Guidelines for Roster of Parish Pastors

CALC’s MANDATE

Jesus has given the church pastors to equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:11). CALC is not an ecclesial authority that dictates how pastors are trained and called. CALC establishes voluntary guidelines and standards for the call, training and discipline of pastors.  CALC works in partnership with our member congregations to train, equip, roster and discipline pastors. CALC also assists congregations in the call and professional development of their pastors.

MINISTRY STANDARDS

A candidate for Pastoral Ministry in a CALC congregation:

  1. Meets the scriptural qualifications for parish pastors;

  2. Ascribes to CALC’s expectations for parish pastors;

  3. Possesses gifts, skills and aptitudes for pastoral ministry;

  4. Subscribes to CALC’s Confession of Faith and Statement of Purpose;

  5. Subscribes to and will abide by CALC’s statement on Marriage and Human Sexuality;

  6. Will abide by CALC’s statement that God calls men and women to the pastoral ministry;

  7. Has met CALC’s educational standards, that is, has earned a Master of Divinity Degree or Pastoral Ministry Certificate (or an equivalent degree) from a Lutheran Institution; or

  8. Has earned a Master of Divinity Degree or Pastoral Ministry Certificate (or an equivalent degree) from a seminary of another Christian denomination, has covenanted to minister in the congregation in the Lutheran tradition and has agreed to engage in further study in furtherance of this covenant.

Click here for additional information on each of the enumerated qualification .

Evaluation & Continuing Education

Annual Evaluations: CALC’s model constitution and bylaws calls a congregational council to provide support for their pastor(s) and other professional leaders, assist them to review and evaluate their ministry and review annually their financial compensation making adequate adjustments. CALC has developed a form by which the ministry of the pastor and the congregation is evaluated. This form may be accessed as a WORD or PDF file on the RESOURCES page under the heading “PARISH PASTOR: EVALUATION FORM.”

Pastors’ Conference. CALC convenes an annual pastors’ study retreat which will provide high quality continuing education and opportunities for professional development for CALC’s pastors, deacons, pastors-in-training and seminarians. Information on the up-coming conference is found by clicking the EVENTS button in the navigation pane above.

Call Resources

Resources for the call of a Parish Pastor may be accessed by following this link. Click here.