Quote Originally Posted by willystylle
Ordained by who? God does not hand out certificates and diplomas when he gives someone a spiritual gift. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars worth of bible college fees to become a warrior of Christ.

I'm not a christian, but at least I know that much.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has two minor orders, those of reader and subdeacon. Candidates for ordination receive the clerical tonsure prior to being ordained by the laying on of hands to these minor orders.

For Roman Catholics, it is typically in the last year of seminary training that a man will be ordained to the diaconate, called by Roman Catholics in recent times the "transitional diaconate" to distinguish men bound for priesthood from those who have entered the "permanent diaconate" and do not intend to seek further ordination. Deacons, whether transitional or permanent, are licensed to preach sermons, to perform baptisms, and to witness marriages, but to perform no other sacraments. After six months or more as a transitional deacon a man will be ordained to the priesthood. Priests are able to preach, perform baptisms, witness marriages, hear confessions and give absolutions, anoint the sick, and celebrate the Eucharist or the Mass.

For Anglicans, a person is ordained a deacon once they have completed their training at a theological college. In most branches of the Anglican church, women can be ordained as priests, and in some, can be ordained a bishop. Anglican priests have to be at least 30 before they can be chosen to become a bishop.

A controversy in the Catholic church over the question of whether Anglican holy orders are valid was settled by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, who wrote that Anglican orders lack validity because the rite by which priests are ordained is not correctly performed.

The Methodist model is loosely based upon the Anglican model. In this scheme, an elder is ordained to word (preaching and teaching), sacrament (administering baptism and the Lord's Supper), and order (ordaining others), and a deacon is someone who is ordained to word and service.

Presbyterians also ordain (by laying on of hands) ministers of Word and Sacrament (sometimes known as 'teaching elders'). These ministers are regared simply as Presbyters ordained to a different function, but in practice provide the leadership for local Kirk Session.

Congregationalist churches implement different schemes, but the officers usually have less authority than in the presbyterian or episcopalian forms. Some ordain only ministers and rotate members on an advisory board (sometimes called a board of elders or a board of deacons). Because the positions are by comparison less powerful, there is usually less rigor or fanfare in how officers are ordained.