wfn.org | ELCA Ministry Board Adds Background Checks In Candidacy Revision

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 18, 2004

ELCA Ministry Board Adds Background Checks In Candidacy Revision
04-197-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Officials of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) said they hoped to learn some lessons
from the conviction of a former ELCA pastor of criminal sexual
misconduct in Texas.  A review of the ways the church screens
potential pastors and professional lay ministers has led to
revisions of the "Candidacy Manual" for the ELCA.
     The board of the ELCA Division for Ministry approved the
revisions at its Oct. 8-10 meeting here, and it recommended that
the ELCA Church Council adopt the 2004 edition of the candidacy
manual at its Nov. 11-15 meeting here.	The council is the ELCA's
board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the
church between biennial churchwide assemblies.
     The candidacy manual is a set of documents that provides
guidelines and procedures for candidates to become ELCA pastors,
associates in ministry, deaconesses or diaconal ministers.  The
candidacy process involves the candidates, congregations, the
ELCA Division for Ministry, the church's eight seminaries, its 65
synods, synod bishops and candidacy committees.
     "Open and honest communication is probably the central
issue," said the board chair, the Rev. Robert J. Karli, First
English Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas.  The revisions are an
attempt "to provide for more assistance to candidacy committees,
to the seminaries, to everyone who's a part of the candidacy
process, including the candidates themselves," he said.
     "The system is not broken, but there are some areas where it
can be improved," Karli said.  The conviction in Texas raised
some concerns that the revisions are meant to address, he said.
     "There is provision in the revised candidacy manual for
background checks on persons who are coming into candidacy.
There is some debate as to the effectiveness of those, and yet
that's something that's standard procedure in many areas of
employment," Karli said.
     "There is more explicit indication of sharing all pertinent
information among the various parties involved -- candidacy
committees, seminaries, intern supervisors," Karli said.  "It
also has provision for increased training for candidacy
committees," he said.
     A master of divinity is the minimum degree required of ELCA
clergy.  Earning the degree usually requires a bachelor's degree
and four years of seminary education, including a parish
internship during the third year.
     Meeting here Sept. 30-Oct. 3, the presidents of the eight
ELCA seminaries sent their responses to the revisions to the
board and voted "to affirm the plan for criminal background
checks for ELCA candidates."  The presidents also said they would
like to look into using the same background check services for
students at their seminaries who are not part of the ELCA
candidacy process.
     Carol W. Schickel, an ELCA associate in ministry and
director for candidacy, ELCA Division for Ministry, presented the
board with the rationale for the manual's revisions and with the
principles and processes used to make the revisions.
     The Texas case drew attention to the need for greater
screening of candidates, Schickel said.  The checks will use
information from a variety of sources, including credit and motor
vehicle records.  The ELCA's emphasis on the health and wellness
of its ministers also prompted revisions to the manual, she said.
     Schickel said full and open communication among the partners
in the candidacy process was a key principle in shaping the
revisions.  "We don't want what happened in Texas to happen
again," she said.
     "Candidacy screenings are essential," Schickel said.
"Candidacy leader training is essential," she said, indicating
that a new candidacy leaders' handbook will help clarify the
responsibilities and expectations of each party in the process.
     If the council adopts the revised manual, it will go into
effect on Feb. 1, 2005.  The review of the candidacy process also
resulted in recommendations that the church provide additional
orientation and training for candidacy committee members and for
synod and seminary staff in 2005 and 2006, with a two-year
schedule of regular training opportunities, and that the ELCA
convene regional consultations on candidacy in 2005 and a
churchwide consultation in 2006.

The ELCA Candidacy Process
     The process to become an ELCA pastor, associate in ministry,
deaconess or diaconal minister often begins with the potential
candidate developing an interest in such service and acquainting
herself or himself with the candidacy process, the manual and
forms, and what each party in the process can expect of the
others.
     The ELCA's 10,657 congregations are organized into 65 synods
across the United States and Caribbean.
     An ELCA congregation registers a candidate with its synod.
The synod's candidacy committee -- a representative group of
seminary and synod staff, and pastors and lay members of the
synod -- conducts an entrance evaluation and interview with the
candidate.  If the committee approves, the candidate enters
seminary or some other course of study the committee recommends.
     After about the first year of preparation, candidates are
considered for endorsement.  The candidate writes an essay on her
or his personal and interpersonal skills for ministry,
educational and theological ability, spiritual formation and
faith, and understanding of call to ministry.  An endorsement
panel, representing the seminary and candidacy committee, reviews
the essay, interviews the candidate and decides whether or not to
endorse the candidate for the church's ministry as either a
pastor, associate in ministry, deaconess or diaconal minister.
     During the candidate's seminary education, she or he
participates in field work -- usually at a congregation in the
seminary's vicinity.  Candidates for ordained ministry complete a
year of internship, usually spending the third of four years of
theological education on the staff of a congregation beyond the
seminary's vicinity.  The pastor of the internship congregation
supervises that year of the candidate's education.
     In the final year of the candidate's theological education
the seminary faculty sends its recommendations about the
candidate to the candidacy committee.  The committee reviews all
the reports, the candidate's essay and the internship evaluation,
and, after interviewing the candidate, votes whether or not to
approve the candidate.
     The approved candidate is assigned to a synod based on the
ministry needs of the church.  A congregation or other ministry
setting in that synod extends a call to ministry.
-- -- --
     Information about the ELCA's candidacy process is at
http://www.elca.org/dm/candidacy/ on the Division for Ministry's
Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news