The following is a brief overview of the process for those seeking ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and what McCormick does to help its students through this process, including information on ordination exams and exam procedures at McCormick.
For the most complete information on PCUSA ordination requirements, check the current edition of The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Part II: the Book of Order, and the handbook for your presbytery of care. The following assumes you are under care of your local presbytery as a candidate, that you have completed your Masters of Divinity program, and have successfully completed all the Standard Ordination Examinations, as well as any additional requirments of your local presbytery.
The Office of Student Affairs will hold workshops [1] on occasion to help students navigate the call process and prepare for PC(USA) ordination exams.
Ordination Process
As stated in the Book of Order (G-14.0480) ordination is an act of the whole church. After you have been examined by your presbytery of care, you will be declared "ready to take a call." After you have been called by a church (or other approved agency) The following steps are then required:
The Presbytery of call "shall ordinarily examine, and contingent upon the candidate's successful completion of that examination" the candidate's presbytery of preparation (care) ordinarily ordains the candidate. That means the candidate appears before the presbytery to make a statement of faith and a committment to ministry. The presbytery receives a report that all requirements have been met, and the candidate is certified ready to take the call pending its approval.
The presbytery approve the call and votes to proceed to ordination.
The presbytery of call certifies to the presbytery of care that you have been approved. Usually your own presbytery ordains you. Your presbytery then issues a letter of dismissal to the calling presbytery, and the calling presbytery enrolls you as a member of that presbytery.
The moderator of the presbytery of those to be ordained asks the candidate to stand before the body of membership to answer the Constitutional Questions (see W-4.4003, W-4.4005 a-c). There is prayer and laying on of hands, and the members of the presbytery welcome the newly ordained minister.
The 219th General Assembly clarified through an Authoritative Interpretation when a candidate can begin to circulate a Personal Information Form (PIF) and other biographical information in seeking a call. The AI is as follows:
Section G-14.0440 allows a candidate to enter into negotiation for his or her ministerial service, even if the candidate has not had his or her final assessment from the presbytery's committee on preparation for ministry, provided the candidate
* has completed two full years of theological education (or the equivalent thereof),
* has had an annual consultation within the last year,
* has satisfactorily completed all the standard ordination exams or received certification of readiness under G-14.0472, and
* has received the approval of the candidate's committee on preparation for ministry.
If the committee on preparation for ministry has approved a particular candidate who meets all the aforementioned requirements to enter into negotiation for his or her ministerial service, that candidate may circulate a Personal Information Form or other biographical information.
Exam Information
As part of the PC(USA) Ordination process, students seeking ordination must complete the Bible Content Exam and the four Senior Ordination Exams; students should consult their CPMs for instruction on when to take these exams. McCormick Theological Seminary provides a testing site for these exams.
Students must register for these exams independently through the PC(USA) website according to the registration deadlines listed below. Register online at http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/prep4min/registrationauthorization-take-senior-ordination-e/ [2].
The Bible Content examination is given twice yearly:
- The first Friday in February at 10 a.m.
- The Friday before Labor Day at 10 a.m.
The four Senior Ordination Examinations are given twice each year in January and August:
- Beginning on the final Friday in January;
- The last full weekend in August before Labor Day weekend.
Upcoming exams will take place as scheduled:
January 2012 Ordination Exams:
- December 15th - Final deadline for registration
- December 29th - Exam books announced
- January 27-28th - Ordination Exams
- February 2nd - 9am, Return Biblical Exegesis Exam
- March 4-7th - Reading groups
- March 26th - Grades released, no later than
February 2012 Bible Content Exam:
- December 15th - Final deadline for registration
- February 3rd - Bible Content Exam, 10am
August 2012 Ordination Exams:
- Details coming soon!
September 2012 Bible Content Exam:
- Details coming soon!
- Information on Reviews and Upcoming PC(USA) Ordination Exams taken at McCormick
Ordination Examinations will take place Friday, January 27 and Saturday, January 28 in the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago's Learning Resource and Writing Center, Room 301, located at 1100 E. 55th Street, Chicago, Illinois.
Answers to exams must be typed, not handwritten. To type your answers, you are welcome to bring a laptop or reserve one of the LRWC's computers. Please send a note to arhine@go.mccormick.edu [3] to let Alicia Rhine know your intent to bring a laptop or reserve one of the lab's computers.
The schedule for the examination will be as such:
Friday, January 27th -
- 8:30am - Prayers and orientation
- 9:00am - Theological Competence (3 hours)
- 12noon - Break for lunch
- 1:30pm - Worship and Sacraments (3 hours)
Saturday, January 28th -
- 8:30am - Prayers and instruction
- 9:00am - Church Polity (3 hours)
- 12noon - Bible passages announced for Open Book Biblical Exegesis
- All exams must be hand delivered to Alicia Rhine by 9:00am to be considered for grading at McCormick Theological Seminary, Second Floor, 5460 S. University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615.
JKM Library will be open Friday, January 27th from 8:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, January 28 from 11:30 am – 4:30 pm.
The books from which the passages will be taken on the August 2012 Open Book Bible Exegesis exam are:
Old Testament --- TBA
New Testament --- TBA
The specific passages and ministry contexts will be released with the examination questions on Saturday, January 28th at noon.
McCormick will offer review sessions for the Polity and Worship and Sacraments. Please watch for dates and times in your email. Please contact Alicia Rhine by phone (x6317) or email (arhine@go.mccormick.edu [3]) if you have questions.
Exam Study Resources:
What does the new Form of Government (NFoG) mean for the Polity exam, and where can I learn more about the NFoG?
With the approval of the Form of Government revision by the presbyteries on June 7, 2011, the PCC wishes to remind everyone of this past announcement about the Polity exams. The first exam to use the 2011-2012 edition (with the new Foundations section and revised Form of Government) for citations will be the January 2012 exam.
Also, test takers will now be permitted to use clean, unmarked print editions and/or PDF (Adobe Acrobat) editions of the Book of Order during the examination. They may not use 'database' versions of the Book of Order or the Annotated Book of Order which are based on other digital formats (such as Folio Views). The same policies will apply to the use of the Book of Confessions in “open book sections” of the Theology and Worship & Sacraments exams.
Tools to assist you in learning about the NFoG are available at http://oga.pcusa.org/formofgovernment/ [15]. The full text of NFoG is online there along with other helpful resources.
Especially helpful for your review of the changes is the side-by-side comparison of the current FoG to the FoG that will be in effect after July 10th (http://oga.pcusa.org/formofgovernment/pdfs/comp-chart2.pdf [16]).
Please note that the documents there do not yet include the other amendments approved that will be added to NFoG (for example, the text approved in Amendment 10-A).
What does the passage Amendment 10-A mean for me?
The Chicago Presbytery has released a letter detailing what Amendment 10-A means - for the full letter, go to http://www.chicagopresbytery.org/2011/05/20/6625/ [17]. This letter includes the approved text of Amendment 10-A. Additionally, the Chicago Presbytery released a list of frequently asked questions and answers that may be helpful, found at http://www.chicagopresbytery.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Final-QA-on-Ordination-Standards.pdf [18].
For another good resource on the passage of Amendment 10-A, and what this means for the PC(USA), see:
"The 10-A Conundrum," Presbyterian Outlook (pre-passage)
http://www.pres-outlook.com/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/11337-the-10-a-conundrum.html [19]
