I will have the Ecclesiatical Council Saturday October 18 after lunch at: 1st Congregational United Church of Christ 4201 Trail Lake Drive Fort worth, TX 76109 ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCIL When a candidate has successfully completed the ordination examination by the Association Committee on the Ministry, the next step in the approval process is an ecclesiastical council. Depending on the Association’s policy, the ecclesiastical council could be held before or following the point at which the candidate has received a call to an ordained ministry position recognized by the Association. The Association Committee on the Ministry arranges for an official meeting of an ecclesiastical council and decides with the candidate what type of presentation the candidate will make to the ecclesiastical council and how all or a portion of the candidate’s ordination paper will be made available to the delegates to the ecclesiastical council. Ideally, distribution of the candidate’s ordination paper to the delegates in time for their reading before the ecclesiastical council is encouraged. If this is not feasible, perhaps certain sections of the paper or a summary of the paper could be made available. In any case, the complete paper should be available to the delegates at the time of the ecclesiastical council. There are a variety of options available for the candidate’s presentation to the ecclesiastical council. Among these are for the candidate to read all or portions of the ordination paper, to present a summary of the ordination paper, or to comment on the ordination paper. The purpose of the ecclesiastical council is to authorize the ordination of the candidate. Following is a sample agenda with commentary for the ecclesiastical council: • The Association Committee on the Ministry introduces the candidate and makes its recommendation that the candidate be authorized for ordination. In making its recommendation, the Committee will provide a detailed rationale supporting its recommendation. This rationale will include the Committee’s experience with the person through the in care time, the process used by the Committee to reach its recommendation, notation of major commendations from references, something about the candidate’s theological and polity understandings, and an evaluation of the candidate by the in care advisor, and so forth. • The candidate makes a presentation based on her or his ordination paper. The presentation should demonstrate the person’s theological, polity, and functional understandings of ordained ministry and relate these to the commitment and preparation of the person for the particular type of ordained ministry position to which she or he has been called or to which she or he is seeking a call. • The ecclesiastical council engages in an examination of the candidate in order to satisfy itself as to the preparedness and fitness of the candidate for ordained ministry in and on behalf of the United Church of Christ. The examination is not limited to the presentation or ordination paper of the candidate. • On completion of the examination, the ecclesiastical council votes whether or not to authorize ordination pending an approved call and the establishment of a covenantal relationship among the partners to the call. The decision the Association makes is a decision made for the entire United Church of Christ and will be binding on and honored by the other Associations of the United Church of Christ. Once ordained, the person is granted ordained ministerial standing and becomes a voting member of the Association and Conference.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 17:01:49 +0000
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