Below you will find the answers to some frequently asked questions about the Great Lakes Call Finder. Pastors, congregations, and judicatory leaders are encouraged to read the answers in all the sections as it can help you understand how the system works from all perspectives.
The Great Lakes Call Finder is a website designed to help congregations and ministries who are in the Great Lakes Region and affiliated with one of the Formula of Agreement partners find pastors, administrators, youth directors, chaplains, etc. to support their mission and ministry.
Since the Great Lakes Call Finder was started, in part, with a grant from the Synod of the Covenant, our focus is on supporting ministries in Ohio, Michigan, and our near neighbors. That means that we hope to serve congregations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin, but we are open to talking to judicatories outside of those states to explore how we can work together.
A Formula of Agreement: The Orderly Exchange of Ordained Ministers of Word and Sacrament is a 1997 agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ which establishes a full communion relationship between the four denominations and allows for an ordained minister in any of the denominations to serve in any of the other denominations.
The Great Lakes Call Finder is a ministry of Eastminster Presbytery in partnership with the Synod of the Covenant which gave a grant for half the start-up cost.
It is our observation that the lines that we draw between us (judicatory boundaries, state borders, denominational structures, etc.) are often unintentional barriers to ministry. What is more, we find that congregational leaders are increasingly part-time or geographically bound and therefore more open to serving across ecumenical lines to stay rooted in a particular place. We started the Great Lakes Call Finder to supplement the national search systems of each denomination with a system that is regionally focused and intentionally ecumenical.
The logo of the Great Lake Call Finder is a cross, an image of terror in the Roman world that for the modern church has been transformed into an enduring symbol of God’s self-giving love in Jesus Christ. The four curving lines that create the cross are reminiscent of ancient labyrinths, reminding us of the often-winding path of the search process for both pastors and congregations as they discern the Spirit’s call to bring them together. The artist who designed the logo, Ruling Elder Ric Sidebotham of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, said that he imagined the negative space in the center of the cross as a “spiritual home” that is the result of the search process.
The four colors of the cross remind us of the ecumenical nature of the Great Lakes Call Finder as pastors and congregations of many denominations are united in this effort and yet remain distinct. The particular colors (green, red, purple, and gold/white) also remind us of the liturgical seasons which order our common worship life.
The A in “CALL” has a • instead of a cross bar, making it resemble an A-frame church with a rose window. The • is also invites us to contemplate the unique dot on the map where each church leader is called to be a partner in Christ’s service.
Any position that a congregation is seeking to fill (pastor, associate pastor, nursery attendant, sexton, youth director, administrative assistant, etc.) can be posted on the Great Lakes Call Finder. We are also glad to post positions for ministries affiliated with one of the Formula of Agreement partners (college, campus ministry, social service agency, etc).
To ensure that the appropriate processes are followed in each denomination, you will need to contact your judicatory of membership to post a position. Affiliated ministries should post through the judicatory with whom they are affiliated. If you need help identifying the right person, please contact us and we will be glad to help!
Each denomination is split into geographic regions that are responsible for organizing the ministry in that region. Each denomination has its own term for those regions including association, classis, presbytery, and synod. Since the Great Lakes Call Finder is intentionally ecumenical, we refer to all of these as judicatories.
To post a position you will need a job description for the position including some information about salary and benefits. We encourage you to look at job posts already on the site as an example. You can also download a pdf with the exact questions you will need to answer.
For shared positions, we ask both congregations or ministries to post the position. This helps us populate the map of positions on the site and helps us direct applications to the correct judicatory if the two positions are members of different denominational bodies. Also, while it is our belief that shared ministry is great and we would never want to break up a partnership, posting the positions separately would allow a way for someone who is looking for fewer hours to apply to only one of the ministries. The job posting for each will have a way to indicate that this position is related to another post in the system.
Each of the member denominations expects their ministers to live a life that reflects the gospel of Jesus Christ within the covenant community of the Church and has a process to correct those who have fallen short of those expectations. The denominational search systems take those processes into consideration by verifying the identity and standing of each minister before they circulate their profile. Since the Great Lakes Call Finder is a job posting site, we do not have a way to screen people before they apply. This precaution allows judicatories to make sure that anyone who applies is a minister in good standing with their denomination of membership before they are considered by a congregation.
No! The Great Lakes Call Finder is designed to supplement your denomination’s search system. We have even provided a way for your Great Lakes Call Finder post to link to your position if it is listed in your denominational search system.
If you represent a judicatory within the Formula of Agreement located in or neighboring Ohio or Michigan, please contact us to join. Membership in the Great Lakes Call Finder is free for the first year after which members will be invited to contribute to support the cost of maintaining the system.
Each member judicatory is asked to identify a main point of contact for the Great Lakes Call Finder. That person will be given an administrator password to log into the system to make, approve, update, or delete posts.
When someone applies for a position, the system will send an email to the contact person listed for that position. For pastoral positions that should be the person in your judicatory who is responsible for search and call processes who can verify that the applicant has standing and then share that application with the congregation if appropriate. For non-pastoral positions, we recommend that the contact person be someone from the congregation.
Yes. The Formula of Agreement specifically says ministers should have experience in their own denomination before serving in another. Also, while the agreement provides a way for ministers in good standing to serve across denomination lines, each judicatory still has the obligation and authority to approve or disapprove calls and may ask ministers to take classes specific to that denomination as a condition to full participation in that judicatory. Ministers seeking to serve across denominations lines should engage in earnest discernment with their own judicatory leaders and the leaders of the judicatory where they are thinking about serving.
Yes. The Formula of Agreement only applies to Ministers of Word & Sacrament and not to Ministers of Word & Service (Deacons) or lay pastors (Commissioned Ruling Elders, Lay Ministers, Licensed Ministers, Synodically Authorized Ministers, etc.). These positions are generally limited in scope and often cannot serve in another judicatory within that denomination, much less in another denomination. This does not mean that it is impossible, but those serving in this way should contact their own judicatory leaders before applying for a ministry position.
We recommend that you wait at least a few weeks before contacting anyone as it can take time for judicatories to check your credentials or for search committees to meet to consider your application. If you have already given appropriate time for a response, then we recommend the following:
- For Pastoral Positions: Please contact the judicatory where that congregation or ministry is a member.
- For Non-Pastoral Positions: Please contact the congregation or ministry directly.
Please contact us if you need help identifying the right person to speak with about this position.
Each judicatory and denomination have different requirements for salary and benefits. You should assume that the salary and benefits listed reflect the requirements of the judicatory of the denomination and judicatory where the position is affiliated. However, when a pastor is called from another denomination, the calling congregation ordinarily pays into the benefits of the pastor’s denomination which may differ from what the congregation calculated for a pastor from their own denomination. The number listed for Salary + Housing on each job posting is always an estimate and may need to change to accommodate the benefits of another denomination.
The process of bringing two or more congregations together into a shared ministry is often long and complicated. While we hope that the mapping function of the Great Lakes Call Finder will make it easier to identify potential partners, we recommend that this be a conversation that starts with the judicatory leaders rather than the congregations. Also, please note that because of the addition of benefits, combining two or more part-time positions may not be enough to support one full-time employee.
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