A Recorded Minister was originally a male or female Quaker who was acknowledged to have a gift of spoken ministry.
The practice of recording, in a Monthly Meeting Minute, the acknowledgement that a Friend had a gift of spoken ministry began in the 1730s in London Yearly Meeting, according to Milligan's Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industry [1] [2]. The acknowledgement did not involve anything like ordination or any payment, in view of early Friends' testimony against "Hireling Priests" [3]. Acknowledgement did permit the Recorded Minister to attend at Yearly Meeting and Meeting for Sufferings.
In London Yearly Meeting, the practice of recording Ministers was discontinued in 1924 [1] [4].
While many Yearly Meetings have discontinued the practice of recording ministers, it is maintained by many others. Today, Friends are recorded as ministers as an acknowledgement of a variety of ministries, including teaching, chaplaincy, and evangelical and pastoral ministry [5] [6][7]
See also[]
Category:Quaker ministers for the beginnings of a v e r y long list.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Milligan's Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industry p. 582 (Glossary)
- ↑ John Punshon says the practice of recording Ministers arose from a dispute about membership of Second Day Morning Meeting in 1772 - Punshon, John Portrait in Grey: a short history of the Quakers 2nd edn, London, Quaker Books (2006) ISBN 0-85245-399-X - pp. 159-162.
- ↑ A 17th C tract against "Hireling Priests".
- ↑ Punshon, John Portrait in Grey: a short history of the Quakers 2nd edn, London, Quaker Books (2006) ISBN 0-85245-399-X - pp. 159-162. Punshon discusses the cessation of the practice in LYM on page 276. He is a Recorded Minister in Indiana Yearly Meeting
- ↑ Recording Gifts In Ministry: pamphlet produced in 1992 by New York Yearly Meeting, as guidance for their constituent Meetings.
- ↑ For Chuck Fager's views on the proposal to re-establish the practice of recording, see The Trouble with 'Ministers (Undated but after Spring 2000).
- ↑ For the procedure for recording Ministers amongst Evangelical Friends Church South West, see Chapter 7 of the EFCSW Faith and Practice (online)