What if it’s not ordination?

You may have got this far on the website and have decided that God is not calling you to ordained ministry. That’s good if thinking about these things has made you more confident in your call to serve as a layperson in your church and community.

Alternatively, you may discover that God is not calling you to ordained ministry after going through the process of candidating for ordained ministry. That process is intended to be a period of mutual discernment, in which you explore your call with people at circuit, district and connexional level. Throughout the process we are seeking prayerfully to discern God’s will for you and for the Church. At each of the stages of candidating the people you meet will want to encourage you to find your vocation and also to explore with you and test whether that vocation is to ordained ministry in the Methodist Church.

Offering for ordination and not having that offer accepted can be a bruising experience and it might take some time to come to terms with the decision and to decide what your next step should be. Our prayer is that together we may discern, through our processes during this period, the manner in which you may respond to God's calling in your life and within the life of the Church.