This Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday April 23^rd, the Ordination Examing Council will meet in Banff before the 2009 Assembly begins. I have asked Shelby to post here from the Ministerial Policies, Procedure, and Protocol Manual (with the August 2007 approved at the BUWC 2007 Assembly) the statement of Ordination. It will give you an idea of how the process works and unusual as it is to reproduce these procedural documents, I don't think we do it enough.

•I.       ORDINATION REGULATIONS

•A.     PROCESSING THE CANDIDATE FOR ORDINATION

•1.        In addition to being a member in good standing in the church which plans to ordain him or her, the candidate must be a recognized as a pastor, hold a ministry position in an staff position affiliated with the CBWC (camps, Educational institution), or mandated for ministry in Christian work such as chaplains.

•a.         A careful review shall be undertaken by the leaders of the congregation planning to ordain the candidate, of the candidate's conversion, calling, life, doctrine, philosophy of ministry, gifts, and the exercise of the pastoral office by the candidate in the congregation.  The review shall then be presented to the congregation and the congregation shall, by formal motion at a business meeting, recommend to the MCC that the candidate in question appear before the OEC.

•b.         If at all possible, the credential review committee should engage each candidate in an extensive interview as part of the process of recommending the candidate to appear before the OEC. Ideally, this should be after the annual mini-semester of the year in which the candidate is to appear before the OEC.

•c.         The MCC, after receiving a recommendation from the Mini-semester and the motion from the local church, shall:

•(i)        examine the candidate's academic qualifications;

•(ii)       receive evidence that the candidate has completed the graduate internship;

•(iii)      receive evidence that the candidate has attended the mini-semester;

•(iv)      review the general fitness of the candidate in meeting with the standards of the CBWC;

•(v)       receive evidence of the candidate's accord with the standards, practices, and programs of the CBWC; and may either recommend to the CBWC Board that the candidate attend for examination, or may recommend additional study or experience before the candidate appear before the OEC.

•d.        The Secretary of the MCC shall promptly advise the candidate, local church, and Regional Group of its decision.

•2.        Candidates pursuing ordination to become an Accredited Minister of Christian Education are processed by the same regulations as for more general ordination to the gospel ministry.

•3.        Ordained pastors coming from Conventions not affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance or from other denominations, and ordained pastors coming from Conventions so affiliated but who have been in the pastoral ministry less than five years, may be recommended to appear before the OEC for examination relative to recognition of prior ordination, but only if

•a.         they present academic credentials acceptable to the MCC equivalent to those expected of persons ordinarily applying for ordination; and

•b.         they fulfill the requirements in II.G.3.b. and e. and III.A.1. above.

The Canadian Baptists of Western Canada do not recommend re-ordination.

•4.        Notwithstanding any of these regulations, the MCC reserves the right to directly refer to the CBWC Board the name of any ordained minister not ordained by a Canadian Baptist Union or Convention either;

•a.         following receipt of a report from the Chair of the Mini-semester that the ordained minister has successfully completed the mini-semester and should be referred directly to the Assembly for recognition of their prior ordination, or

•b.         that he/she appear before the OEC and that the OEC will recommend that the prior ordination be recognized or that it not be recognized.

•5.         The decision of the MCC concerning the interpretation of the regulations for ordination shall be final.

•B.     REGULATIONS FOR THE ORDINATION EXAMINING COUNCIL

•1.         The OEC of the CBWC shall be constituted as follows:

•a.         Four members chosen well in advance of the meeting of the OEC from each of the constituent Regions of the CBWC;

•b.         Elected officers of the CBWC (ex officio voting);

•c.         Chair of the MCC (ex officio voting);

•d.        Up to two representatives from the church requesting the ordination of the candidate, who shall participate in the procedures of the OEC during the examination of their specific candidate (voting)

•2.         Executive staff members may serve as advisory non-voting members of the OEC.

•3.         The chair of the OEC shall be named by the MCC.

•4.         The OEC will meet at the time of the CBWC Assembly and in the same city or during non Assembly years the OEC may meet in conjunction with one Area Assembly or the CBWC Board meeting.

•5.         The OEC will hold a briefing session prior to the public examination.  The length of this session will vary according to the number of candidates to come before Council.  Some of the pre-council briefing time should be spent in praying for each of the candidates as they anticipate coming before the Council.

•6.         In situations where previous moral failure or professional misconduct are a part of the record for a candidate, the Council is entirely within its right, and encouraged to hold an "in camera" examination of a candidate on matters pertaining to the matter of record.  The MCC ought to anticipate the need for such an examination and have Council make necessary plans for an "in camera" hearing prior to the regularly convened Council.

The MCC needs to be clear and directive to Council in matters of previous moral failure or professional misconduct.  In such instances, MCC must be able to demonstrate that mercy, justice, and restitution toward victims has prevailed.  In most instances, this level of inquiry might best be handled at the Area level prior to the candidate getting to the OEC level.

•7.         Using the ordination statement prepared by the candidate as the primary source of information, the OEC will examine all candidates recommended by the MCC as to their conversion, religious experience, call to the ministry, doctrinal beliefs, and philosophy of ministry, and shall also provide the candidates an opportunity to give evidence of their accord and cooperation with the standards, practices, and programs of the CBWC.

Council members need to be helped to understand that any questions that arise as a legitimate attempt to understand ambiguous or apparently contradictory parts of a candidate's statement(s) are entirely appropriate to ask the candidate.  Council members need also to be encouraged to pose questions that get at the relevant issues of ministry and the day-to-day realities that a pastor faces in ministry.

•8.         The OEC shall, after a vote, make one of the following recommendations for each candidate:

•a.         It commends the candidate in question to the local church for ordination to the Gospel Ministry;

•b.         It recommends to the local church a program of additional study or experience for the candidate before proceeding with ordination;

•c.         It does not recommend that the local church proceed with ordination.

•9.         The Chair and/or Secretary of the OEC shall report the recommendations to the Assembly for approval.  On approval, the Secretary shall advise the local church that ordination is recommended and that it may proceed to ordain the candidate in question.

•10.      The Region shall not appoint to the OEC an Accredited Pastor who has appeared before the OEC in the immediately preceding three years.

•11.      An examiner appointed by the Region may serve on the OEC for up to three consecutive years then have a minimum of one year off OEC before being re-appointed.

Quite a section!

The following candidates will be examined:

The first question is granted to Brian Stelck, President of our seminary.

The process will be in the hands of Wayne Larson, our Ordination Examing Council Chair (former Heartland Area Minister) who is also Senior Pastor at Trinity in Sherwood Park. The Council Secretary and trusted keeper of the records is Doug Johnston, Senior Minister of Northwest Baptist Church in Calgary. Our thanks to Brian, Wayne and Doug in this process.

Please pray for all this week.

Warmly,

In Christ,

Jeremy Bell

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it