After the Pastor Nominating Committee has made its decision and you have agreed to accept a call, each of the partners to the call must approve it. Each of the following must be included in the final official process:

1. Examination by the Committee on Ministry and/or the presbytery
2. Vote by the congregation
3. Signing of the formal call papers (Book of Order G. 14.0506).
4. Appointment of a presbytery commission to ordain and/or install the pastor. If you are a candidate accepting your first call, your presbytery of care will ordinarily ordain you. (G.24.0314) You will need to consider at least 5 persons with a balance of ministers and elders with no more than one elder from any one church. If you invite other elders or ministers who are not members of the calling presbytery, they may be invited to sit with the commission. (See Book of Occasional Services, Office of Theology and Worship, Geneva Press, 1999 for ordination services.)
5. Dissolution of any existing call relationship through a duly called congregational meeting followed by presbytery action to concur in the dissolution of the relationship and transfer your membership to the presbytery of call.

Examination for Membership in the Presbytery

Many Committees on Ministry will ask the candidate to meet with them for formal examination prior to the congregational meeting. Depending on the procedures established by the calling presbytery, the pastor receiving a call may be examined by the presbytery as a whole or by a committee authorized to do this and report to the presbytery. All ministers receiving new calls are to be examined on "Christian faith and views in theology, the Sacraments, and the government of this church" (Book of Order G-11.0402).

You may be asked to bring with you or send ahead to the examining group the following:

Personal Information Form

• A Statement of Faith - usually one page.
• A Faith Journey Biography - usually one page.
• Proposed Terms of Call

Vote by the congregation

Signing of the formal call papers (G. 14.0506).

Appointment of a presbytery commission to ordain and/or install the pastor. You will need to consider at least 5 persons with a balance of ministers and elders with no more than one elder from any one church. Some presbyteries require that commissions also be racially and gender balanced. If you invite elders or ministers who are not members of the calling presbytery, they may be invited to sit with the commission.

Dissolution of any existing call relationship through a duly called congregational meeting. You ask the session to call for a congregational meeting to concur with your request that the pastoral relationship be dissolved on a specific date. If the congregation concurs, a record of the congregational action is submitted to your presbytery for dissolution and transfer of your membership to the presbytery of call. Most presbyteries have delegated this authority to the committee on ministry.

For lay educators, the official decisions may depend on what a particular presbytery requires. In general, the Search Committee for the educator position may want to think about the following:

• Interview by the Educator Search Committee
• Vote by the session
• Call extended by the session and call accepted by the educator
• Committee formed to develop a service of commissioning to be held during a worship service. Encourage representation from the presbytery.

Congregational Meeting to Elect

For the election of a pastor, the session must call a congregational meeting for the PNC to report. Some churches have the custom of hearing a potential minister preach a "candidating sermon" immediately prior to the congregational meeting. Other churches would find such a practice unusual and will act upon the report of the PNC without meeting the person under consideration. Some churches will arrange a "get acquainted supper" the night before the congregational meeting. It is best to follow the guidance of the calling presbytery at this point.

The vote must be taken by ballot. A majority of the voters present and voting shall be required to elect. If a substantial minority of the votes are negative, the moderator must recommend that the call not proceed. If the majority chooses to proceed, the moderator must forward the call to presbytery certifying the number of those who do not concur in the call and any other facts of importance. The moderator shall also inform the person being called of the nature and circumstances of the decision.

Signing the Formal Call Papers

The congregation elects persons to sign the call and to present and prosecute the call before the presbytery (usually members of the PNC). The moderator of the meeting shall certify to the presbytery that those signing the call were properly elected and that the call was in all other respects prepared as constitutionally required (Book of Order G-14.0506d).

The call shall specify all and only those allowances and amounts which are undertaken as part of the call (G-14.0506c).

When two or more churches established by presbytery as a larger parish unite in calling a pastor, the call must specify the support promised by each church (G-14.0504).