I was having a conversation with a coworker the addiction clinic I work at concerning ordination. He had not known that I was a local pastor, so we got to talking. He said “funny thing is I’m a pastor too.” Intrigued, I proceeded to ask him where he was pastoring at. He responded that it was an online ordination. Then a sweeping realization came over me. That was a bit insulting. I am in the Nazarene denomination where being a pastor and being ordained as a reverend are two different things. It is a long process of experience and education that leads to ordination. Being a pastor or being ordained is sacred and is not something that should be taken lightly. It comes with a lot of responsibility of moral and ethical living as well as continued education.
Being able to go online to call yourself an ordained pastor is very insulting to the people who have put in the work and education to get to that point. They are saying, in a way, that being a pastor is easy to do, anyone can do it, and the job is a joke. I tried to put it into perspective for him. I asked him if he would trust getting addiction treatment from somebody with no training or education that got instant certification/licensure from paying a fee online. To say that to any counselor who put in the time and work it took to get credentialed would probably yield some choice words and a not so friendly response. I understand some people don’t take religious occupations seriously, but those same people who are screaming and demanding respect for their beliefs, are the ones who do not respect my beliefs.