maggers20

That's honestly a great question haha - I don't really have a comprehensive idea. I know that the UMC values being a connectional church, meaning that we have a higher governing body (bishops overseeing conferences that oversee districts that oversee local churches) so we aren't a bunch of separate churches, like non-denominational/evangelical churches. Because of that, I believe that the UMC holds the Elders and Deacons (the types of pastors) to a higher standard than many other denominations/churches do in regards to furthering education. While there is still variation in theology, style, etc. of pastors, you can feel confident that almost all UMC pastors will be educationally and theologically sound. It's unlikely that someone would graduate with their bachelor's and then just go plant a UMC church because they would need to get special permission for the sacraments from the Bishop, too, if they aren't ordained. This has a lot of downfalls to it, like slow growth, bureaucracy, etc. however since the UMC is such a connectional church it allows for organizations like UMCOR - United Methodist Committee on Relief - to be one of the biggest natural and man-made disaster relief organizations in the world that doesn't take any administrative fees so all donations actually go towards aid. I would think that a lot of other mainline (PCUSA, ELCA, UCC) require a masters and field experience before becoming ordained, as well, since they have a similar set-up. There's always going to be pros and cons to connectional vs/ congregational church bodies. I will say that you can become a local pastor with minimal education (think a few months of workshops/classes) in the UMC but then you are tied to that one church/ministry and it's often for an interim position while the church may be between pastors in which you get special sacramental authority from the bishop. Whew. That was long-winded, but I hope that makes sense?

Thank you! I’m a United Methodist student and will be a certified candidate for ministry by the start of the term. I’m planning to go on and become an ordained elder in the UMC. I think that really helped me out funding-wise! Plus I’ve been really involved with my local Wesley foundation campus ministry and well connected to my home church. Regardless, having funding will really help me out since it’s such a long process for UMC a students to become ordained - about 4 more years post-seminary of internships/Clinical pastoral education/low-paying ministerial jobs.

Hello all! I got a call from Duke around 3pm (Central Time) letting me know that I was accepted to the MDiv program with 75% funding! I'm very excited - Duke was the only MDiv program that I applied to so it was all or nothing!