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Chicago (ELCA)-FI — The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted the 2004 edition of the "Candidacy Manual of the ELCA," which guides the church's candidacy process, including ways it screens potential pastors and professional lay ministers. The board of the ELCA Division for Ministry revised the manual and supporting forms and documents in October.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11-15. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.
The candidacy manual is a set of documents that provides guidelines and procedures for candidates to become ELCA associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers or pastors. 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.
The Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director, ELCA Division for Ministry, presented the council with an executive summary of the manual.
Olson gave several reasons for the manual to be revised in 2004. He said it had been five years since the manual was revised. Carol W. Schickel, an ELCA associate in ministry, left the division's position of director for candidacy recently, and she was able to incorporate into the manual what she had learned from that work. Schickel is a coordinator of the division's Transition into Ministry project.
Olson said a clergy sexual misconduct case in Texas also led the church to "take a fresh look" at the candidacy process. He said the review indicated that the church's policies were fine, but several "ways to tighten them up" surfaced.
The revised manual emphasized principles of hospitality, accountability and communication in the candidacy process, Olson said. It also gave added importance to the health and wellness of church leaders, he said.
Background checks into criminal records, motor vehicle records and credit information were new to the process, Olson said. While the information from a background check would not automatically disqualify someone from candidacy, he said, it may provide candidacy committees topics to pursue with candidates.
The revisions clarify the responsibilities of the various parties involved in the candidacy process to support a system that is consistent and flexible, Olson said. The manual provides churchwide standards for the process, he said.
Seminary presidents met in October and passed a resolution "to express appreciation to the Division for Ministry for receiving our feedback and responses regarding proposed revisions in the ELCA candidacy manual, to encourage further careful attention to creating a climate of hospitality and nurturing vocation for candidates, (and) to affirm the plan for criminal background checks for ELCA candidates."
The council's action acknowledged that the 2004 edition of the manual received "an affirmative review" by the ELCA Conference of Bishops. The conference is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary.
The revised manual will be available in print and on the Internet, Olson said.
All procedures revised in the new manual are to go into effect Feb. 1, 2005.
Information about the ELCA's candidacy process is at www.elca.org/dm/candidacy/ on the Division for Ministry's Web site.