In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister ("servant", "attendant"). In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained people who have a pastoral or liturgical ministry.
In the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the concept of a priesthood is emphasized. In other traditions such as Baptist, Methodist, and Calvinist groups like Congregationalists and Presbyterians, the term "minister" usually refers to a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may serve as an elder (presbyter), pastor, preacher, bishop, or chaplain.
With respect to ecclesiastical address, many ministers are styled as "The Reverend"; however, some use "Pastor" or "Father" as a title.
The Church of England defines the ministry of priests as follows:
Priests are called to be servants and shepherds among the people to whom they are sent. With their Bishop and fellow ministers, they are to proclaim the word of the Lord and to watch for the signs of God's new creation. They are to be messengers, watchmen and stewards of the Lord; they are to teach and to admonish, to feed and provide for his family, to search for his children in the wilderness of this world's temptations, and to guide them through its confusions, that they may be saved through Christ forever. Formed by the word, they are to call their hearers to repentance and to declare in Christ's name the absolution and forgiveness of their sins.With all God's people, they are to tell the story of God's love. They are to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to walk with them in the way of Christ, nurturing them in the faith.