Writer's choice

Question

2) How do you understand the following traditional evangelical doctrines:

a) Repentance

b) Justification

c) Regeneration

d) Sanctification? What are the marks of the Christian life?

3) How has the practice of ministry informed your understanding of the nature and mission of the Church? What are its primary challenges today?

4) The United Methodist Church holds that Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason are sources and norms for belief and practice, but that the Bible is primary among them. What is your understanding of this theological position of the Church, and how has your practice of ministry been affected by this understanding?

A. VOCATION

1) How has the experience of ministry shaped your understanding of your vocation as an ordained elder?

B. THE PRACTICE OF MINISTRY

1) How has the practice of ministry affected your understanding of the expectations and obligations of the itinerant system? Do you offer yourself without reserve to be appointed and to serve as the appointive authority may determine?

2) Describe and evaluate your personal gifts for ministry and how they have resulted in fruitful ministry. What would be your areas of strength and areas in which you need to be strengthened in order to be more fruitful in ministry?

3) For the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ in the world and the most effective witness to the Christian gospel and in consideration of your influence as an ordained minister, are you willing to make a complete dedication of yourself to the highest ideals of the Christian life; and to this end will you agree to exercise responsible self-control by
personal habits conducive to physical health, intentional intellectual development, fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, integrity in all personal relationships, social responsibility, and growth in grace and the knowledge and love of God?

4) Provide evidence of your willingness to relate yourself in ministry with all persons without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, social status, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic condition, or disability.

5) Will you regard all pastoral conversations of a confessional nature as a trust between the person concerned and God?

6) Provide evidence of experience in peace and justice ministries.

In addition to the questions from the Book of Discipline, answer the following:

1) Explain the threefold aspects of Wesleyan grace and how have you encountered these in your own ministry/life.

2) Share an instance when you found yourself in ministry with someone whose theology was radically different from your own.

3) Describe how your image of God has changed over your journey. What has informed this?

5. POLITY

1) Explain the role of deacons, elders, and local pastors in the UMC and how they are each uniquely called and function in the church.

2) What is the process for setting a pastor’s salary? Who can change it, and when can it be changed?

3) The Education committee wants to update the curriculum being taught in the Christian Education program. What specific guidance does the Book of Discipline give you in dealing with this issue?

4) You have discovered a need in the community for a soup kitchen, and wish to recommend that this be a priority for the congregation, using the facilities of the church. What parties and processes need to be involved?

5) A constituent of your church comes to speak with you about their call to ministry. Describe the basic steps that are involved in seeking ordination.

6) Describe the general structures of the Annual Conference and how each body functions.

7) Describe the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the United Methodist Church.

8) What is your understanding of the theology behind Shared Ministries giving (apportionments)?

9) You have an idea for a unique form of ministry. How does the Book of Discipline guide us in seeking affirmation for ministries that are beyond the local church? What is the role of extension ministry in the life of the Church?

10) In what ways does your upbringing, your cultural context, your personal experience shape your understanding of our polity?