Licensure proceedure.

In the staff meeting yesterday( I am still interning so I attend these) we discussed licensure. The senior pastor said that next month he would invite our deacons and the other pastors to ask me doctrinal questions to determine if I was ready to be licensed.

I thought that licensing was not so astringent... and that the grilling came with ordination.

I have never been a witness to the proceedure of ordination councel or licensure counsel either. Is this common to grill a candidate for licensure. Pastor said it is an important step and he always does that. I am turning over my belief statement to them tomorrow.

we are SBC, but I dont know if that has any bearing... Has anyone else ever heard of this..

[ November 10, 2003, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: j_barner2000 ]

 

ran out of time to edit... i was going to comment that it seems like a prudent way to go. perhaps it would be a way to better screen potential pastors/ preachers? comments?

 

I spoke with the senoir pastor yesterday and ( I am so embarrassed about this) provided him and the other 2 pastors with copies of my doctrinal or belief statement. (No, I never shared it with them previously. Even though I have shared it with a couple of respected fellow posters here at the board for comments.)

The pastor stated that he has never been accused of being a liberal. He strongly believes that all candidates for licensure should be interviewed to assure doctrinal soundness. In AZ licensed ministers can pastor a mission church, marry, bury, baptise and serve the Lord's Supper.

I just wondered if it was typical to be so careful in the licensure proceedure. And if this would be a solution to avoid many of the issues our churches are dealing with today.

 

I may have misled you Bro Jim. It will be the local church which licenses me, however, I am being considrerd for a chaplaincy and they would feel more comfortable if my local church licensed me. I am called and have been working in ministry at my last church and my current church for the last almost 4 years. I have a degree in computer related technology and have a way to go before I get a diploma from Seminary Extension. My idea is to study all the required AND reccomended reading to learn as much as possible rather than get the paper and get it done as quickly as possible. Many churches are more concerned with whether you have papers than called to ministry.

I am personally glad my pastor is concerned with the doctrinal integrity of candidates he reccomends (to the local church) for licensure. Churches need to be pickier about who they license and ordain. I believe I will uphold the same standard when I am in a position to lead a church.

As far as soul winning goes... The Lord gives me many opportunities to share my testamony and more importanty, the Gospel Message.

 

Well. After the pastors and deacons had 6 weeks to look over my testamony and belief statement, we met yesterday and they have decided to reccomend me for licensure. We have our quarterly family council( Business meeting) at the end of January and they will present it to the church to vote on licensing me or not.

They questioned me for about an hour, not to catchme up, but to get clarification on some of the points I made. Apparantly between knowing me and the belief statement, they believe I am called and qualified to preach.

Some members of the church are talking about starting a mission church and sending me with one of the pastors to begin that work. We will see where the Lord leads us in that vein.

 

Thank you Dr Bob. From you that is a large thing. It is funny how God works. My wife and I were praying about a few things we felt we needed to do.
We were thinking about buying a bigger house. He impressed upon us that by staying where we are and refinancing we can divert enough of our earnings to pay off all but our house in 2 years. We prayed about the classes I am taking and then did the math. I will finish Seminary Extension in 2 years. With a reasonable goal of 1 pound a week I will be at the weight I was when my wife and I got married in 2 years.

in 2 years we will have between internship, and the youth ministry I started with about 5 or 5.5 years in ministry. Just seems like He is telling us 2 years more to prepare to embark on the ministry in earnest.

It is exciting to see HIs hand and get a glimpse of His well laid plans for us.

 

I t is a matter of my home church officially recognizing the gift and calling to preach the Gospel. I have been recomended to the assosiation dir of missions as pulpet supply. However churches tend to be leary of utulizing a man they do not know and who has not been endorsed by the local church they serve and worship with. It is a step in the formal recognition of God calling a man into ministry.

Like it or not, in todays world, people want to see credentials of some sort, because there are so many charlatans out there.

 

Well, it is official. My church voted to license me on wed at our business meeting. I notified our DOM and the State Convention office. Now they will place my name on the pulpet supply list.

 

I was grilled yesterday. It took about 1/2 hour of the Sunday morning service. I was asked about my salvation experience, my call to the ministry and then some doctrinal questions. 1 pertained to the ordinance of baptism and 4 were pertaining to the Trinity. I was asked about the father, then the Son and the Holy Spirit and how they related to each other. The other major subject I was asked extensively about was the scripture.
After it was all said and done I got my certificate of licensure and my wife and I were prayed over.

It is a relief to have the process over. Pastor said he is more careful in licensing men than most, and the process is much like ordination, only a short version. It gives me an idea of what to expect next and it gives the chrch an idea of my doctrinal stand.