If you are just beginning to explore your call to ministry, plan to join a New England Conference Ministry Exploration Summit. A summit is a gathering of folks in the early stages of candidacy or discernment as well as experienced Clergy and Laypersons from the different ministry paths. Anyone interested in lay, licensed or ordained ministry is welcomed and encouraged to join one of these events. Participation in a Summit is required to become a Certified Candidate or a Certified Lay Minister. Participation in a summit fulfills the "Orientation to Ministry" requirement. Summits are usually offered twice each year (typically January and September).
Ministry Exploration Summit Facts
Next Summit: TBA, likely to be January 2024
Hybrid Option: If participants are unable to attend in-person, they will be able to join online via Zoom. If you are interested, please SAVE-the-DATES and send the completed registration form to the BOM Registrar (bomregistrar@yahoo.com).
Hotel Info will be posted here when plans are finalized.
Questions? Contact the BOM Registrar, bomregistrar@yahoo.com or (603) 892-0359
New England candidates for Local Pastor must complete Local Pastor Licensing School unless they have completed at least 1/3 of an approved Master of Divinity program and the New Pastor Orientation. Licensing School requires 80 hours of instruction. To successfully complete the program, you must be present and participate in all sessions (in-person and online) as well as submit all assigned work on time. The New England Conference offers Local Pastor Licensing School once per year. To register, read the Brochure and Registration Form document in full and return the completed form to the Registrar with your payment. You must be a Certified Candidate and your District Superintendent must sign the Registration Form (page 4 of the document)
The 2024 New England Local Pastor Licensing School begins with an in-person retreat at Rolling Ridge Conference Center in North Andover, MA. The retreat begins on the evening of Sunday, January 7, 2024 and continues through through Friday, January 12, 2024. Additionally, there will be three Saturday zoom sessions (9:00 am to 12:00 pm) on January 27, February 10, and February 24. The final session will be the preaching lab to be held in-person on March 9, 2024 (9:00 am to 3:00 pm) at Milford UMC in Milford, NH.
The cost will be $700.00 for New England Conference students and $1000.00 for out-of-conference students.
Registration Form coming soon
This training event is for folks who have not successfully completed a Local Pastor Licensing School, but who are going to be serving under a License for Pastoral Ministry (Local Pastors and Provisional Members). If at least one-third of a Master of Divinity degree has been completed, the licensing school requirement is fulfilled by attending the New Pastor Orientation. If you have already completed Local Pastor Licensing School, you do not need to attend the NPO unless your dCOM has required it. The New Pastor Orientation is held once per year, usually in late May or June. Questions? Contact the Registrar, bomregistrar@yahoo.com or (603) 892-0359.
The Course of Study (COS) is the required continuing education for Local Pastors. These courses must be taken from an approved school. Please see the school lists below. There are 20 required courses shown in this COS Chart.
ONLINE EXCEPTION EXTENDED: The pandemic exception allowing fully online COS courses to count as residential has been extended to June 2024.
COS Registration Signatures Please note that COS registration does REQUIRE the proper signatures for registration. After your DS has signed your COS registration form, send your form to the New England LP Registrar (beginning Sept 2022, contact Deborah Venator for further instruction). If you would like the LP Registrar to mail your registration on to the school or back to you, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope in your letter. You may send your form electronically using email and the LP Registrar will email the signed form back to you.
COS Scholarships Scholarships for Local Pastors taking Course of Study are limited to $250 per course for a maximum of two courses per year (maximum total of $500 per year). If your COS school required you to pay the full tuition upfront, send your grade report/transcript to the LP Registrar (beginning Sept 2022, contact Deborah Venator for further instruction) along with a note requesting the scholarship.
COS Progress As per the BOD, until the COS curriculum (20 courses) is completed, part-time local pastors should take two courses per year and full-time local pastors should take four courses per year. If this schedule is not possible, a local pastor should discuss this with their dCOM. If there is a reason adequate progress cannot be reasonably made, the dCOM may submit a request to the BOM for a 1-year extension. This is an annual request and, therefore, must be re-submitted if the issue persists into another year. COS Extension Form - dCOM to BOM