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.
I perceive You are a prophet
53-0614E §24
But when the gift of prophesy is operating, it cannot be received unless two or three judge it, to see whether it's right or not. But a prophet (singular, p-r-o-p-h-e-t) is born a prophet, comes up a prophet. Everything he says in the name of the Lord is absolutely truth, if he is prophesying. Now, you say, "That was for the Old Testament." Oh, no. They had prophets in the New Testament. Agabus and many of them were prophets in the New Testament. But now, it doesn't come by laying on of hands. If you lay on of hand...
Has the Lord spoken only to Moses?
53-1130 §7
Now, go ye into all the world and demonstrate the power of the Gospel. The first words that He spoke to His disciples, the first commission was to heal the sick and cast out devils. The last words that fell from Jesus Christ's lips according to this Bible was to heal the sick, Mark 16. While He was being taken up, He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth (not you all), he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And (...
Church Ages, part 8: The Philadelphian Church Age
60-1210 §38
And nobody's got a business going to the fields unless they have received the Holy Ghost, and preaching the power with demonstration, 'cause it's the only thing that'll ever move those people. And look what uprisings you got now, and everything. It's because that the true gospel hasn't been preached to them. It's been given to them in word form. Well, see what that is? That's the continuation of the "escaped one" of the Luther age, where it give the world the free press, that's right, or the free Bible.
Presuming
62-0610M §87
Deuteronomy 18:22, God said, "If there be one among you spiritual or a prophet, and what he says comes to pass, then you hear him. If it doesn't come to pass, then don't hear him." John 14:12, Jesus said, "He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also." Mark 16 said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Not to join the church, and put their name on a book, and live a good life. But, "In my name they shall cast out devils; and speak with new tongues." No, sir.
Convinced then concerned
62-0118 §97
Now, I read the Old Testament first, and I seen what God was in the Old Testament through those prophets. I come over to the New Testament, and I taken the New Testament. And I found out the same God of the Old Testament was also the same God of the New Testament. Then I took from the New Testament down to the organizing of the early Catholic church, which is about three hundred years, at the Nicea Council when the bishops taken the name of Pope. And the Roman church which took the dogma side, and the Orthodox Cath...