Lawful calling is the process by which a person is set apart to an office in the church. Ordination is the act of setting a person apart to that office.
The process is described by the Scottish Reformers as election, examination, and admission. Each of these is made up of two parts. Election has the choice made by the Session and the concurrence of the congregation.
Examination has the work of the level of Eldership at which candidates are evaluated and work of the local Eldership and congregation. The higher court evaluates the candidate’s gifts for the ministry and, if they are found, declares him to be eligible for a call. The Session and congregation examine the candidate to find out if his gifts match the needs of the congregation. The higher court must answer the question: is this man gifted to be a minister? The congregation asks: is he gifted to be our minister?
Admission is made up of ordination and induction or installation. Ordination, the act, is the setting apart of a person to an office in the visible church. Induction or installation is the admission of that person to a particular charge. Ordination happens once. The office-bearer is inducted/installed with every change of charge.
The act of ordination is associated with the laying on of hands. At the time of the Reformation, the practice was set aside because of the superstitions which had corrupted its significance. Later, the practice was reintroduced in the ordination of ministers, but not of ruling elders and deacons. The laying on of hands was not considered to be essential to ordination.
Ordination is to an office in the church: to be a minister of the Word, a ruling elder, or a deacon. To abolish sinecure positions, the Reformers emphasised that ordination should not only be to an office but should also be to some defined charge and that the man ordained and installed should reside in his charge. For ministers, that charge might be a pastoral charge, a teaching position, or a mission work. The position might be settled or itinerant.
Ordination is ad vitam aut culpam: for life or until fault. As office in the church is a combination of position and function, a problem arises when the person in the position is no longer able to carry out the functions. Part of the solution is to separate what might be called the active functions from the deliberative. Church courts are made up of young and old, of those with energy and those with experience. Both are needed. Also, an aging or infirm minister released from the weight of his charge might find renewed strength to fulfil the functions of a mentor, supply preacher, or interim moderator.
The Reformers sought to demythologise ordination, yet they maintained the importance of recognising gift and formally setting apart men to the appropriate office.