Minister

A minister is a person who leads a Protestant church; such a person may also be called a pastor, preacher, or elder. In many churches, ministers are required to be seminary trained although some churches allow "laymen" to preach. Compare with priest.


A minister is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e.g. education, finance, health, state, war etc...). Senior ministers are members of the cabinet, usually led by a prime minister or president.

The term "minister" comes from a Latin word meaning a "servant" (or first servant). In some countries (such as the US), such a person is instead known as a secretary or secretary of state.

A few ministers:

See the lists below for more.

Lists of ministers