Chapter 3. Examinations

¶471. The District Conference shall inquire concerning what is being done by the churches to discover those who are called of God to the ministry, to test their fitness for this work, and to aid them in their preparation. It shall license proper persons as local preachers, when, in its judgment, their gifts, graces and usefulness warrant. It shall take cognizance of all local preachers within the district, and annually inquire, by committee or otherwise, touching their development in the Christian life, their progress in literary and theological studies, and their success in Christian work, and when satisfied of their fitness, on their application, shall renew annually their license.

¶472. The District Conference shall license to preach local preachers. A local preacher is not a ministerial member of the District Conference. However, he may be a lay delegate from the church which he serves. No license shall be issued for a local preacher until he completes the course of study and is examined by the District Board of Ministerial Relations.

¶473. When necessity requires it, the Board of Ministerial Relations shall have the power, by unanimous vote, to issue a temporary local preacher's license between sessions of the District Conference. The candidate shall have completed the course of study for a local preacher's license and shall have been recommended by his Annual Church Conference and the District Superintendent.

¶474. The District Conference may admit into membership in the manner prescribed by the Discipline only those who have met all the disciplinary requirements for membership. The chairman of the Board of Ministerial Relations shall maintain a file on each ministerial member and local preacher in the district. This file shall be made available for use when necessary in conducting church business and shall include the following information: date of birth, date of marriage, name of spouse, date of granting of local preacher's license, date of commissioning as a deaconess, date of admission on trial, and date of ordination.

¶475. The District Conference shall elect a Board of Ministerial Relations of five ordained elders, whose duty it shall be to examine all applicants for local preacher's license, admission on trial, elder's orders, from other churches on credentials, change of conference relationship, deaconess's orders, requests for sabbatical leave, and report such examinations to the District Conference. A majority vote of the District Conference is necessary for adoption or entrance.

(1) They must examine and make full inquiry as to the fitness of candidates for local preacher's license, admission on trial, elder's orders, deaconess's orders for: character, habits of life, conversion, call to preach, Christian experience, age, domestic situation, cooperation with others, ability to lead a service of worship, and understanding of the church's mission according to the Discipline. The candidates must be enthusiastic about the work of the Evangelical Methodist Church. The answers to these questions must be submitted in writing. In the case of those coming from other churches, inquiry must also be made as to these same qualifications.

(2) No one shall be licensed to preach or be admitted into the District Conference by any method unless he subscribes to the form, policy, and doctrines of the Evangelical Methodist Church as contained in the Discipline.

(3) Ministers shall not be accepted as transfers from one District Conference to another without the consent of the General Superintendent and both District Superintendents.

(4) No candidate shall be licensed unless he agrees to totally abstain from the use of tobacco, liquor, dope, gambling, homosexuality, and intimacies with the opposite sex outside of the marriage relationship. Any man who develops any of these vices shall be expelled from our ministry without delay.

(5) A candidate for admission on trial, elder's orders, deaconess's orders, or local preacher's license shall have met the requirements in the course of study.

(6) The chairman of the Board of Ministerial Relations shall be empowered, on recommendation of the General Superintendent and the respective District Superintendent, to issue temporary credentials to ministers bearing recognized credentials from a similar organization, with the understanding that such ministers shall sever their former connection no later than the next District Conference. (7) In the event a minister who has left the Evangelical Methodist Church desires to return, he must re-enter through the same district he withdrew.

¶476. No candidate may be accepted into the ministry of the Evangelical Methodist Church who has been divorced and remarried or who has married a divorced person. The only exceptions to this rule that will be considered are:

When the divorce(s) occurred prior to conversion.

When the divorced person(s) is/are the innocent party in the case of adultery or desertion.

These exceptions will only be made when, upon the recommendation of the District Superintendent, the Board of Ministerial Relations determines that the call of God is strong, the evidence of ministerial gifts is present, and a new life beyond reproach has been established.

¶477. The membership of a traveling preacher must be in the District Conference in which he resides, and he is accountable to that body for his character and conduct. However, he may also belong to a local Evangelical Methodist Church. All credential holders shall support the Evangelical Methodist Church in their area by attendance and financial means in so far as is possible.

¶478. The official announcement of a traveling preacher being transferred changes his membership, so that his rights and responsibilities in the District Conference to which he goes begin from the date of transfer.

¶479. Each District Conference shall furnish credentials for elders, members on trial, local preachers, and deaconesses, signed by the District Superintendent, or other presiding officer, and the secretary of the District Conference.

¶481. Active licensed credential holders in the Evangelical Methodist Church, with the exception of missionaries serving on the foreign field, shall participate in not less than two continuing education units per year. The Board of Ministerial Education and Advanced Studies shall determine acceptable programs of study.