Steps and Expectations For In-Care Candidates Preparing for Ordination

(Throughout this document references are made to contacting various people and organizations. See the Contact Page for information about how to make these contacts.)

SUMMARY: When an in-care candidate has completed all the prerequisites for ordination in the United Church of Christ and with the support of the local church and the Ordination and Standing Committee, he or she creates a profile and enters into the search process for a called position to which he or she can be ordained.

While candidates are in their search, they may, with their Advisor, prepare their Ordination Paper. Usually, the presentation of the Ordination Paper at an Ordination Exam and at an Ecclesiastical Council wait until the candidate has received a call. In certain circumstances, however, the Ordination and Standing Committee may agree to have the ordination exam prior to the candidate receiving a call. In such cases, a candidate is approved for an Ecclesiastical Council, pending a call.

Below are outlined in detail the specific steps and expectations of the Ordination process in the Metropolitan Association.

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If a candidate:

• has been in care with the Metropolitan Association for at least a year (see previous section),
• is nearing completion of all the other requirements of in care (e.g. M.Div. degree,
  psychological evaluation, on-going work with his or her Advisor), and
• feels called to begin looking for an ordained ministry position in a local church or other calling body...
• ...the candidate should undertake the Ordination process.

The candidate should begin by reading the materials presented here. If he or she has questions after reading this material, contact his or her In-Care Advisor. Candidates may also seek the counsel of the Registrar, the Regional Conference Minister or the Chair of the Ordination and Standing Committee.

For fuller descriptions of UCC perspectives and procedures on Ordination, please refer to Section 3 of the Manual on Ministry, available from the denomination's Parish Life and Leadership Team, or on line at www.ucc.org/ministers/manual/.

1. A local member of the United Church of Christ, refining his or her sense of calling to ordained ministry while in care, is ready to search for an “ordainable call” from a congregation or other calling body when he or she is within six months of completing all the requirements for ordination, including the M.Div. degree.
   
   An “ordainable call” is an offer to serve a local church or other setting for ministry which the Ordination and Standing Committee will recognize as needing/worthy of ordination. While the Committee has neither set minimum hours nor minimum compensation for a call to be considered “ordainable,” the Committee is serious about ordaining candidates to positions of integrity and justice. Typically an “ordainable call” must include provisions for sacramental ministry. If a candidate feels called to a position, and is not sure if the Committee would ordain him or her to it, he or she should begin by speaking with the Committee Chairperson or the Regional Conference Minister.
   
   
2. The candidate's first step, before seeking a call/entering the ordination process, is to approach his or her home church (according to its procedures) seeking their support as he or she moves toward ordination. Without the support of the candidate's local church, the candidate cannot proceed: the Association will not ordain a candidate without the recommendation of his or her home church.
   
   
3. Prior to seeking a call / entering the ordination process, the candidate should also speak with his or her Advisor, to check if there are any other impediments or Committee concerns before proceeding. The Advisor, if necessary, will consult with the Committee as a whole.
   
   
4. If the candidate's home church recommends the candidate for ordination, and if the candidate's Advisor says there are no other reservations, the candidate should begin by preparing a United Church of Christ profile.
   
   The Committee expects candidates for ordination to have a profile on file with the denomination's Profile office prior to ordination. This expectation holds for all candidates, even those who do not need a profile for search and call, for example because they already have a call offer or because they are seeking to serve in a setting other than a local church that relies on other application materials.
   
   The profile can be completed on line; download the materials by going to: www.ucc.org/ministers/index2.html.
   
   The Profile Office will not process profiles for candidates unless they are in care of an Association AND within 6 months of expected M.Div. graduation.
   
   Profiles take longer than one expects. Anecdotally, a candidate would be lucky to have a profile ready for distribution in a month. Both the information and the narrative statements the candidate needs to produce, as well as the Profile office's receiving the required 7 recommendations to begin processing, draw out the process.
   
   As well, once the candidate submits the profile, the Profile Office's work with it can take a couple of weeks. After they have completed a candidate's profile, they send a draft copy to the candidate, who proofs and indicates changes needing to be made. Revisions and corrections cause further delays. At the same time the draft goes to the candidate, another draft copy is sent to the Regional Conference Minister who has to sign off on the profile's accuracy. If a candidate is trying to move the process ahead, he or she should contact the Regional Conference Minister as soon as the draft copy of the profile is received: if the profile is “good to go,” the Regional Conference Minister's signing off can shave a couple of weeks off the process.
   
   Even once a candidate's profile is complete, distribution through Conference offices to local church Search Committees is often slower than expected or hoped for. Candidates are often frustrated by the length of time involved. (Even more frustrating can be how slow Search Committees often are reviewing profiles and responding to candidates.)
   
   In the United Church of Christ, Conferences and Associations often have their own procedures around search and call. It is the candidate's responsibility to figure out the expectations and procedures of the places he or she is applying for positions. It is also a wise move to try to establish a relationship with Conference staff where one is interested in applying. For example, once a candidate's profile has been sent to the staff responsible for placement, a follow up call of introduction and to discuss possibilities is a positive step.
   
   The first bit of logic of beginning by producing the profile is that once it is done, it gets passed to others, whose work with it takes time. During that time, the candidate can turn to the rest of their work in the ordination process.
   
   The other bit of logic for beginning with the profile relates to recognizing that in UCC polity a call is needed BEFORE ordination. And since an income-producing position is often a first priority/timely necessity upon graduation from seminary, and the search and call process in the United Church can take months or years— you should start with the job search before you dot all the I's and cross all the T's on the ordination process.
   
   As well, candidates can serve a church before they are ordained (Associations license people to do ministry if they are not ready to be ordained), but candidates cannot be ordained without a call from a congregation or other setting for ministry.
   
   
5. The candidate is not eligible to proceed towards an Ordination Exam, an Ecclesiastical Council and Ordination until a call from a local church or other setting for ministry has been received. The polity of the United Church of Christ requires authorized ministers, unless retired, to be in a covenant with a local church to do ministry. For authorized ministers serving outside of the parish, that covenant includes their site for ministry and the local UCC church where they hold membership.
   
   In some cases, Associations and Conferences will not circulate profiles of pre-ordination candidates who have not been “approved for ordination.” Approving candidates for ordination prior to their receiving a call has not been the practice of the Metropolitan Association. The Committee is concerned that such a practice prevents them from considering with the candidate the specific situation in which he or she will begin ordained ministry as well as the terms of the call and the contract for that service.
   
   But in cases where candidates want to circulate a profile where such pre-approval is needed, we have held Ordination Exams and approved the calling of an Ecclesiastical Council once the candidate receives a call. In such cases, please speak to the Chair of the Committee or the Regional Conference Minister.
   
   
6. Since the preparation of application materials found in this section on the Ordination checklist involves much work and time, candidates often begin working on them while they are seeking a call. Submissions must be complete before the Registrar will schedule an Ordination Exam with the Committee.
   
   By far the most labor-intensive of these is the Ordination Paper, which must cover these three topics:

   I.     Spiritual Journey-- the leg of the candidate's journey from the time taken in care (when he or she shared a spiritual journey to the point of requesting in-care status) until now as the candidate seeks ordination. Particularly helpful is the candidate's explanation of how his or her discernment of a call to ordained ministry has changed, matured, become more clear. Details of the specific call accepted might also be relevant.
   
   II.    History and Polity of the United Church of Christ—showing both a familiarity and an appreciation for the traditions, customs and charisms of the United Church . The standard suggested by the Manual on Ministry is that a candidate exhibit a love for the United Church of Christ.
   
   III.   Theological Position—the candidate needs to present a comprehensive explanation of his or her own faith and theology, including an explanation of the sacraments.

   The Committee does not have a standard theology against which it judges candidate's statements or theological positions. Nonetheless, the committee wants to assure that a candidate's theology will be a blessing and be blessed by the broad range of theological understanding within the United Church . More than anything, the Committee hopes to see a candidate articulate and draw on our inherited theological tradition with specific application to current context—as a resource for his or her ministry and for helping others in their spiritual growth.
   
   Candidates write their ordination papers in different forms; there is no one way to present this material. Candidates should be aware, however, that at their Ecclesiastical Council, they are asked to read from their paper portions relating to their faith journey and their theological understandings. This reading, as well as respect for the time commitments of the committee members who read the whole paper before the Ordination Exam, makes length a factor to be considered.
   
   Candidates should share their ordination paper with their In-Care Advisor prior to submitting it to the Registrar. The In-Care Advisor, aware of the expectations of the committee, has a responsibility to the committee to make sure the paper covers the needed information and is ready to be submitted for its members' attention.
   
   Often the candidate's pastor or local church in-care committee also helps the candidate make sure the ordination paper is ready to be submitted.
   
   
7. The candidate provides, along with the other materials on the ordination checklist, a copy of the letter of call from the local congregation or other setting where he or she will be serving. A model for such a letter can be found in the UCC publication Our Church Seeks a Pastor, “the green notebook” that each Search Committee should have. (Candidates may contact the Regional Conference Minister for a copy of a model letter of call.) Usually, a letter of call will include: a description of the position's duties, time requirements, provision for participation in the wider UCC, evaluation, conflict resolution and termination procedures and details on the compensation package.
   
   
8. Once all the ordination application materials have been compiled by the candidate, he or she submits them to the Registrar in a single envelope. They may also be submitted electronically, but again all at one time. The Registrar will acknowledge their receipt and schedule the candidate's Ordination Examination, at which the Committee determines whether or not the candidate is prepared for an Ecclesiastical Council.
   
   As with the in-care procedure, the Committee usually meets on the last Friday of each month (except July, August and December). To be eligible for an interview, all materials must be received by the Registrar on or before the 10 th of the month. With the Committee's meeting workload/interview schedule, an interview the same month the materials are submitted may not be possible.
   
   When candidates are working on exact schedules because of start dates with congregations or long distance travel to see the Committee, they should be in close communication with the Registrar.
   
   As stated above, if a candidate cannot be ordained before he or she begins a call in a UCC church, the Association of that local congregation may license him or her to the ministry until ordination occurs. In other situations, the candidate is allowed to pastor, but an ordained person is supplied to assist on sacramental occasions.
   
9. The Advisor is a primary source of information about the candidate in the Committee's deliberations about a candidate's readiness for and calling to ministry. The candidate's relation with his or her Advisor and the Advisor's recommendation bear great import on the movement towards ordination.
   
10. After interviewing the candidate, the Committee speaks to him or her about any preliminary plans for the Ecclesiastical Council and the Ordination service. There must be a two weeks between the dates of each the Ordination Exam, the Ecclesiastical Council and the Ordination Service: this allows the Association to announce these gatherings to its membership.
    
    All dates must be approved by the Association: an Ecclesiastical Council is a meeting of the Association and an Ordination is a continuation of that meeting as well as a worship service of the Association. The Association must be certain that it can have representative leadership at both. The Registrar will contact the candidate soon after the interview to let him or her know the committee's decision and to confirm dates.
    
    
11. The candidate will need to work very closely with the Registrar as he or she prepares the letter inviting the Association to the Ecclesiastical Council and to the Ordination. The candidate will need to confirm biographical information as well as provide information about the ordination service (time, place, preacher, liturgical color, etc.).
    
    
12. The Ecclesiastical Council usually takes place at the candidate's home church. A quorum consists of representatives from 5 of the Association's congregations. The candidate and his or her home church are responsible for making sure that a quorum is present. Association representatives will conduct the Council.
    
    
13. The Ordination service also usually takes place in the home church. However, sometimes it takes place in the church to which the candidate has been called. If the latter is to take place, please notify the Association as soon as possible.
    
    
14. While the Association uses the Ordination service as printed in the UCC Book of Worship for all candidates, the rest of the service is to be planned by the ordinand and the hosting congregation. Leaders to preach, offer charges to the congregation and the ordinand—all these are left to local discretion. The usual order is that the ordination takes place following the sermon and prior to presentations and charges to the ordinand.
    
    
15. The custom of the church is that the clergy come forward for the laying on of hands during the ordination prayer. A newer custom has everyone coming forward, clergy first, then lay folks, as a visible sign that by baptism we are all called into ministry together. The Association has practiced both traditions, at the request of the ordinand. Another custom is that the newly ordained pronounces the benediction. Sometimes communion is part of the service, but does not have to be.
    
    
16. If the newly ordained person is serving a call outside of the Metropolitan Association, he or she needs to request the Registrar in their new Association send to the Metro Registrar a request for transfer of standing prior to their installation in their new church. Likewise, his or her church membership needs to be moved from the in-care congregation to the setting for ordained ministry.

For any further help with search and call, please contact the Regional Conference Minister. For help with moving through the process towards ordination, please contact the Registrar, the Chair of the Ordination and Standing Committee or the Regional Conference Minister.