CREC: Ordination Examination

For the past four months I have been working with the Ordination Examination Committee of Knox Presbytery (CREC), in preparation for my Oral Examination, which took place this past Tuesday (10/15/13) at Presbytery. The Oral Examination took place on the floor of Presbytery, overseen by the Committee, and after the examination concluded the Presbytery went into executive session, deliberated, and voted to recommend me to the local Session at CCRC for ordination.

The Ordination Examination process was long and hard: I worked with the Committee, which involved interviews, phone calls, emails, research/writing papers, filling out pastoral case studies and written exams, etc. I am thankful for how God manifested his glory during the process. It was spiritually rewarding. I am, however, thankful to be finished. Although it is an oversimplification, in general this is what I did in order to prepare for my ordination examination:

Systematic Theology

I worked through my notes from Beeke and Ferguson's Reformed Confessions Harmonized, Williamson's WCF for Study Classes, Turretin's Institutes, and Calvin's Institutes.

Bible

I worked through my notes for Bible, e.g., comprehension, book outlines, lists, characters, etc.

Ordination Study Guide

I filled out and reviewed the CREC's ordination study guide.

Church History and the Trinity

I thumbed through several volumes on Church History and the Trinity, e.g., Shelley, Placher, Curtis, and Letham.

Exegesis Papers, Written Exams, and Case Studies

I reviewed the exegesis papers, written exams, and pastoral case studies I turned into the committee as requirements during the ordination examination process.

In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time figuring out what I didn't know. I should have been more systematic about determining where the gaps were for both doctrinal/biblical knowledge and pastoral reflection and wisdom.

CREC: History of the CREC

My wife and I have attended Trinity Evangelical Church, located in Larwill, Indiana, for two years. Look us up on the web: http://www.trinity-evangelical.org/. Trinity is currently a candidate church in the CREC (Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches). Look them up on the web: http://www.crechurches.org/.

In 2004, at the eighth Presbytery of the CREC, a report on the history of the CREC was presented; the concluding paragraphs stated: We in the CREC are recovering from 20th century fundamentalism and pietism. As pietists, we tried to be relevant to culture and to make a difference, but we learned that the more relevant we tried to become, the more shallow and fragmented, and at last, the less relevant, we became. As fundamentalists, we wanted to hold up the Bible as our standard of truth, but we came to learn that without owning the church as the “pillar and ground of the truth,” a high Bible is no longer a precious Covenant document, but Gnostic emptiness. God protected us from ourselves. He protected us through all our silly political lobbying, our taste for Contemporary Christian music, and our media-frenzied vision for ministry, even as we neglected the church. He has been kind to show us our folly, and to restore us to our mother. We in the CREC are in love with our creeds and confessions and liturgies and our church government. For our merciful God has rescued us out of the 20th century.

I relate to that history, especially the parts about being rescued from ourselves by a merciful God.