Procedural Steps Toward Ordination - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Procedural Steps Toward Ordination

R

eport to General Synod 1993Slide2

Pre-enrollment Supervision

Before a classis receives an applicant under its care and enrolls him/her as a candidate for ministry the applicant should have at least one year of recent participation in the life of a congregation of the Reformed Church in America, or in a ministry of the Reformed Church in America, with supervision satisfactory to the classis, during which the candidate has shown to the recommending consistory evidence of potential for effectiveness in ministry in the following areas (a) the cognitive or intellectual (knowledge for ministry), (b) competence (skills for ministry), and (c) character (personal qualities for ministry).Slide3

Vocational Inventory and Psychological Assessment

Every applicant should be required to participate in a professionally administered vocational inventory and psychological assessment at classis expense prior to coming under classis care. The results of the inventory and assessment should be reported in confidence to a small committee designated by classis and qualified to help the applicant and classis assess the results.Slide4

Committee on Student Supervision

The classis should empower a committee whose sole responsibility is oversight of the process of education, assessment, and ordination of candidates for ministry. The committee should have responsibility for:Slide5

Recommending to classis the appointments of

mentors

and supervisors

Recommending to classis the specific procedures for assessment of candidates.

Scheduling and coordinating examinations in a way that is considerate of the candidate’s academic program, schedule, and travel needs.

Communicating with and encouraging the continuing support of the candidate’s home consistory.

Communicating with the candidate’s seminary or agency.

Close and continuous communication with the candidate.

Monitoring the financial needs of the candidate.Slide6

Mentor

The classis committee responsible for student supervision should appoint a member of classis to serve as a mentor to the candidate. The appointment should be made with the mutual consent of the mentor and the candidate. The role of the mentor in its broadest sense is to provide sustained support to the candidate.Slide7

Supervisor

The classis committee on care and supervision of students should appoint a member of classis to serve as the candidate’s supervisor. Supervision is best done by a minister of the congregation where and when the candidate serves during his or her seminary education if this takes place within the bounds of classis. If the candidate serves outside the bounds of classis, the classis supervisor should be in close contact with the on-site supervisor. The role of the supervisor in its broadest sense is to give “guidance in the candidate’s study program and practical training”Slide8

Financial Support and Material Well-being

The classis should have a policy concerning the financial support of candidates and a procedure for monitoring the material well-being of candidates. The policy should be designed to optimize the financial resources available to the candidate from (a) personal savings and current income, (b) the student’s greater family, (c) sponsors who believe in the student’s potential, (d) the home congregation, (e) the home classis, (f) seminary scholarships, grants, and loan funds

.

Cont’dSlide9

The classis committee for care and supervision should recommend a debt limit (including consideration of preexisting debt) based on a realistic assessment of the candidate’s earning potential and other financial obligations. The classis committee should regularly monitor the candidate’s financial condition to assure that the candidate and his/her dependents have adequate income for their material needs, including health care, and to assure that the candidate’s debt burden does not exceed what can be realistically repaid from the income likely to be realized in the ministry.Slide10

Assessment Procedures

Classes should design procedures of assessment that address the integration of the three areas: (a) the cognitive or intellectual (knowledge for ministry), (b) competence (skills for ministry), and (c) character (personal qualities for ministry). The scope of the assessment procedures must include the areas mandated by the

Book of Church Order,

Part II, Art. 8, Sec. 6

.

and Sec. 7

(BCO 2008)Slide11

Supervised Internship

Whenever possible, the classis should require each candidate to spend a year in a supervised internship, preferably with the Reformed Church in America.Slide12

The following were offered as suggestions by the task force:

Written papers, especially for academic areas.

A credo, such as required by TEA.

Manuscript sermon(s) and video or audio tape(s) of preaching reviewed by a classis committee or a “Sermon Team,” meeting after a worship service in a classis church to provide feedback.

Oral examinations before the entire classis for graduating seniors, but also before the senior year (biblical languages should not be before the entire classis).

Oral examinations before a classis committee (not a single individual). Slide13

Classis committee discussion with the candidate of transcript and/or field work experiences.

Individual or small group discussion with the student of personal prayer life and Bible study.

An extensive reflection paper on a seminar or other intensive experience selected and paid for by classis.

Reflection reports and discussion with a classis committee of BCO requirements, leadership issues, and group dynamics following attendance at a series of elders, deacons, consistory, and classis meetings. Slide14

A views-of-ministry reflection paper based on in-depth interviews of two or three M.Div. graduates who are no longer in the pastoral ministry, to become more familiar with the dynamics that lead individuals to seek other forms or ministry or to demit.

Readings and written tests on foundational RCA materials (such as the RCA doctrinal standards or history and program of RCA missions).

Preparing an informational booklet on a local church’s mission budget.

Reading and discussion of key materials on church growth.

An extensive reflection paper or oral discussion on participation for a year in a small fellowship group in a local church. Slide15

Give a verbatim account and critique of an evangelistic encounter.

Classis may specify a means of remedying a deficiency (e.g., working through a video series for someone weak in Bible knowledge or theology, or studying with a classis tutor for someone who is inadequate in biblical introduction).

A report of an experienced leader who observed the candidate leading a small group study.

Give a verbatim account and critique of a pastoral call. Slide16

A classis should be willing to consider secular training or church and other experiences as sufficiently meeting classis’ expectation for approval in a given area, apart from seminary and agency work (such as extension courses, Stephen Ministry, a counseling degree, work on church staff, lay preaching, teaching the Bethel Bible Series, etc.). The classis would then permit appropriate examinations for those whom the classis decides have skill levels which are already sufficient.

The classis may require the candidate to address critical areas of need or weakness through specifically designed or assigned experiences with appropriate reflection (oral or written). Likewise the candidate may have specific ways to demonstrate the integration and mastery of certain skills. Slide17

End

Taken from the Minutes of General Synod, 1993