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The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) and the Alabama-West Florida Conference have submitted a number of petitions that, if passed, would affect how clergy are formed in The United Methodist Church.
GBHEM petitions: Increasing access for local pastors
Petition 20887 (Volume 3, pp. 1632-1633; revision of Book of Discipline Paragraph 320.5) would remove an existing age barrier for older adults who are seeking to serve as local pastors and increase the options for retired local pastors to serve under license but without appointment.
At present, all United Methodist clergy face mandatory retirement at the age of 72. This mandatory retirement age has been interpreted to mean that persons cannot begin the process to become clergy (deacon, elder or licensed local pastor) if they cannot complete the educational and other formational requirements and have some time of service prior to age 72.
Under this proposal, candidates for ministry ages 72 or older at the point of their candidacy or reaching that age while still fulfilling Course of Study or other educational requirements would be able to complete their process and pursue appointment as retired local pastors. The petition further clarifies that retired local pastors under appointment would be required to attend the annual conference, with voice and vote, while retired local pastors not currently under appointment are permitted to attend with voice only.
The petition also enables retired local pastors to request their district committee on ordained ministry and their bishop grant an annual license as local pastors so they may preside at sacraments and marriages in the context of the local church where they hold their charge conference relationship. The license would not establish an appointment to that local church (and therefore, no requirement for compensation from the local church), but rather permit local pastors to continue to exercise all ministerial duties within their local church as called upon by the appointed pastor.
The next petition listed in Volume 3 of the Advance Daily Christian Advocate (20888) would revise Paragraph 322.1.4 to permit local pastors to complete all Course of Study requirements through online coursework. Currently, local pastors must complete at least half of the Course of Study in residence at a United Methodist seminary. This proposal would bring local pastors to parity with those preparing to become deacons or elders, who may complete their educational requirements (basic graduate theological studies or Master of Divinity, respectively) entirely online. A related petition (20893, p. 1636) would amend Paragraph 324.6.c.1 to make the same change.
Both of these petitions have been assigned to the Ordained Ministry legislative group.
Alabama-West Florida Conference proposals: Centering the annual conference in clergy formation
The Alabama-West Florida Conference has submitted a set of 11 petitions that bear on clergy formation. These petitions are an effort by their author, The Rev. Dr. Jeremy Pridgeon, former district superintendent and current jurisdictional conference reserve delegate, to redress what he sees as overreach by the General Conference and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM). Currently, the Discipline gives GBHEM the authority to set the minimum standards for clergy candidates and the University Senate the authority to determine which seminaries are certified for clergy candidates in The United Methodist Church to attend. Pridgeon asserts that each annual conference has a fundamental right to set the standards for its own clergy candidates, including where they may attend seminary and what coursework should be required, whether in seminary or the Course of Study.
Petition 21049 (p. 1622) would amend Paragraph 1405.7 to require GBHEM to consult annual conference boards of ordained ministry as part of the process of developing the educational and professional development standards for professional certifications and ordination. Of these 11 petitions, this is the only one assigned to the Higher Education and Superintendency legislative committee. The other 10 are assigned to the Ordained Ministry legislative committee.
Petition 20883 (p. 1631) would amend two paragraphs in the Discipline (315.2.c and 315.5) to remove the role of GBHEM in setting the criteria for licensing schools and courses of study. Instead, GBHEM would require that licensing schools and courses of study exist and then consult with each conference board of ordained ministry, which would develop and set its own criteria for these programs. Three other petitions make this change in other paragraphs of the Discipline (20886, p. 1632, Paragraphs 318.1 and 318.2; 20937 pp. 1658-1659, Paragraph 1421.3.d; and 20938, p.1659, other parts of Paragraph 1421.3.d).
Finally, four petitions would remove the role of the University Senate in determining which seminaries are approved for United Methodist clergy candidates to complete their educational requirements and empower annual conferences to set, by themselves, what those most of those educational requirements would be. Petition 20898 (pp. 1638-1639, Paragraph 330) would set a basic requirement that candidates for ordination as deacon or elder shall have completed a bachelor’s degree. Any further educational requirements would be set by each annual conference. Petition 20892 (p. 1635, Paragraph 324) makes similar changes for candidates for provisional membership and removes the standard of having completed one-half of whatever additional educational requirements the conference sets before being considered for admission to provisional membership. It also allows the annual conference, rather than the University Senate, to determine where the Advance Course of Study may be taken, and the annual conference, rather than GBHEM, the contents of that curriculum for its local pastors seeking to enter provisional membership. Petition 20903 (p. 1641, Paragraph 338.4) underscores these changes and removes the mandate that CPE programs, where conferences require them for clergy candidates, be accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education as long as the conference board of ordained ministry approves them.
In all of these revisions, the annual conference board of ordained ministry takes on a more prominent role, if not the deciding role, in the formation of clergy to serve within that annual conference. The result is the established connectional entities, the University Senate and GBHEM, are either removed from the process or reduced primarily to a consultative role in the process of forming United Methodist clergy.
Burton Edwards is director of Ask The UMC, the information service of United Methodist Communications.
