Stages of Your Transition — Pastoral Call

1. Discerning a Call to Leave Where You Are
2. Preparing Yourself to Consider a New Call
3. Assessing Your Leadership Gifts
4. Consulting With Mentors, Peers, and Other Wise Counsel
5. For Candidates - Obtaining Approval from Your CPM to Seek a Call
6. Writing and Submitting the Personal Information Form (PIF)
7. Screening Church Information Forms (CIFs)
8. Interviewing
9. Considering a Call
10. The Official Decisions are Made by the Call Partners
    • You Accept the Call and Negotiate the Terms of Call
    • Examination by the Calling Presbytery
    • The Congregation Votes
    • Presbytery Approves and Appoints an Installation Commission
11. For Candidates - The Presbytery of Care Ordinarily Ordains
12. The Presbytery Installs the Pastor
13. Follow-up Support by the Presbytery

Preparing Yourself to Consider a Call

It is important to ask yourself, "Is God calling me away from this ministry?" Consider the gifts you bring to your present ministry, the goals you and the church have set together, the ministry you have together, and the commitments you have made. Have you accomplished the things you believe God called you there to do? Is it God's time for you to open yourself to new possibilities?

If so, how will you prepare for the journey from one ministry to another? Before getting out the moving boxes or completing a Personal Information Form, it is important to prepare yourself spiritually. Bible study and prayer are important as you seek to discern God's call to you.

References for Bible Study:

About call:
Genesis 12:1-9 — the call of Abram
Numbers 11:10-15 and 24-30 — the call of outsiders
Isaiah 6:1-13 — the call of Isaiah
Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:16-21 — God's spirit poured out
Exodus 3:1-12 — the call of Moses
Matthew 4:18-22 — the call of the disciples
Acts 9:1-22 — the call of Paul

About transition in the life of God's people:
Genesis 32:22-32 — Jacob wrestles with God and with himself at the river
Exodus — God's people led out of Egypt to the Promised Land
Matthew 28:16-20 — the commissioning of the disciples

Other resources:

• Stotts, Jack L., A Theology of Vocation, PDS# 232-91-016 (free)
• Witherspoon, Eugene and Marvin Simmers, ed. Called to Serve, PDS# 095525
• The Book of Order, especially Chapters 1-4, 6 and 14

Mentors, Peers, Presbytery Staff, and Other Wise Counsel

It may be helpful to talk with a mentor, your executive presbyter, a neighboring pastor or educator, the placement director at your theological institution, or an old school friend as you make the decision to seek a new call and all along the journey to your new place of ministry. These friends can help you assess your strengths and be honest about your weaknesses and growing points. They can ask probing questions that help you in your discernment process. A call process is not an individual thing. It is a journey within the community of faith in which many persons help to shape the call.

As Frederick Buechner suggests, ask yourself whether your work is the kind of work

1. that you need most to do and
2. that the world most needs to have done.

If you really enjoy your work, you've probably met the first requirement, but if your work seems to have no real purpose, you may have missed the second. On the other hand, if your work seems to be work that the world really needs but you're bored and depressed by it, chances are you've missed requirement (a) and probably aren't fulfilling (b) very well either. Remember: "Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet" (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC).

For Reflection and Self-Assessment

Name some places where the world is in deep hunger, places that you care about.

Name experiences that have touched a deep gladness in you, that have resulted in deep joy and satisfaction.

Are there ways to join the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?

People Involved in Your Search

The following people will be involved in your pastoral search:

Your Presbytery Stated Clerk will be asked to attest that you are "a member in good standing of the Presbytery of ____________ against whom no charges are pending or have been sustained" (for ministers) or "a member of a church of the Presbytery of ____________" (for lay professionals).

Presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry Moderator will be asked to confirm that the CPM has given you permission to circulate your PIF (for candidates).

Presbytery Committee on Ministry will be asked to approve the dissolution of your present pastoral relationship and the transfer of your membership to your new presbytery. They will be guiding your church through the search for new leadership (for ministers).

The Executive or General Presbyter a great deal of experience and many personal connections that may benefit you if you seek his or her wise counsel early in your search process. You can expect that your EP/GP will be contacted for reference checks, so as a courtesy, you should bring him or her into your confidence early in your search process.

The staff of Call Referral Services of Church Leadership Connection are those persons in the Presbyterian Center in Louisville who work to assist churches and church professionals in making connection for further conversation. CRS staff will be happy to answer your questions as you get started in the process and guide you along the way. Once you submit your PIF, you will have a special "Church Leadership Connection Consultant" assigned to you to coach you through the process, but any of the CRS staff will be glad to help. Contact them at (888) 728-7228, x8550 or by email .