6.05.2009

Under Care

About a month ago, my friend Brett was accepted as a candidate for gospel ministry. This is a picture of Brett, his wife, his daughter (she's in the womb!), and me.

7 comments:

tiffany :) said...

oh man that's so great :)

Jon Lewis said...

Hey Eric what does it mean to be accepted as a candidate in the gospel ministry?

Eric M. Ashley said...

Jonathan:

In PCA (and other Pres. denominations), when a man senses that God is calling him to serve as a minister he comes under care of the Presbytery. This means that the various elders (ruling and teaching) examine the man in regards to his Christian testimony and calling. Each ministry candidate is also assigned an overseer (in addition to the pastor(s) within his local church) to help instruct/disciple/pray for the ministry candidate. Then, the ministry candidate will complete an internship and various biblical-theological examinations.

This process helps to test and prepare the man for the ministry. Does that make sense?

Jon Lewis said...

Hey man sounds cool.Thanks for explaining it to me. How long does that process take?

Eric M. Ashley said...

The length of the process varies from person to person. I can't remember off hand, but I believe that the internship requires 1000 hours of ministry work. During this time the ministry candidate will be involved in a whole host of ministry responsibilities: preaching, teaching, visiting, counseling, etc.

The examinations in Bible, theology, etc. vary in time. The candidate goes before a special committee as well as the entire Presbytery.

Hey, if you ever want to become a Presbyterian minister, I'll put in a good word for you:)

By the way, it was great to see you and your family at Ben's wedding.

Jon Lewis said...

Its a good system of training you presbies have. Its that whole baby sprinkling thing I can't get. You remember that joke you used to have about Presbyterians being rich?

Yeah man hopefully we can get together sometime in the future. I'll be praying for y'all.

Eric M. Ashley said...

Jonathan:

Now that I'm A Presbyterian, that joke makes me laugh even more. If Presbyterians have to be rich, I'd better find another denomination soon!

As far as the infant baptism goes, it's okay that we disagree about that. Our agreements far outweigh our differences.

I appreciate you and your family so much. And I'd love to get together in the future. I'll even buy you a cup of coffee or soda or another beverage of your choice.