Recently, I wrote Why We are United Methodists. But one thing we have not blogged is the ordination process we’ve been engaged in ever since we have been United Methodists.
The process of becoming ordained pastors in the UMC has been long for us, mainly due to coming from another denomination (I’ll say more about this in the next post). But ordination is finally in sight!
Earlier this week, at a retreat with the Bishop Middleton and members of the conference Board of Ordained Ministry (BOOM) for those being commissioned or ordained at annual conference, we got an idea about what the last phase of the ordination process will look like. Most significantly, the commissioning period has been shortened from three years to two (made possible by action of the 2008 General Conference). This change should bump up our ordination from 2012 to 2011.
In the next two years, we will attend three overnight retreats and two 4-day trips (one in February to the General Board of Global Ministries in New York and one in April to the General Board of Church and Society in D.C, in either 2009 or 2010).
During the next two years, we will meet with our clergy mentors one-on-one every other month. On the other months, we will meet with a Covenant Group to study/discuss leadership as well as the paperwork we do for the BOOM.
We will be interviewed by the BOOM in October 2009 and March 2011, completing required paperwork each time. On recommendation of the BOOM in 2011, we expect to be ordained at annual conference in June 2011.
It will be interesting to see how God works out the timing in the coming months with the requirements and our anticipated travel to Korea for our second adoption. God worked out the timing the first time around with our dissertation work, defenses, and graduation. We trust God to do it again!
We are grateful for the way in which God continues to lead and guide us. The process of the next two years is an opportunity for further growth and development!
In my next post, I’ll write more about the long journey up to this point.