Call Process Booklet

2. a new database to house information about ministry sites and rostered leaders for
publication and dissemination; and
3. a new website at www.elca.org/call to offer resources and support. The project
holds the promise of ushering in a new day in call process work.
God’s
work.
Our
hands.
Part 2 — New Tools for a New Day
A rostered leader has to be persistent and rather clever in the current the call process
environment if he or she wants to make progress on a search for a new call. Many lurk
on synod Web sites, book-marking pages that list vacancies or talk about transitions.
Many actively work to connect with the call process administrators in synod offices.
Many write and rewrite the Availability for Call forms to try to make a good first
impression. Others talk to friends who are in a position to know what vacancies might
be looming or who can put in a good word of recommendation. Clergy have to muster
a lot of energy and skill for this task, but that is but a fraction of what associates in
ministry, diaconal ministers, and deaconesses have to muster to make the same
progress.
Congregations are at a similar disadvantage in the current call process environment
since they know even less about how the call process works. It should be no surprise
that they tend to employ search tactics borrowed from the workplace. They quickly
discover that they do not fully appreciate how rostered leaders think of call, how synod
personnel are involved in the process, and how to use the church’s system to do a fair
and effective search. That is especially true for congregations looking to do a national
search for a person with a unique skill set or temperament. And if congregations
struggle with all this, imagine how exponentially more difficult it is for schools, hospitals,
camps, or social ministry organizations to search nationally for an ELCA rostered leader.
The ELCA is
introducing a
new generation
of tools
designed to
assist all those
involved in the
call process
work.
What the ELCA needs is a churchwide clearinghouse for mobility concerns. In such a
place, rostered leaders from all the rosters should be able to easily and clearly speak of
their skills and passions for ministry and have their availability for call be managed with
confidentiality and professionalism. In such a place, congregations and organizations of
this church should be able to describe their mission and their need for rostered
leadership for all to see. And in such a place, both rostered leaders and Call Committee
members should be able to find helpful ideas, resources, and suggestions for doing the
call process. This clearinghouse could be a “cyberhouse,” using the blessings of
technology and the Web to bring all together in this endeavor.
New Tools
The ELCA is introducing a new generation of tools designed to assist all those involved
Walking together † for the sake of mission † in God’s world
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