Were There People in the New Testament Who Did Not Have a Formal Church Ordination, Yet Preached the Gospel?
Yes. The New Testament shows many who preached by the call and anointing of the Holy Ghost without a formal church ordination.
Scriptural Explanation
- The man casting out devils in Jesus’ Name who didn’t follow the apostles (Mark 9:38–40; Luke 9:49–50). Jesus said, “Forbid him not.”
- The seventy were sent by the Lord Himself, not by a council (Luke 10:1, 9).
- The delivered man of Gadara was told, “Go home…and tell,” and he published Christ in Decapolis (Mark 5:19–20).
- Persecuted believers “went everywhere preaching the word,” not just ordained officers (Acts 8:1, 4).
- Philip, originally chosen as a deacon, preached Christ in Samaria with signs following (Acts 6:5; 8:5–8, 12).
- Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, preached with wisdom and power (Acts 6:8–10; ch. 7).
- Apollos preached Christ powerfully before any recorded formal ordination; Aquila and Priscilla instructed him more perfectly (Acts 18:24–28).
- Saul/Paul preached Christ “straightway” after his conversion, before consulting men (Acts 9:20; Galatians 1:15–17, 23).
- Men of Cyprus and Cyrene preached the Lord Jesus at Antioch, and “a great number believed” (Acts 11:19–21).
- The promise is broad: “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17–18). The Great Commission is to all believers (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19–20).
Simple Clarifying Logic
Now notice, the Bible shows a clear pattern: God calls and fills; the Church recognizes and sends. Laying on of hands in Acts 13:2–3 confirmed those whom the Holy Ghost had already separated. Authority to preach the gospel comes from the Word and the Spirit, not from human papers. If God vindicates the message with Scripture and the fruit, that is Heaven’s endorsement.
Final Word
So yes—there were many who preached without formal ordination. The New Testament puts the emphasis on the Holy Ghost calling and the Scriptures being proclaimed.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-96
Revelation 21:1-4. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their...
The End-time Evangelism
62-0603 §34
The heathens, when they worshipped a idol, they prostrated themself before the idol, and believed that the idol talked back to them, that god, their god turned, come into this idol and spoke back through them. Now, that's just contrary, turned around what God is. God doesn't deal with idols. You are His instrument. You prostrate yourself before God, and He comes in you and speaks out to the people. That's the difference. He's a living God for a living person, not a dead God to a dead idol. He's a living God to a li...
Why?
60-1126 §16
Now, not one time in Scriptures did He ever do it to the Gentiles. No. But He said, "As it was in the days of Noah eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage; and in the days of Lot..." Now we took it... Notice. In the days of Lot there was three classes of people. There always is three classes. Everything's in a trinity and trinity by one. Notice. There was... In the days of Lot there was the unbeliever, the Sodomites. There was Lot, the lukewarm church and his family. There was Abraham, the called out, si...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-2
Introduction In order to refresh your minds I want to point out again how we arrive at finding the names of the messengers to the various ages. God in His sovereign will has seen to it that the history of the New Testament church was not lost, even as He saw to it that the history of Israel would not be lost by placing it in the Bible and corroborating it today from multitudes of scrolls, earthen vessels and other artifacts that archaeologists have discovered and interpreted. We actually have a running commentary o...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
55-0806 §56
What? A vision. The Spirit of the Lord in His church. Now, listen, friends, that was... We could take hours at it. But what kind of faith was presented to the saints through Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ said, "The same things that I do shall you do also." Along come the apostles and did the same thing. What's happened? What went with it? What did He do? What was Jesus' last commission? "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. These signs shall follow them that believe; if they lay their hands on the sick, they s...