DCOM: An Email to Mentors

3/27/2017

Dear Mentors,

The District Committee on Ordained Ministry will meet to interview candidates on Thursday, May 4th, 2017.

I am currently accepting requests for interviews from the mentors.
Is your candidate ready to come before the committee?

To be ready a candidate needs to have the following in place:
You will have worked with them on developing their written answers of the questions from the 2016 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. (They are the same as the 2012 BOD) This is to be an academic exercise. We hope to see references to theologians, a Wesleyan understanding, and a candidate’s personal theological journey. There is no right or wrong theology. What is most important is that you as the mentor have worked with the candidate so that they can articulate a call to ministry and can express a theological understanding of the Christian tradition. We want to see an integration of the theological and practical aspects of ministry. YOU MUST REVEIW THIS WITH THEM BEFORE THEY SUBMIT THE WORK TO ME. RECENTLY MENTORS HAVE NOT SEEN THE CANDIDATE'S RESPONSES AND THOSE CANDIDATES USUALLY DID NOT PASS THE VOTE OF THE COMMITTEE. Please review the material for grammar, misspellings and typo’s.   This is one of the most important interviews and the submission of excellent written material should be of the highest expectation.

If your candidate is coming for certification for candidacy, they are required to provide the written answers of the Wesley Historical Questions to the committee. This was to have been done for the Staff Parish committee interview of your local church. It should be about 3 to 5 pages.

310. Wesley’s Questions for the Examiners—In order that The United Methodist Church may be assured that those persons who present themselves as candidates for licensed or ordained ministry are truly called of God, let those who consider recommending such persons for candidacy as licensed or ordained ministers in The United Methodist Church prayerfully and earnestly ask themselves these questions:
1. Do they know God as pardoning God? Have they the love of God abiding in them? Do they desire nothing but God? Are they holy in all manner of conversation?
2. Have they gifts, as well as evidence of God’s grace, for the work? Have they a clear, sound understanding; a right judgment in the things of God; a just conception of salvation by faith? Do they speak justly, readily, clearly?
3. Have they fruit? Have any been truly convinced of sin and converted to God, and are believers edified by their service?

C. The following should be answered in 15 to 20 pages. I can be found on page 231 of the BOD 2016, paragraph 310.2.a.

           i) the most formative experiences of your Christian life;
           ii) God's call to licensed or ordained ministry and the role of the church in your call;
           iii) Your personal beliefs as a Christian

Our committee asks for the following sub-sections of this question:
In your answer we want you to write your personal theological beliefs and to highlight the theologians who have helped you to come to your views concerning:

                 The Trinity; sin; repentance; atonement; reconciliation; grace; salvation; resurrection; eternal life; the sacraments; the authority of scripture; understanding of the Kingdom of God
(Our district committee expects this to be at an academic level compared to where the candidate is in the process. If a seminary student, then this should be answered at that academic and professional level. If a high school student, our expectations would be different.)

        iv) Your personal gifts for ministry;

          v) Your present understanding of your call to ministry as elder, deacon, or licensed ministry;
            (And our committee also wants you to explain the difference between these orders and why specifically you are seeking the order to which you feel called.)

            (vi) Your support system;

Here are my instructions to the candidates:

When answering all the questions, we expect you to explain your theological beliefs, your foundational understanding of all theological perspectives, and that you have come to some conclusions of your own understanding of God and God's work in the world. Our committee has a high expectation of an intellectual and theological grounding in addition to a personal passion for ministry in the name of Jesus Christ.

I will need official transcripts sent from your college and seminary to my attention at the UMCS office. These need to be sent directly to me from the registrar of your school.

If you have not completed any of the following forms previously, make sure you do so before your interview.   You may find these forms at the Board of Higher Education and Ministry website, under their resource library. You should have filled in   We need A COPY OF THE Form 102, Personal Data Inventory, which you should have completed during your on-line registration process. Also Form 103, Medical Report of Candidate, and Form 104 – Declaration of Candidacy which is the report from the Charge Conference that has recommended you and/or re-recommended you. You can find all these forms at the GBHEM.org website.

If you are coming before the committee for certification – Please make sure that you have had an evaluative time with your mentor concerning your Psychological Assessment. If your psychological evaluation made recommendations, please be prepared to provide written evidence of your progress on these recommendations. If it was suggested for you to enter therapy, a letter from the therapist of the number of meetings and any progress that you and the therapist agree to share with the committee would be helpful.  AS THEIR MENTOR, YOU MUST MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE ACTUAL WRITTEN REPORT FROM THEIR ASSESMENT AND YOU HAVE SEEN IT AND HELPED THEM TO UNDERSTAND IT.

Also, the Board of Ordained Ministry is requiring all candidates who come before them for probationary membership to have taken the Clergy Sexual Ethics and Boundary Training and you must have a letter or certificate verifying that you have completed this training.

Also, please be aware that when you are certified and are requesting to move on to the Board of Ordained Ministry interviews for probationary membership and commissioning that the following will be required for your commissioning ordination in the process.


   Courses on United Methodist __Polity; __Doctrine; __History; __Evangelism

(Please be sure these courses are taken before you appear before BOOM for the commissioning interviews. They are required by the time of Commissioning for the Elder’s and Deacon’s candidates. For Associate Membership, the completion of the Five Year Course of Study meets the requirement. These courses should be commenced or completed before the candidate’s files are transferred to the Registrar (though they can still finish these courses before the Commissioning Service.)

The New York Annual Conference requires that you have completed Clinical Pastoral Education for ordination as an Elder.   Ordination may be a few years down the road, but we encourage you to finish while you is still in seminary. It is not required for Deacon’s Orders if you are going that track.

The deadline for the written answers to the Disciplinary questions and the theological work and for the professional resume will be one week before your interview. Please submit by Thursday, April 27th, 2017.

Please email the materials to me at bshillady@umcitysociety.org followed by a hard copy sent to me in the mail.

All forms, all transcripts, and any written evidence that you would like to present to the committee should be sent ahead of the meeting, but must be in our possession for the interview to take place. Again, please have an updated transcript sent to me.

If you have any questions, please contact me or Rev. Cathy Gilliard who is the chairperson of the committee.

AS A MENTOR, PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. ALSO, IF YOUR CANDIDATE NEEDS TO BE RE-CERTIFIED, THERE ARE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS.

PLEASE CALL ME OR EMAIL ME.

THANKS,
Bill

Rev. Dr. William S. Shillady
Executive Director, CEO
UM City Society
Room 1922
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115

212-870-3094

email: bshillady@umcitysociety.org

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