CRC Classes Use Skype for Interviews

Rev. Paul Han says at first “it was quite strange” for him to be at home in South Korea, looking into a computer camera and undergoing a Skype interview as part of becoming a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church.

“I was not in the same place as the interviewers. But I appreciated that the mode of the interview via Skype allowed real-time international communication,” he says.

The examination of Han, conducted by Classis Grand Rapids East on October 30, was first time, as far as he knows, that Skype has been used for a minister of the Word interview, says Rev. David Koll, director of the CRC’s Candidacy Committee.

But it is not the first time Skype communication technology has been used to do an examination of a candidate for ministry.

Last year, Classis Georgetown in Hudsonville, Mich. used Skype to examine a candidate who was working in Uganda with a missionary organization and sought approval to be a commissioned pastor. Classis approved his position, clearing the path for his ordination.

Similarly, Classis Grand Rapids East approved Han.

In both cases, the technology allowed for the church to expand its reach and to meet the needs of its pastoral candidates already serving overseas, says Koll.

At the same time, said Koll, it is “an experiment in technology that has its pluses and minuses.” Doing interviews this way removes some of the human factor.

Initially, Han, who earned his PhD at Calvin Theological Seminary, was to go through the normal face-to-face interview process in order to become a CRC minister.

An interview, in fact, had been set for late August. But before the interview could occur, Han had to leave the US to start his job teaching at the Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission in Seoul. Besides teaching at the center, Han also does extensive ministry work in China.

“I knew that Classis Georgetown had done the Skype interview, and Skype seemed to be a reasonable way for us to go,” says Rev. Al Mulder, stated clerk for Classis Grand Rapids East.

“We felt we needed to improvise. We did the interview at Madison Square CRC, and it went smoothly.”

Candidates seeking to become commissioned pastors or ministers of the Word need, as part of the process, to undergo an examination in which they discuss who they are and answer questions about theology and Bible knowledge.

In both Grand Rapids East and Georgetown, interviewers asked their questions via a camera and microphone, and then the candidate answered on a screen that was arranged so that all of the examiners could see and hear.

The candidate in Georgetown was Josh Shaarda, who is working in Uganda and sought approval for ordination as a commissioned pastor so that he could preach, conduct the Lord’s Supper, and baptize people.

“He sought this status because he is serving multiple, small congregations in an area where they often have to wait six months or longer for an ordained pastor to arrive to do the Lord’s Supper and baptisms,” says Rev. Marc Nelesen, pastor of congregational life at Georgetown CRC, where Shaarda and his family are members.

Even though they would have preferred to do the interview face-to-face, classis decided to use Skype once it became clear that Shaarda’s ministry would be immediately bolstered by it.

“We decided the need was urgent enough and got rolling on it,” said  Nelesen, who is on the classis leadership team.

As a way of making the process more personal, he said, everyone walked up to the microphone and camera to offer prayers and blessings to Shaarda once he was approved.

“It was a very good experience for Classis Georgetown,” said Nelesen. “Since he wouldn’t be coming back to this country for awhile, this is a way we could do it.”

Mulder says it was a good experience for Classis Grand Rapids East, too, although he has some reservations about doing interviews this way.

“I think it is second best. It inhibits questions from the floor,” says Mulder.

“But it was a genuine exam and it met all of the purposes in a real way. It allowed us  to know who  Paul Han was and for the church to make a judgement about it.”