Call Process Booklet

in the call process work. These new tools continue to rely on synodical bishops to
design and manage the call process in a way that fits their synodical context. But the
new tools encourage a higher degree of creativity, transparency, and initiative than may
have been true before. These new tools seek to maintain appropriate safeguards, to
level the playing field among rostered leaders and ministry sites as a matter of fairness,
and to encourage rostered leaders and ministry sites alike to engage in a process of
serious spiritual discernment about their mission and ministry. The very existence of call
process resources available at the churchwide level will, it is hoped, gather us around
common understandings and a common language for this important work.
New Mobility Forms
The new tools begin with, but are much more than, the creation of new mobility forms.
What we once knew as Personnel Forms, then Mobility (M1) Forms, and then
Availability for Call Forms will soon be transformed into the Rostered Leader Profile. The
new forms are intentional in design and crafted to work together with a churchwide
mobility database that will store the forms. They are downloadable in Formatta, the
form tool that has been in use in the ELCA for a number of years now.
The Rostered Leader Profile (RLP) is designed for use by all pastors, associates in
ministry, diaconal ministers, deaconesses, and first call candidates for these rosters.
The form encourages rostered leaders to reflect on their calling and gifts, be creative
about sharing their passions and interests in ministry, and be discerning about their
readiness for call. Parts of the RLP are optional; hence, it can be tailored to fit the
rostered leader’s preferences and needs. The RLP asks that an outside reference be
identified who is willing to complete and append a Reference’s Recommendation Form.
The Ministry Site Profile (MSP) is designed for use by church-related organizations as
well as congregations. It focuses attention on the mission opportunities of that ministry
site and allows for reflection on the way the ministry site perceives itself in relation to its
calling and its context. The ministry site will have space to be creative in its presentation
and the opportunity to write a summary description of its setting and needs. Information
from the MSP will be used to create a narrative snapshot of the ministry opportunity,
suitable for posting on the Web. The MSP also asks that an outside reference be
identified who is willing to complete and append a Reference’s Recommendation Form.
New Web Site
The new forms are linked to the second new tool for the call process work—a new
website at www.elca.org/call. This is the “cyberhouse” for the call process. One page of
the site, in particular, is destined to become indispensable to rostered leaders and
ministry sites alike. Ministry Opportunities is a page that publishes the key information
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