THE WORKMEN who are to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments are the _ministers_. They must be properly called and ordained by the Church. [Act 14:23, Tit. 1:5] In the New Testament all pastors are called elders or bishops. It was only at a later period that the office of a bishop was made superior to that of elder, pastor or minister. The office of an apostle was a separate and higher office. The apostles were the witnesses of Christ's redemption, and possessed miraculous powers. They have no successors. Ministers are the ambassadors of Christ, beseeching men to be reconciled to God. [II Cor. 5:20+] Christ speaks through them. He who hears them, hears Christ; he who despises them, despises Christ. [Luke 10:16] If a minister should happen to be a hypocrite, his official acts, such as baptisms and the like, would still be valid. [II Tim. 2:13] _Deacons_ [Acts 6:1-6] are officers whose duty it is to assist the pastor, and to look after the temporal interests of the congregation. _Deaconesses_ [Rom.16:1] are consecrated to the work of love and mercy, and minister to the sick, the needy, the neglected, the ignorant, the fallen, and the friendless. THE VARIOUS CHURCHES. While the Church, in the strict sense of the word, is the "communion of saints" and therefore _one_, yet outwardly it has become divided, in the course of time, into many different churches, denominations, and sects. It contains Four Great Branches: _The Greek Catholic Church_; _The Roman Catholic Church_; _The Evangelical Lutheran Church_; and _The Reformed Churches_, comprising a great number of denominations and sects. The Lutheran Church and the Reformed Churches are called Protestant. (For the names and relations of various branches of the Church, see the accompanying Diagram, on page 106.) THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is in reality the old original Church which came into existence on the day of Pentecost. Luther simply threw out the errors which had crept into the Church during the course of the centuries, and held fast the doctrines taught in God's Word. As a separate and distinct Church, the Lutheran Church dates from the year 1530, when the Augsburg Confession was read before the emperor and diet of the German Empire.[5] Her doctrines are laid down in her six Confessions, contained in the Book of Concord. [Footnote 5: Since a particular Church is no older than her distinctive confession, the Lutheran Church is more than thirty years older than the Roman Catholic Church; for the Augsburg Confession was adopted in 1530, while the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, which are the Confession of the Roman Catholic Church, were not completed until 1563. The ecumenical creeds are accepted by both Churches, and therefore prove nothing as regards their _relative_ age.]