Somebody help me out of the maze!
I've been learning a lot about the thorny path to ordination in the United Methodist Church, as readers will find out in our upcoming special Higher Education issue on Nov. 2.
Researching the rather dysfunctional process is enough to make your head hurt.
No surprise that nearly 40 percent of United Methodist candidates for ordination at some point consider switching denominations, where getting to the place of ministry is SO much quicker.
It must tempt UM seminarians to serious envy when they see nondenominational and even other mainline pastors out there preaching, making disciples and growing a church before they even enter their "probationary" period.
I know John Wesley was BIG on education, but sheesh.
And U.S.-born candidates think THEY have it hard (and they do, truly). It pales in comparison to what a district superintendent in an immigration-destination city told me.
The current ordination process, he says, is "a barrier to inclusion," because all the material is written only for a "certain economic and national class."
So when a potential candidate who speaks Mandarin or Vietnamese or Tagalog comes in to this D.S.'s office with a call to ministry, the scramble is on to find someone who can even be a mentor.
It's madness, I tell you.
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