We encourage CTS students to connect with the Candidacy Director early on in their MDiv program so that they can get an understanding of what’s involved in the 24-month candidacy process and keep candidacy assignments on their radar. We also welcome students to attend candidacy meetings each year to check in and ask questions, and to contact the Candidacy Director individually as needed.

There is a common misconception that CTS students can wait to connect with the Candidacy Director until the fall before they intend to candidate. We don’t recommend that, since there are a few elements of the process that you should be engaged in 2 years prior to your intended candidacy date. Throughout your candidacy journey, we want to get to know you well and to help you feel well-connected to denominational staff and resources as you discern your ministry path in the CRCNA.

Let us know if there are additional ways you would like us to help you connect, and we will be glad to help!

• Meet with the CMLT (Classis Ministerial Leadership Team) of your classis and ask them to send an initial classis report to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. 
• At the end of this year meet with your CMLT again, and ask them to send their one-year classis report to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. 
• Optional: The Abuse of Power Training can be engaged at any point in your process, so it is listed in the "Final 6 Months" section, but you may choose to take it earlier if you want to lighten the load of your final year! The training is called "The Power to Do Good", and it should take you about 6 hours.
• Apply to the 24-month candidacy program (this can be done earlier as well).
• Candidacy requires a 24-month mentorship and the submission of seven reports plus one final recommendation from the mentor. However, CTS students may choose to apply one year of their vocational formation mentorship towards this requirement instead of engaging the full two years with a candidacy mentor (in this case, an email from your VF mentor to the Candidacy Director stating that the mentorship was successfully completed will count for reports 1-3). You can choose to either start a candidacy mentorship at the beginning of year one, or ask your vocational formation mentor to sign off on your mentorship at the end of year one, and start your candidacy mentorship in year two. 
• Interested in chaplaincy? Visit the CRCNA's Chaplaincy Homepage and contact [email protected] to learn more about the process of becoming a chaplain in the CRCNA.
• Note: You should be on the MDiv track that contains courses required for candidacy: CRC Polity, History and Reformed Confessions

• Candidacy requires that you preach two evaluated sermons in two different contexts other than your own. Begin scheduling preaching engagements at two different churches to fulfill this requirement. Each time you preach, ask your mentor or another qualified sermon evaluator fill out this evaluation form and then review the feedback with your mentor. (Note: Evaluated preaching assignments done through the CTS Vocational Formation office count towards this requirement).   
• If you haven’t done this already in year one, now is the time to initiate a Candidacy Mentorship with a CRC pastor. (It can be your vocational formation mentor if that person is willing to continue meeting with you monthly and submit reports on your behalf, but most students find another mentor for candidacy). Meet monthly with that mentor until you complete candidacy.
• Ask your candidacy mentor to fill out an initial mentor report and send it in to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. Inform them also that they should send in three more reports before March 1st of the candidacy year (one every two months or so.)

Note: We encourage you to stay in communication with the Vocational Formation Office at CTS, since completion of all your vocational formation assignments (psych eval, internships, etc.) is a prerequisite for candidacy.

Due November 1

• Declare your intent to candidate to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. Your assigned preaching text will be sent to you. 
• The CTS Academic Services Coordinator will be notified by the Candidacy administrative assistant that you intend to candidate, and they will email these documents for you to Docusign:
  • Authorization to Release Information
  • Background Check
  • Personal Disclosure
• Over the course of the next few months write two sermons—one on your assigned text and one of your choice in the opposite testament. Begin to schedule opportunities to preach them to a congregation.

Due December 15

• Submit your Vocational Reflection paper to the Director of Candidacy at [email protected]. The Vocational Reflection paper should be approximately 12 pages in length, double-spaced, and should contain the following:

1. Reflections on your growing sense of identity (20%)
   
   Incorporating learnings from formation group, mentoring, psych assessment, coursework and vocational formation experiences, write about…

   • What you've learned about your identity as a Christ follower

   • What you’ve learned about your identity within the body of Christ

   • How your experience of accountability in ministry (relationship to council, mentors, pastors) has formed you

   • Your plan for maintaining spiritual/emotional health

2. Reflections on your growing understanding of your calling/purpose (20%)

   • Your developing knowledge of your own gifts and passions

   • Your experience of Christ's redemptive work in your brokenness and how that impacts your sense of call

   • How have others affirmed your sense of gifting and call to ministry?

3. Reflections on your growth in ministry competency (30%)

   • Your own assessment of your development in the 6 ministry competencies: leading, preaching/teaching, seeking justice, pastoral care, evangelism, and worship

4. Reflections on your understanding of leadership (30%)

   • Articulate a biblically and theologically informed philosophy of leadership.

   • Describe your unique leadership style

   • Outline your plan for continued development of leadership

Due February 15

• Two Sermons and One Video
  • Please see Guidelines for Candidacy Sermon Preparation and Submission for detailed instructions about this requirement.
  • Create two (typed, double-spaced) sermon manuscripts and with supporting evidence, one on the assigned text and the other from a text of your choice (not one written for class work.)
  • Preach the assigned-text sermon during a worship service that is video-recorded. If the service isn't being recorded, request that someone record you delivering the sermon using a smartphone or tablet.
  • Upload the sermons and video to the Google Drive folder that the Candidacy administrative assistant will share with you. If you are uploading a video file, make sure that it is no larger than 1 GB.
  • A link to YouTube or a worship service on a church website is acceptable, but please provide instructions for the reviewers so they can easily navigate to the sermon portion of the video.

Due March 1

• Faith Journey and Statement of Reason: Write a 1.5 page Faith Journey and Statement of Reason to your shared Google Drive folder. Please also include a note that lists what languages you speak, the degrees you have earned, and the internships in which you have participated. This should be a Google or Word document (not a PDF). Examples can be found here.
• Complete the Minister’s Profile: The CRC Information Technology department will send you an email with login instructions to create your own CRCNA Minister Profile. Even if you already know where you will be serving you need to complete this profile for future information sharing. If you have questions or need to access your profile, please contact [email protected].    
• Photograph: Upload a high-res, color headshot photo for The Banner, the Synod booklet, and other Seminary uses. We recommend that you dress professionally for this photo. Upload to your Google Drive folder.
• The "The Power to Do Good" course is an online asynchronous training that is required as mandated by synod. The course will require about six hours of online work.

• Meet with your CMLT a final time at the end of this second year, and ask them to send in a final report and recommendation to the Candidacy Director at [email protected].
• Mentor Recommendation: Ask your candidacy mentor to complete the Mentor Recommendation form. Your mentor must sign this form and review it with you, then submit it to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. 
• Ask the chair or clerk of the council to complete the Council Recommendation for Candidacy sheet. The representative must sign this form and review it with you, then submit it to the Candidacy Director at [email protected]. 

April Candidacy Interview

• An invitation will be sent to meet with an interview team in late April. The Candidacy Director or a member of your interview team will contact you regarding the date/time of your interview for candidacy in the CRCNA. The topics of this interview: 
  • Personal call and sense of vocation
  • Knowledge of scripture and theology
  • Commitment to the doctrine and ministry of the Christian Reformed Church.

May Graduation 

• Seminary graduation ceremony is held in mid-May.

June Candidacy Approval by Synod 

• The Candidacy Committee sends a list of all approved candidates (even those with delayed status) to synod for approval at the June meeting.
• Candidates are celebrated, prayed for and affirmed at synod.

Summer (or later) Call

• You may officially accept a call! (Before this point, you can begin having conversations with churches but no call can be provisionally extended/accepted until after official approval by synod.)
• If you accept a call, please send an email to the Candidacy Director containing the title of your new role and the name/location of the church who called you. This will then be communicated to CTS and other denominational entities who need this information.
• You may start work at your calling church (without being ordained).

Fall (or later) Classis Exam and Ordination 

• You should talk with the Stated Clerk of the classis of your church to obtain the classical exam requirements and their timeline. (Classis usually meet three times a year in September/October, January/February, and April/May, unless they schedule a special meeting for your exam.) 
• If you have outstanding requirements that cause you to show up as a “delayed candidate” (asterisk behind your name) on the Candidacy website, your classis will not be able to examine you until those requirements are cleared up.
• You will be examined by classis for ordination as a Minister of the Word.
• After approved by classis, your ordination service can be scheduled with your calling church.

Note: You are examined and ordained only once in your lifetime as a CRCNA Minister of the Word (even if you transfer between churches and classes later on in your ministry.)