Minister

Minister, a public functionary who has the chief direction of any department in a state, the ministry being the body of ministers to whom the sovereign or chief-magistrate commits the executive government (see CABINET, PARLIAMENT, TREASURY). Minister is also a term for a delegate or representative of a sovereign at a foreign court (see AMBASSADOR). Christian preachers and priests are ministers of the word of God or of Jesus Christ in Catholic usage; minister, a name, was adopted by French-speaking Protestants for their clergy, and was formerly so used by Anglicans, as it still is by Presbyterians and many Nonconformists.