It is important for those who are exploring God’s call to partner early with their home congregation and a local Committee on Ministry. Once an individual is in covenant with a local church and a Committee on Ministry, the person is designated as a Member in Discernment (MID). Below is a flow chart that outlines the Member in Discernment Process, followed by further description:
The first step towards becoming a MID is active participation in a Local Church for at least one year, in order to establish and demonstrate commitment to a particular faith communities ministry and to the UCC. The relationships developed through membership and the experiences of Local Church life allow the person, the pastor and the congregation to pay attention together to the person’s call. The pastor and the local church discernment committee (LCDC – this may be a special committee or may be an already established group like the church council) are the person’s first discernment partners.
If these partners agree that there is potential call to ordained ministry, the local church recommends the person to the Formation Team by sending a letter to the Formation Team registrar requesting that a person be received as a Member in Discernment. Once the church has submitted its letter of request, the member can submit the MID application, which can be found here.
The Formation Team will schedule a zoom meeting with the member, their pastor and representatives from the LCDC to discern the request of the church to receive them as a MID. The discernment process with the Formation team is intended to be a powerful and sacred exploration that
seeks to listen to the Spirit at work in our midst. The purpose of the initial meeting is to offer hospitality to the person and their accompanying guests, listen prayerfully to the movement of the Holy Spirit, engage in conversation about the person’s spiritual journey, outline expectations of the process and to clarify any questions. These meetings generally last up to an hour, and are most often held in a virtual space. Following the meeting, the FAS determines whether to accept the person as a Member in Discernment. If the decision is no, the process towards ordained ministry ends at this point. If the decision is yes, the person is received as a Member in Discernment and a preparation plan is developed between the person, the Local Church, and the Formation Team outlining expectations for the discernment process. As part of this plan, the MID, Moderator of the local church, a member of the local church discernment committee and a representative of the Formation Team enter into a 4 way covenant. In addition, as part of the discernment process, the Formation Team will assign a MID Advisor to serve as an effective process guide for the MID, meeting regularly with the MID and at annual reviews and being available as a resource to clarify the discernment process as needed.
Please click the links below to access additional important documents for MIDs: