I. The Offices of the Church

B. The Ministers of the Word

A. Students having studied theology at other than Calvin Theological Seminary shall complete the prescribed requirements of the Ecclesiastical Program for Ministerial Candidacy (EPMC) before they shall be declared eligible for call in our churches.

(Acts of Synod 1924, p. 38)

B. Students shall be declared candidates by synod after being interviewed by the Candidacy Committee. Recommendations regarding academic quali cations, doctrinal soundness, spiritual fitness, and personality are to be presented to the Candidacy Committee by the Calvin Theological Seminary faculty.

(Acts of Synod 1961, p. 55)
(Amended Acts of Synod 2004, 619-20)

C. Regulations for declaring candidacy between the annual synods

1. Applications for candidacy may be made by students who anticipate having a combination of four or fewer uncompleted units in their seminary program as of the meeting of the synod at which they will be declared a candidate. Each course and internship would be considered a “unit” for purposes of this calculation.
2. Synod may declare such students to be candidates contingent upon completion of all remaining requirements.
3. When a student completes all remaining requirements, the Candidacy Committee shall announce the candidate’s eligibility for call.
4. Any student who does not complete the remaining requirements by March 1 must reapply for candidacy to the Candidacy Committee.
5. Any such candidate who has not received and accepted a call to one of our churches and desires to continue eligibility for candidacy must make application the Candidacy Committee by May 15.

(Acts of Synod 1975, p. 111)
(Amended Acts of Synod 2004, pp. 619-20)
(See also Supplement, Article 10)

D. When voting to declare candidates for the ministry of the Word, synod shall vote on the candidates as a group.

(Acts of Synod 2006, p. 639)