I seemed to strike an important cord yesterday with the first part of my Rethinking the Ordination Process post based on the comments and my inbox. I fully understand writing about this topic in the way I have will make some upset while it will encourage others. My intention is not to upset folks but to shine light on some of the dark places of our process so that we can continue to improve it in the future. I also want to say I am not just sitting on the sideline complaining about these things, but I am on my local DCOM team and I am trying to make the interview process better. However, I am moving to a new appointment this summer in a different district so I am not sure whether I will be invited to join the new DCOM or not.

One of our challenges around ordination in my opinion is it has become too bureaucratic as Sky McCracken said in his UM Insight article https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/ordained-ministry/time-for-a-hard-reset-regarding-ordination/ . It has become a system based on those who are “in” and those who are “out”. Part of the issue as Sky shares is that we did not retain the “Local Elder” category like our AME, CME, and AME Zion friends. This has left us with a confusing role of Licensed Local Pastors where the denomination doesn’t seem to know what to do with them. LLPs are often used to fill roles in smaller congregations that otherwise couldn’t afford an ordained pastor. They are given all of the responsibilities that we have as an Elder, however they are confined to only using them in their local setting. While our LLP’s serve in great ways they are often looked at or treated as less than. This can even be seen by how they have no representation at our General Conference that is going on right now. The reality is LLP’s are going to become more and more important to the life of the church as the traditional church structures continue to dwindle and we envision new ways of being the church. LLP’s are also going to be essential as more and more families need to be dual-income families and some spouses are not able to easily relocate for work. I am very fortunate that my spouse works as an ER Nurse and there are many hospitals around.

Part of the issue around ordination is as David Watson says in his article is that we do not have a clear theology around what it means to be ordained. https://davidfwatson.me/2014/01/23/is-the-um-ordination-process-too-arbitrary/ As David shares in the Book of Discipline in section 301 we find a large description of what the ordained should do (which in my personal opinion needs to be rehauled/re-evaluated for the future of the church but that is a different post for a different day), but we find little or no discussion as to what ordination is. This leads to arbitrary criteria that can vary from conference to conference and team to team.

Besides these things making our ordination system elitist and classist with wide divisions between Elders and LLPs, and lacking a clear theology of ordination we find these things causing other difficulties in our ordination process such as…

Because we have taken a more bureaucratic approach to ordination instead of a theological approach it makes it more about jumping through the appropriate hoops and over the necessary hurdles to become ordained rather than being called and showing the appropriate fruit in ministry and their lives. I know people in authority tend to hate it when we call it “hoops & hurdles”, but if you don’t want it to appear that way or be referred to in that way then change it. In our current system too much is based on having the right temperament and charisma while being willing to take a beating through the process.

We have made ordination about who is willing to be itinerant, and who we want to approve and allow them to get insurance, pension, benefits, and a guaranteed appointment. My friends we are missing the mark. Not only that we are failing to adjust to a quickly changing society and refuse to be less rigid to empower and encourage those who are called to ministry.

Another reality is the cost of becoming ordained. No, I don’t mean the spiritual cost, but the financial cost. I remember in the Fall of 2011 I was around 32 years old and wanted to start the process of ordination. I was already paying towards loans I had to take out to complete my bachelor’s degree in youth ministry and biblical studies in 2001. I was not excited to take out more loans to complete more schooling. I had heard there was a course of study option that would be much cheaper option but as I looked into this I was told I was not old enough to do the Course of Study program (I believe you had to be 40 years old). Quite honestly this confused me, I was more than willing to continue my education, I already read a lot of books per year, and wanted to grow in my abilities as a pastor, but why did I have to have a Master of Divinity degree to do that?

So, I began looking at seminary options. Then I learned that it wasn’t enough to have an M.Div you had to have one from a UM senate-approved seminary. Not only that, you were required to spend a certain amount of hours in the physical classroom for it to count. Even without looking at the actual cost of seminary, this is incredibly restricting. So, I looked into my two closest options at MTSO and UTS. I really enjoyed my visit to MTSO, but at that time they didn’t have a hybrid program, so that meant I would be driving from Toledo, Ohio to Delaware, Ohio each week which was around a 2-2.5 hour drive. I would have to make this drive even in the winter with my older rear wheel drive car, stay down there a couple of days per week, and then drive north back to Toledo. I would have had to do that for at least 3.5 years after just getting married a little over a year before I decided to pursue ordination. So, for the good of my young marriage, I decided this would not be the most helpful for us. So, I then looked at UTS where I would eventually attend and receive my M.Div. I want to emphasize that I had a great experience at UTS with caring professors and I made lots of great friends.

It was tough to choose between MTSO and UTS. MTSO had A LOT more scholarships available for students, but UTS had a more flexible hybrid program. I did get some scholarship money through UTS but they only put a small dent in the cost of seminary. Around 1 year after I started seminary my wife gave birth to our daughter. So, my wife worked part-time and I went to seminary full-time and worked full-time as a local pastor. The minimum salary for a full-time local pastor at that time was not great, so I had to take a little bit of money out each semester to help us make ends meet. My wife and I were trying to take care of your family while working, and also paying towards both of our undergrad loans. This basically meant I took on the full cost of seminary. I had tried multiple times to look up and apply for scholarships through GBHEM but most of them I didn’t qualify for because they were conference-specific, because I am a male, I am white, or I was either too young, not old enough, or not a second-career pastor. Please understand this is not me complaining about not qualifying for scholarships because of my gender or race, it is just the reality of the situation and that is o.k. So, to complete seminary it meant I had to take out A LOT in student loans! Occasionally someone would say, “You should have applied for this _______ scholarship through the district.” Then when I looked into it the scholarship I saw it would require essays and an interview for around $500 for the year. When you are married, have a young child at home, are going to seminary full-time, working full-time, and trying to proceed through the ordination process it is not worth the time for $500 when that wouldn’t even cover books for a semester.

No pastor I have ever known has gotten into the ministry because they thought they would make lots of money. Yet, the cost of seminary is incredibly difficult for pastors and their families to bear. Even after you complete this very costly degree program there is no guarantee that you will be ordained as a pastor. If you are not approved for ordination then you have a degree that costs a lot of money, that is very specific, and will not translate to a lot of careers outside of specific ministry roles. If you finish seminary, but don’t pass the ordination interviews and have to wait another year to try again guess what doesn’t wait, the loan collectors asking for repayment. For example, I finished seminary in Dec 2015, but I did not become a provisional elder until the summer of 2018. I didn’t become a full elder until September 2020 (due to Covid).

I know we must be thorough and diligent in deciding who is approved for ordination. This is not a task that should be taken lightly by our conferences, nor by the candidates. Yet, I think we need to adapt to our quickly changing culture with greater flexibility and a simpler process for ordination. The heavy one-size fits all approach that takes 7-10 years along with completing a bachelor’s degree and M.Div where you acquire significant debt is not going to be feasible in the years to come. Just as we expect local churches to continue to be open and flexible to the work of the Spirit in their context to do fruitful ministry, we as a denomination need to have an open heart to the work of the Spirit as we seek to ordain clergy so that we may continue making disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world.