New Paths to Ministry in the CRC

Rev. Dominic Palacios took the traditional path to ordination in the Christian Reformed Church by earning a Master of Divinity Degree at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Palacios, 26, now an assistant pastor at Holland Heights CRC in Holland. Mich., says the grounding he received in Greek and Hebrew and in other aspects of biblical scholarship and history at the seminary has proved invaluable.

Yet, he says, he knows that not everyone can afford to follow the traditional route to ordained ministry.

The CRC has been grappling for several years over what are the best routes for preparing people to be ministers of the Word in a church that is increasingly diverse.

Recent synods have said that the church needs leaders of all different nationalities and types: youth leaders, worship leaders, pastors, evangelists and chaplains. It also needs leaders who “feel at home on Wall Street, leaders who feel at home on Main Street, and leaders who feel at home on mean streets.”

Since no single institution of learning or single route to ministry can supply the CRC with all of these leaders, the church has decided to develop new paths to ministry or to reframe ones that were already in place. With this in mind, synod formed the Synodical Ministerial Candidacy Committee, headed by Rev. David Koll.

“This is a pretty recent development in our ‘delivery system’ for pastoral ministry,” says Koll of the committee. “It deals with how the church responds to, develops, and best expresses the sequence for the educational and denominational requirements for ordained pastors.”

There are currently four paths to the ordained ministry in the CRC, each coming under its own article in the Church Order. Under Article 6, a prospective candidate goes through Calvin Seminary—the route taken by Palacios.

Article 7 permits the ordination of candidates who possess exceptional gifts without having had much formal theological education. Koll says Article 7 is under review as a result of concerns that it may have been used too frequently as a shortcut to ordination for some who should have taken a more traditional path. In addition, Koll notes, it is hard to define “exceptional gifts” for ministry.

Then there is Article 8, which allows a person to enter CRC ministry after having been ordained in another denomination.

Pastor Drew Brown, who serves at Crossroads Church, a CRC congregation in Schererville, Ind., is an example of someone who is entering through Article 8. After graduating from college, Brown received degrees from two seminaries, going on to serve as a senior pastor in three independent churches and then helping to start an Evangelical Free church before joining the staff at Crossroads as an associate pastor.

Rev. Kris Vos, senior pastor at Crossroads, said Brown had to jump through too many hoops on his way to ordination in the CRC. “At a time when our denomination needs new leaders, we have pushed the trend away from finding and bringing in new leaders,” says Vos. “However, Rev. David Koll has recently done a great job of making the process more welcoming.”

Koll says he appreciates the compliment, since his job is to minimize the hurdles and make the ordination process more accessible.

Another example of someone who will enter the CRC under Article 8 is Cary Holbert, who is working to start a church for Christian Reformed Home Missions out of a restaurant he owns in Columbia, S.C. A former Presbyterian pastor, he has been enrolled in the Ecclesiastical Program for Ministerial Candidacy at Calvin Seminary.

Article 23 is a fourth path to ministry. This article establishes the position of Ministry Associate, says Koll, allowing for the ordination of people to perform ministry in a local setting. Standards for this position are still developing.

Kristin Pickart was ordained by Classis Red Mesa through Article 23. She attended a Presbyterian seminary and was in the process of becoming an ordained chaplain in the Presbyterian church when she was invited to interview at the hospital in Rehoboth, her home town.

“I had no intention to move back home, but … I saw that this was where God was leading us,” she says.