Welcome and Congratulations on seeking to follow God’s call to ministry. On this page you should be able to find information to help you navigate the processes leading from a call to ministry, through local licensing and educational preparation, and on to ordination as an Elder or Deacon in the Church of the Nazarene.

When a member of a church feels a call to vocational ministry, the process begins with the pastor and local church board interviewing the candidate regarding your call. Talk with your pastor about your call and your desire for a local license.

Essential steps in qualifying any individual seeking a Local or District Minister’s License are to verify the individual’s credential history in the Church of the Nazarene with the General Secretary’s Office and to conduct a criminal background check (see forms below).  If you have a recent copy of a background check, send it to the district office to meet this requirement.  If you are divorced and remarried, contact the district office concerning the steps involved in this special circumstance.

Verification Credential History Request Form

Background Screening Order Form

As the Local Church begins nurturing those called to vocational Ministry, the Minister in Training (MIT) will find many helpful resources at www.nazarene.org/global-clergy-development.

The Church of the Nazarene requires MIT to complete 24 classes in a validated Course of Study. The courses consist of theology, ministry, evangelism, and church history. For a complete listing of courses required, click here. The MIT should enroll in a course of study and begin working toward completion of at least six courses (including ” History & Polity of the Church of the Nazarene and Exploring Christian Holiness”) or ¼ of a college/university/seminary course of instruction for ministry in order to become a candidate for District License.

If an MIT has taken coursework that they think might meet the requirements of some of the classes in a Validated Course of Study, our District works with Nazarene Bible College to evaluate the transcripts.  The MIT should go to www.nbc.edu/go/evaluation for details.

The MIT invited to check out courses offered by the NEO Oklahoma School of Ministry to see if classes are scheduled live in NEO.  OSM allows you to take classes with a face-to-face instructor on our District. The Oklahoma District also offers a good variety of classes on-line every year, learn more.

Pastor

It’s very possible that you’re at this page because one of the members of your church has expressed a sense of the call of God on his/her life and is seeking to begin the process of ministerial preparation. It’s exciting as a pastor, to be starting this journey with one you’ll have the privilege or shepherding into rewarding new areas of serving God and the Church. But it also means that you now have some added responsibilities.

For the next few years of her journey, you will be the candidate’s primary mentor. She will be assigned an advocate by the Board of Ministry to help guide through the process, but you will remain the primary mentor. That means you must become thoroughly familiar with the process. Talk with her about the Call of God on one’s life, pray with her, help her clarify her call.

Read the Manual paragraphs 500-502.6, 529-534, and make sure your candidate for license becomes familiar with them as well.

Familiarize yourself with both the USA Handbook for Christian Ministries and the USA Sourcebook On Ordination. Your candidate will also need to be familiar with those documents, so walk through them with him.

Download and use the “Procedures for Issuing a Local License“, “Interview Guidelines”, and the “Application for Local Minister’s License” from the denominational site.

Submit the Verification of Credential History Form and a request for Background Screening (or a copy of a recent background screening which has been done on the MIT) to the District Office.

Help guide your candidate throughout the year in completing the required six courses in the Course of Study.

Make sure that you have a current criminal background screening on the license candidate.

Order the Local License and make the presentation of license a significant event in your church.

Remember that except for the screening through the General Secretary’s office, this is all a local church process at this point. None of those documents or applications need to be sent to the district office.

Blessings on what can be one of the most fulfilling parts of a pastor’s ministry.