Читать книгу Amt, Ordination, Episkopé und theologische Ausbildung / Ministry, ordination, episkopé and theological education - Группа авторов - Страница 26

52. The third of the above mentioned indispensable ministries – the ministry of episkopé – will be dealt with more thoroughly in the fourth chapter of this statement (see below nos. 71 seqq.). In the Augsburg Confession (art. XXVIII), episkopé was connected especially with the office of bishop. In the Reformed churches it found a concrete shape in the ministry of elders forming an integral part of the order of ministries. Emerging from the Reformed tradition (Calvin’s Genevan church order of 1541/61 and the Huguenot church order of 1559) with its interest in a collegial body among the ministries in the church, the ministry of elders has meanwhile existed in a large number of CPCE churches. Elders exercise their ministry under different names and in a variety of types of bodies (parish council, presbytery etc.), and different tasks are entrusted to them. Basically, it can be said that elders “bear overall responsibility for the life and mission of a particular community of Christians”.³⁸ Together with the ministers of word and sacrament they “lead the community in its mission and service in and to the world”.³⁹