is not merely a voluntary association. The institution office treats both priest and people as accountable before God within the Church's ordered common life.

When Holy Communion follows, the instituted minister proceeds to administer the Eucharist to his congregation. The service thus moves from canonical reception to sacramental ministry, from the keys of the church to the Lord's Table, and from public office to pastoral communion.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Ordinal (1928 BCP)
• Litany and Suffrages for Ordinations (1928 BCP)
• Consecration of a Church or Chapel (1928 BCP)

External Links

• 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Institution of Ministers
• 1928 Book of Common Prayer text