AN ORDER RECOGNIZING ONE WHO HAS BEEN ORDAINED, COMMISSIONED, OR CERTIFIED

This order may be used within a service of worship by a congregation to recognize someone after he or she has been ordained, commissioned, or certified by the Annual Conference.

It is fitting that the person being recognized take a role in the service appropriate to the ministry into which he or she has been ordained, commissioned, or certified.

The order may be led by the pastor or, if the pastor is the one being recognized, by another leader such as the lay member of Annual Conference.

Prior to the Proclamation and Response, or as a Response to the Word, the person who has been ordained, commissioned, or certified stands before the people and faces the leader.

The leader tells the congregation of the ordination or certification ceremony, concluding with these or similar words:

Today we are happy to recognize Name
and celebrate his/her entry into this ministry.

Leader to person being recognized:

Name, we rejoice with you as you enter into this ministry.
As you carry on this ministry
we will stand with you and offer you our fullest support.

Leader to congregation:

I invite you to stand and join with me in prayer for Name
and for his/her ministry.

The leader may pray extemporaneously, or the leader and congregation may join in the following prayer:

God of grace and power,
pour out your Spirit on Name as he/she ministers [among us].
Guide and strengthen him/her for his/her ministry
in all that lies ahead,
that together we may be one in ministry to all the world;
through the One in whom we all are one,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

An appropriate gift or symbol of ministry may be presented. For one who is ordained, this may include a stole appropriate to the order (deacon or elder). For one who is commissioned or certified, this may include an alb, a pectoral cross, a Bible, or a Book of Worship.

A hymn may be sung and a blessing given. See hymn suggestions.

DOWNLOAD An Order Recognizing One Who Has been Ordained, Commissioned, or Certified [.docx]

Copyright: “An Order Recognizing One Who Has Been Ordained or Certified” Copyright © 1992 UMPH. Note: This order has been modified to reflect changes in the 1996 Book of Discipline eliminating the category of diaconal ministry and so the category of “consecration” except for bishop, and adding the newly created status of "commissioned ministers." Another service in the Book of Worship is to be used to celebrate the installation of a newly consecrated or newly received bishop.