What is a "call" to ministry?
 Who is called to ministry?
 How do I know if God is calling me?
 What are the basic qualifications for ordination?
 Do I have to make this decision alone?
 Can I get help from the community?
 What does the church look for in a minister?
 Do I always need a formal education?
 Can I transfer ministerial standing from another denomination?
 How can I contact you if I have more questions?

What is a "call" to ministry?

When Christians talk about a "call" we mean that God is calling us—in our mind and heart—to take an action or make a choice. The Latin word for "call"—vocatio—is the root of a word often used to describe a call that leads us into a way of life: a "vocation." A “call to ministry” also means that the community has recognized gifts for ministry and is calling them forth. In fact, one of the distinguishing aspects of ministry in the United Church of Christ is the affirmation that ministerial leadership is always defined by an ongoing sacred covenant or agreement among partners; thus ministry is more communal than individual, and the call to authorized ministry is always discerned with others.

A great theologian from the early days of the United Church of Christ, H. Richard Niebuhr, identified four aspects of a vocation.

• The call to be a Christian is the beginning of any call to ministry, including yours.

• The secret call between God and the person when you feel an inward invitation to become a minister.

Exercise: The United Church of Christ has developed a list of “marks” identifying faithful and effective ministry. While no individual will display all the marks all the time, this list forms a set of expectations for what the church is looking for in authorized ministers. Read slowly and prayerfully through the list. Do you find evidence of a “providential call”? Are there marks that others (your pastor, leaders of your church, trusted friends and relatives, for example) have identified in you? Can you identify any marks that might be a challenge for you, or might need further education, training, counseling or guidance to develop? Marks of Faithful and Effective Ministry A lot of women and men through history have tried to express in their own words what it means to be called, or pulled by God in some direction. Read some of these descriptions and ask yourself if any correspond to your own experience. Classic descriptions of call

• The providential call when you recognize that God has given you specific gifts—intellectual, spiritual, psychological and moral—that God wants you to use in ministry.
• The ecclesiastical call (from the Greek work ekklesios, meaning "church") when the community accepts your call, helps you prepare for ministry, and then ordains or commissions you for that ministry.

Who is called to ministry?
All members of the Body of Christ are called to ministry through their covenant of Baptism. God calls all of us to follow Jesus Christ and proclaim the Gospel in our lives. We are all called by Baptism to minister, or serve, others in Christ's name. In that sense, all members of the church are called to be ministers. The UCC Constitution affirms that "the United Church of Christ recognizes that God calls the whole Church and every member to participate in and extend the ministry of Jesus Christ by witnessing to the Gospel in church and society. The United Church of Christ seeks to undergird the ministry of its members by nurturing faith, calling forth gifts, and equipping members for Christian service."

The apostle Paul taught that God gives all members of the Body of Christ "gifts" to serve others. "To each," he wrote, "has been given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good...." (I Cor. 12) The imagery of this entire chapter reminds us that as members of the Body of Christ we have gifts that differ from one another in form and function so that, working together, we can be faithful witnesses and disciples of Jesus the Christ. Wherever your road to ministry may lead you, you will always be able to discover one or more gifts, one or more ways that God has called you to serve "the common good."

Look up 1 Corinthians 12 in the Bible. How does Paul's image of the Body of Christ help you to understand the place of all shapes and sorts or vocations?

Although every member of the church has some call or vocation for ministry, some members are set apart by the church for particular authorized ministries. In the United Church of Christ, these fall into three categories: ordained, licensed, and commissioned.

Ordained minister usually require preparation in a seminary or divinity school. Generally, pastors and other ministers of Word and Sacrament are ordained for this office.

Licensed and commissioned ministries are "lay" ministries that do not require ordination. They may, however, involve some period of formal preparation, or may be authorized on the basis of knowledge, skills and experience which the person already possesses.

 How do I know if God is calling me?
For some, discerning a call to ministry feels like stepping stones on a journey in a straight line. They experience the movement towards ordained or lay professional ministry as a growing sense of "rightness."

Others experience call more like a labyrinth—a journey in circles. Their path to vocation has many twists and turns, times of certainty and uncertainty, times when their goal seems close and other times when it seems far off. But the journey itself still has meaning. It feels like a journey towards God.

Others feel that God is pursuing them. Perhaps we might call this the hound of heaven experience. It echoes the experience of poet Francis Thompson who wrote a poem by that title in the late 1800s about feeling pursued by God as if God were a great hound.

Spend time walking a labyrinth and meditating on your sense of vocation or questions about call. Many retreat centers and even local churches have labyrinths. If walking a labyrinth is not an option for you, try using the image of a labyrinth on this page and trace it slowly with your finger. Or, you can have an interactive experience of walking a labyrinth at www.labyrinthonline.com. Try re-reading the entire poem by Francis Thompson and see if there are places where you connect or disconnect with her image of God as a pursuer.      "I fled Him, down the nights and down the days, "I fled Him, down the arches of the years; "I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. "Up vistaed hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears, From those strong Feet that followed, followed after."

In the African American tradition, the experience of vocation is described in many ways. Gerald Davis says: "When you're born, preaching is in you. And when the time comes it stirs, God stirs it up." William H. Myers, in his book, "God's Yes Was Louder Than My No," call involves several stages:

• direct experience of the divine call that can be articulated to others.
• struggle with self, God and the community.
• search for answers and human validation.
• surrender and acceptance of call

Others experience call as coming directly from a community of faith. Perhaps we might describe this experience as: "The Church Wants You!" In some traditions—such as Native American and Hawaiian—God raises up pastoral leadership from within the community itself. When the community needs leadership, they search for someone in their midst who has the right gifts. Small rural and urban congregations are also starting to look to this way of finding pastoral leadership. Of course, those who are called in this way must then listen for God's inner confirmation as well and, if the call is confirmed, seek the training, study, support and mentoring needed to respond.

 What are the basic qualifications for ordination?
The basic qualifications generally required of all ordained ministers include:

• membership in a Local Church of the United Church of Christ;
• demonstrated knowledge and affirmation of the history, polity, and practices of the UCC.

In addition, most ordained ministers in the UCC hold a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Divinity degree or have pursued a course of study and formation other than formal degree work that prepares them for service as an ordained minister in their context.

For more information about ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ, you should contact the Conference or Association where you hold UCC membership or obtain the section of the Manual on Ministry (MOM) describing ordained ministry in detail.  MOM is available on the UCC website www.ucc.org/ministers/manual or in print for a modest charge from United Church of Christ Resources at 1-800-537-3394. The complete MOM describing all forms of ministry in the UCC is also available both online and in print.  

In addition, you might find it useful to become familiar with the ongoing work of the denomination regarding formation for ministry (the “Ministry Issues Project”) by consulting the web page www.ucc.org/ministers/ministry-issues.

 Do I have to make this decision alone?
If you continue on a journey toward authorized ministry, you will become a "Member in Discernment" with your Association.  See the resources listed above for more information.

 Can I get help from the community?
One way to explore whether God is really calling you to authorized ministry is to invite others to work with you as a "discernment committee."  Modeled on the Quaker tradition of the "clearness committee," this group's specific task is to help you listen for God's voice and find some clarity about the nature of God's call in your life.

The committee should be small. Ask people who know you reasonably well, for example, your pastor (or another member of the pastoral staff), lay leaders in your church, and a friend or two. Look for people who listen deeply for God in their own lives and can ask insightful questions that will help you clarify your sense of call, your gifts for ministry and those places in you that may need further growth or development.

How often should a discernment committee meet? This is flexible. In the Quaker tradition, a clearness committee meets only once for three hours. However, you might want to spend more time with the committee: quarterly meetings over a year or two works well for some. For others, a useful timetable would be more frequent meetings over a shorter period—once a month for six months, for example.

What does the committee do? Their most important role is to listen! They are listening for the voice of God in your life. They will ask questions to help you focus on your discernment. They also might choose to engage in Bible study with you. The committee's purpose is not to tell you what to do or even to give advice. Instead, they should help you find your own clarity about whether you should proceed to the next step: becoming a Member in Discernment.

When this happens, you will have moved on to another stage of discernment. Now your companions on the journey will be your local congregation and the Association. Their task will be to help determine whether the particular call of God in your life is to authorized ministry in and on behalf of the United Church of Christ.

 What does the church look for in a minister?

  Everyone brings his or her own unique gifts and style to ministry, but churches also tend to look for candidates for ministry who:

• Are spiritually alive. Pastors and other church professionals need to cultivate their life with God. Developing spiritual disciplines and practices, taking time out for retreats, spending time regularly with a spiritual director or spiritual friend for counseling and support, spending time in prayer, meditation and study are "habits of the heart" that help us not only nurture our own life with God but also help us minister more effectively to others. Ministers must first and foremost be in love with God!

• Have a sense of wonder. Are you someone who can see and sense God's presence in great and small things? Do God's creation and God's people fill you with a feeling of thankfulness, curiosity and awe? These are essential qualities for ministry.

• Pursue life-long learning. It's not enough to earn the right degrees. Ministers need a love of learning to last a lifetime! Ministers must be always curious and questioning, taking advantage of opportunities to study, grow and develop. This helps clergy to be alive and responsive to the needs of God's people.

• Are emotionally mature. It is very important for professional church leaders to have dealt with past issues that might otherwise get in the way of their ministry. Clergy must be willing to do their own inner work so they can be fully present to those with whom they minister. Ministers must also be able to recognize, set and maintain appropriate boundaries so they and their congregations can be healthy and safe.

• Have social skills. In order to really find joy in the vocation of ministry it is important that a minister truly like people. Getting along with people, interacting in a variety of settings, and understanding and facilitating group dynamics are some of the qualities needed by successful clergy.

• Take UCC identity seriously. If you want to serve as a pastor or in any other authorized ministry in the United Church of Christ, you should be able to say honestly to yourself that you love our denomination. You should know UCC history and polity and be willing to communicate your knowledge and enthusiasm to others. Being connected and staying connected to the whole UCC family as well as our ecumenical partners is part of what it means to be a minister in the UCC.

There are other important qualities and skills to consider, but these are some of the basics. Try them on and see how they fit for you!

 Do I always need a formal education?

One of the most cherished features of the United Church of Christ and our ancestral denominations has been a learned clergy. As a denomination, however, we increasingly recognize that there are multiple meanings of “learned” and multiple ways to be educated and formed for ministry.  Seminary study remains a centerpiece of ministerial preparation but some Associations authorize persons for ministry who have pursued other paths.  See www.ucc.org/ministers/ministry-issues.

 Can I transfer ministerial standing from another denomination?
If you are already an ordained minister in another church, but are drawn to ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ, transfer of your credentials to a UCC Association may be an option. But first, you should follow these steps:

• Learn more about the United Church of Christ. Visit our websites at ucc.org, stillspeaking.com and globalministries.org which provide a wealth of information about the past, present and future of our church.

• Visit and worship with one or more UCC congregations. Use the Find a Church search engine on ucc.org to locate a congregation near you.

• Introduce yourself to a UCC pastor, or perhaps more than one pastor, who can help give you a broad picture of our denomination.

• Establish a relationship with a congregation. In some cases it may be necessary to formally become a member of the congregation. The pastor can help you with this decision.

• Contact an "Association Minister" or "Conference Minister" in your area. Your pastor can give you a reference. Here is a link to help you find the right UCC Conference where you live. The Conference office can then put you in touch with the local Association which normally is the body that confers ministerial standing in the UCC.