A Culture of Call

Principle: The individual's understanding of call includes hearing that call, discernment, response, and preparation for service. The community's response includes affirming, mentoring, assessment, approval, and authorization for service on behalf of The United Methodist Church

Challenge: The percentage of elders and deacons younger than 35 is too low to meet current and future needs for ordained leadership. The percentage of young elders increased to 5.47% in 2010, the highest in over a decade. Clergy aged 35-54 now represent 45% of elders, down from 65% in 1985. In 2010, for the first time, over half of active elders are age 55-72. Deacons show increasing age trends, but still have only 9.56% under age 35. (2010 Clergy Age Trends Report —Lewis Center for Church Leadership.)

Vision: Renewing a culture of call in The United Methodist Church will mean that ordained ministry is lifted up as a viable vocation that appeals to faithful young adults who seek to serve God in their vocations

Recommendations: In order to invite youth and young adults to consider ordained ministry, each annual conference board of ordained ministry should give strategic leadership to annual conferences, districts, congregations, campus ministries and camps (and other appropriate ministries) to renew a culture of call among youth and young adults

Vocational Discernment

Principle: The individual's understanding of call includes hearing that call, discernment, response, and preparation for service. The community's response includes affirming, mentoring, assessment, approval, and authorization for service on behalf of The United Methodist Church.

Challenge: Two of the factors impacting a person's entry into the candidacy process are inconsistency in assigning mentors and the availability of adequately trained mentors.

Vision: Those wanting to enter candidacy will be assigned a mentor as quickly as possible and will have the opportunity to work in a group setting with peers and effective mentors as they discern God's call for their lives. Group mentoring will provide preliminary testing of a call and gifts through peer group reflection, learning and feedback guided by one or more mentors

Recommendations: There shall be a conference-wide vocational discernment coordinator who is responsible for making the candidacy process inviting and accessible, strengthening the candidacy mentoring program and giving guidance and training to mentors. This person will be a member of the annual conference board of ordained ministry, will work closely with the cabinet and the board's executive committee to assign mentors, and will attend training coordinated by the GBHEM. Additionally, we propose a shift from individual candidacy mentoring to mentoring in groups (whenever possible). These mentors must be thoroughly trained in implementing the processes that lead to ordination, and gifted in facilitating groups

Preparation for Authorization

Principle: All baptized Christians are called to ministry. Within the body of Christ, some are set apart for ministries of leadership. “No ministry is subservient to another.”(¶130)

Challenge: “Without creative use of the diverse gifts of the entire body of Christ, the ministry of the church is less effective.”(¶303.4) Therefore, diverse ministry contexts challenge the church to seek diverse forms of licensed and ordained leaders to serve the church and the world

Vision: We envision a collegial model of ministry with local pastors, deacons, and elders working together to lead the UMC in its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Recommendations: Ministry Preparation School will be required for candidates following certification to prepare for licensed or ordained ministry. This common experience will begin to build collegiality and understanding among the varieties of set apart ministry. Following Ministry Preparation school, candidates for ordination shall come under the care of the conference board of ordained ministry. If the candidate is under appointment, licenses are granted until the successful completion of the requirements for ordination or until no appointment is available.  

Commissioning and Ordination

Principle: We affirm that ordination is a gift of God for the church, given continually through the life and ministry of deacons and elders. The 1996 General Conference initiated the practice of commissioning to recognize approved candidates for ordained ministry in a provisional relationship under supervision for a minimum of two years prior to ordination. We expect commissioned ministers to serve as if ordained, while withholding their ordination until they have proven effective in ministry.

Challenge: We agree with the 2008 Ministry Study Report that the practice of commissioning has not been substantive, well understood, or accepted by the church. Such practice diminishes the nature of the gift of ordination as well as the understanding of its recipient, the church. It has caused confusion throughout the church, among both clergy and laity within our own denomination, as well as among our ecumenical partners.

Vision: The church longs for consistency between its practice and theology of ordained ministry. Therefore, the commission envisions:

• 2010
• Those who have completed educational requirements enter their first appointment (upon completion of education) as ordained clergy
• BOMs who have adequate time to nurture candidates' growth and affirm their readiness for ordained ministry
• A residency period that opens the door to encourage continual learning and growth in effectiveness and faithful service to God

• Recommendations: We recommend replacing the act of commissioning with ordination and that candidates would become eligible for ordination and provisional conference membership as early as the completion of their educational requirements for ordination and appointment by the bishop. Then, we recommend to continue the current residency program for a minimum of two years, at which time a deacon or elder becomes eligible for full conference membership

Orders of Ministry

Principle: We affirm the distinctive place of orders of ministry in providing a rule of life and advancing the mission of the church. Historically the Christian church has been renewed through the establishment of clergy and lay orders. United Methodism saw such renewal through the establishment of the Order of Deacons in 1996. Currently the UMC recognizes two orders:

• Persons called to “to lead in service and to equip others for this ministry through teaching, proclamation, and worship and who assist elders in administration of the sacraments” are ordained deacons.” (¶303.2)

• Persons called to lead through preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments, and ordering the church's life for mission and service following the guidance of the Discipline are ordained elders. (¶303.2)

Challenge: Confusion exists within the church regarding the two orders. The Commission observes a lack of consistency as to the extent to which these orders are understood and supported across the church. Current patterns of recruitment and deployment of deacons and elders may miss the fullness of our mission and opportunities for ministry. Often persons who seek ordination as chaplains (military, hospital, university, prison, etc.), missionaries, theological educators, pastoral counselors, or social justice workers are discouraged from pursuing these callings as members of the Order of Deacons or Order of Elders due to the limits of current practice.

Vision: Our vision is rooted in Joel 2:28 and the sending of apostles in Luke 10. We pray for an institutional openness to fresh winds of the Spirit that would result in the continued renewal of our existing orders and openness to the fullness of their possibilities

Recommendations: We call the church to a time of self-examination, prayer, and fasting to listen for what God is doing among those who are currently being called to ministry and to be expectant for what the Spirit may yet do among us.

• We urge those who assess candidates for ministry to be open to the opportunities for ministry offered through our Orders of Deacons and Elders, including ministries beyond congregational settings.
• We call on those who lead our conference Orders of Deacon and Elder to encourage openness to the multiple expressions of ministry

Local Pastors

Principle: We affirm the ongoing opportunity for local pastors, upon completion of existing educational and formational standards, to attain associate membership in an annual conference

Challenge: Local pastors often do not continue into a formal relationship with an annual conference, making them unavailable for a wider range of ministry opportunities within the annual conference. In addition, within certain settings high value is placed on clergy who have a formal, enduring relationship with an annual conference

Vision: The United Methodist tradition values a learned, prepared, proficient, and fruitful clergy. We affirm that local pastors who, meeting requirements, are encouraged to become associate members of an annual conference and enhance their gifts for ministry while deepening their theological understanding.

Recommendations: We recommend continuing the present Disciplinary process that enables local pastors to become associate members.

Sacramental Authority

Principle: Sacraments are signs of God's presence and should be available to the whole church. Sacramental authority resides in the Order of Elders and is extended to the church through the office of bishop, and for missional purposes can be extended to a deacon and a local pastor

Challenge: The UMC suffers from confusion created by the disparity of its theology and practices of sacramental authority. Ordained deacons presently have sacramental authority when granted by the bishop for missional purposes, while local pastors, who are not ordained, have sacramental authority granted through the license for pastoral ministry. Ministry is becoming isolated rather than collaborative

Vision: Sacramental authority extends through the bishop to the Order of Elders. Sacraments are not administered alone but in community. Sacraments should be available to the whole church and authority may be given to deacons for missional purposes and to local pastors when an elder is not available.

Recommendations: Bishops are to ensure that sacraments are available to the whole church community. Elders are given authority to provide the sacraments to the church through collaborative relationships with colleagues in ministry. Bishops will give deacons the authority to extend the sacraments in specific missional settings beyond the local church and will give local pastors sacramental authority in their current appointment when an elder is not available

The Appointive Process

Principle: Appointments should be determined by missional needs, effectiveness of clergy, and fruitfulness of congregations/ministry settings, honoring prophetic voice, accountability, character, servant leadership, and no security of appointment should be assumed. The historic practice of itineracy is effective and responsive to covenantal obedience to call. Itineracy is not simply a practice of ‘moving clergy,' but a way of fulfilling our Church's mission

Challenge: Security of employment, commonly called guaranteed appointment, has become a barrier to fulfilling the church's mission. It limits the ability of the church to respond to the primacy of missional needs. Security of employment can emphasize the needs of the clergy instead of focusing on the mission of the church, and it restricts flexibility of appointments. Security of employment limits the church's ability to respond to mediocrity and ineffectiveness. Security of employment is not sustainable, especially in the context of the financial pressures that are building in our denomination.

Vision: Our vision is fruitful congregations that are transforming individuals and communities served by effective clergy undergirded by a system that is itinerant, open, flexible and responsive. To this end, we envision a shift to missional appointments, determined by missional needs of the community, effectiveness of clergy, and fruitfulness of congregations/ministry settings, honoring prophetic voice and the common value of women and ethnic leadership in the church. Missional appointments emphasize fruitfulness in ministry over security of employment

Recommendations: To accomplish this vision, we recommend the following:

1. Determine limited and standard fitness assessments. Each annual conference, board of ordained ministry, cabinet, and bishop will determine a clear definition of effectiveness and method for evaluating clergy.
2. Eliminate security of appointment for elders and edit appropriate Disciplinary paragraphs, including ¶¶334 and 337.
3. Create more flexibility for less-than-full-time elder appointments and edit relevant Disciplinary paragraphs, including ¶¶338 and 342.
4. Create a defined status/process for elders who are “not employed” and expand transitional leave as a new paragraph in the Discipline or draw language from ¶331.6.
5. Expand and create new oversight and review procedures for the appointment-making process to ensure that the historic protections of the prophetic pulpit, women and ethnic clergy are preserved.

Coordinate with GBOPHB resources, methods and practices for separation of employment and employment transitions.