ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 18, 2004 ELCA Ministry Board Adds Background Checks In Candidacy Revision 04-197-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Officials of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said they hoped to learn some lessons from the conviction of a former ELCA pastor of criminal sexual misconduct in Texas. A review of the ways the church screens potential pastors and professional lay ministers has led to revisions of the "Candidacy Manual" for the ELCA. The board of the ELCA Division for Ministry approved the revisions at its Oct. 8-10 meeting here, and it recommended that the ELCA Church Council adopt the 2004 edition of the candidacy manual at its Nov. 11-15 meeting here. The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between biennial churchwide assemblies. The candidacy manual is a set of documents that provides guidelines and procedures for candidates to become ELCA pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses or diaconal ministers. 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. "Open and honest communication is probably the central issue," said the board chair, the Rev. Robert J. Karli, First English Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas. The revisions are an attempt "to provide for more assistance to candidacy committees, to the seminaries, to everyone who's a part of the candidacy process, including the candidates themselves," he said. "The system is not broken, but there are some areas where it can be improved," Karli said. The conviction in Texas raised some concerns that the revisions are meant to address, he said. "There is provision in the revised candidacy manual for background checks on persons who are coming into candidacy. There is some debate as to the effectiveness of those, and yet that's something that's standard procedure in many areas of employment," Karli said. "There is more explicit indication of sharing all pertinent information among the various parties involved -- candidacy committees, seminaries, intern supervisors," Karli said. "It also has provision for increased training for candidacy committees," he said. A master of divinity is the minimum degree required of ELCA clergy. Earning the degree usually requires a bachelor's degree and four years of seminary education, including a parish internship during the third year. Meeting here Sept. 30-Oct. 3, the presidents of the eight ELCA seminaries sent their responses to the revisions to the board and voted "to affirm the plan for criminal background checks for ELCA candidates." The presidents also said they would like to look into using the same background check services for students at their seminaries who are not part of the ELCA candidacy process. Carol W. Schickel, an ELCA associate in ministry and director for candidacy, ELCA Division for Ministry, presented the board with the rationale for the manual's revisions and with the principles and processes used to make the revisions. The Texas case drew attention to the need for greater screening of candidates, Schickel said. The checks will use information from a variety of sources, including credit and motor vehicle records. The ELCA's emphasis on the health and wellness of its ministers also prompted revisions to the manual, she said. Schickel said full and open communication among the partners in the candidacy process was a key principle in shaping the revisions. "We don't want what happened in Texas to happen again," she said. "Candidacy screenings are essential," Schickel said. "Candidacy leader training is essential," she said, indicating that a new candidacy leaders' handbook will help clarify the responsibilities and expectations of each party in the process. If the council adopts the revised manual, it will go into effect on Feb. 1, 2005. The review of the candidacy process also resulted in recommendations that the church provide additional orientation and training for candidacy committee members and for synod and seminary staff in 2005 and 2006, with a two-year schedule of regular training opportunities, and that the ELCA convene regional consultations on candidacy in 2005 and a churchwide consultation in 2006. The ELCA Candidacy Process The process to become an ELCA pastor, associate in ministry, deaconess or diaconal minister often begins with the potential candidate developing an interest in such service and acquainting herself or himself with the candidacy process, the manual and forms, and what each party in the process can expect of the others. The ELCA's 10,657 congregations are organized into 65 synods across the United States and Caribbean. An ELCA congregation registers a candidate with its synod. The synod's candidacy committee -- a representative group of seminary and synod staff, and pastors and lay members of the synod -- conducts an entrance evaluation and interview with the candidate. If the committee approves, the candidate enters seminary or some other course of study the committee recommends. After about the first year of preparation, candidates are considered for endorsement. The candidate writes an essay on her or his personal and interpersonal skills for ministry, educational and theological ability, spiritual formation and faith, and understanding of call to ministry. An endorsement panel, representing the seminary and candidacy committee, reviews the essay, interviews the candidate and decides whether or not to endorse the candidate for the church's ministry as either a pastor, associate in ministry, deaconess or diaconal minister. During the candidate's seminary education, she or he participates in field work -- usually at a congregation in the seminary's vicinity. Candidates for ordained ministry complete a year of internship, usually spending the third of four years of theological education on the staff of a congregation beyond the seminary's vicinity. The pastor of the internship congregation supervises that year of the candidate's education. In the final year of the candidate's theological education the seminary faculty sends its recommendations about the candidate to the candidacy committee. The committee reviews all the reports, the candidate's essay and the internship evaluation, and, after interviewing the candidate, votes whether or not to approve the candidate. The approved candidate is assigned to a synod based on the ministry needs of the church. A congregation or other ministry setting in that synod extends a call to ministry. -- -- -- Information about the ELCA's candidacy process is at http://www.elca.org/dm/candidacy/ on the Division for Ministry's Web site. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news