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From the Pastor Have you ever wondered where your next pastor will come from? No...I am not thinking about leaving! What I am asking is for you to consider that, for most, the experience of calling a pastor is restricted to interviewing men and women who have graduated from seminary, been ordained and, often, have already served other congregations. But, have you ever wondered how a person makes the decision to become a pastor or to serve in some other leadership position within the Church? Or, having decided to serve, how a person would go about getting to the point where they are qualified to serve? In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we have a process called "Candidacy." The ELCA web page states "This process raises up, prepares, certifies and places public leaders in the ELCA. Public ministers include commissioned Associates in Ministry, consecrated Diaconal Ministers and Deaconesses, and ordained Pastors." The scope of the entire process is probably too large to be adequately covered here. If you wish to investigate further, I suggest that you check out this web page: http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Vocation/Become-a-Leader.aspx For this article, let it suffice to say that an individual seeking to become ordained does so in partnership with a home congregation, a candidacy committee of the Synod to which that congregation belongs (Advent is a congregation of the Northeast Ohio Synod of the ELCA) and the Seminary (graduate school) to which they choose to attend. In the ELCA the vast majority of pastors have an undergraduate degree prior to entering a Seminary. The Seminary experience includes three years of academic studies in biblical languages, biblical studies and interpretation, theology, pastoral care, administration, worship leadership and elective courses aimed at preparing candidates for ministries within the Church. Each student/candidate also serves in a congregation for one year. This internship year usually happens in the third year of their four years of Seminary. These interns are often addressed by the title "Vicar" while serving on that internship. Advent is in the process of applying to be an internship site for a student from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. If an intern is placed in our congregation they will begin serving here sometime in August or September of this year. This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to help train up a future leader of the Church. In addition, my experience has been that these interns often bring new energy and creativity to the life of the congregation. My request of you at this time is that you keep this possibility in your prayers.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
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