- Nov 26, 2019
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Given that the particular need driving you to "pick a side" is the question of vocation, I wonder whether part of your discernment ought to be to look seriously at what pursuing ministry in either would mean. What are their discernment and selection criteria and processes, what training would they require, what support would there be, etc etc?
While I agree with @The Liturgist that one doesn't choose a denomination just for convenience, if the reality is that the door to ministry is going to open in one direction but not the other (for example), that might well help you make the decision.
This is very true - if you have an Episcopal or ELCA bishop who is really interested in having you join, or even a priest who wants to sponsor and mentor you through that seminary, that is compelling.
Although my point @Paidiske actually entailed the same one you were making, but I may have expressed it too delicately, and that is, ceteris paribus (all other things being equal), what does becoming a priest in the Episcopal Church or a pastor in the ELCA mean in terms of your spiritual life, and also, what does it mean in terms of your professional life, and how will things change once the person or persons who are interested in your service retire?
The other aspect of my post relates to that in that the ELCA and Episcopal Church are, to my extreme unhappiness, shrinking. Recently an Episcopal monastery I had donated to and planned to visit closed due to one of the four brothers dying, another requiring treatment in a nursing home, the two others feeling they were too old, and most importantly, Covid, which accelerated the decline. This was very sad, and it is also very sad whenever a good Episcopal or ELCA parish closes. Recently, an Episcopal cathedral with controversial Brutalist archirecture in the Northern US had to be sold, and while the architecture was controversial, some loved it, including one of the priests assigned there - fortunately she was inspired to publish a beautiful book of photos of it, which makes me happy, as I am one of the small number of enthusiasts of that architectural period, but unhappily it became a megachurch.
So my point was that without wanting to suggest careerism, but rather, just as a practical matter, one should be aware of this extremely tragic situation that both denominations are contracting, and one should be aware of the ramifications of this for job security. However, a true compelling vocation will overcome this.
Now, since like the Eastern Orthodox church you are familiar with, the ELCA and the Episcopal Church are episcopal, knowing your bishop is important, although perhaps not to the same extent as in the Orthodox church, where the hierarchs are like constitutional monarchs, who are chosen from the ranks of the monastic hegumens and archimandrites and generally, once consecrated, remain in office until they repose or become incapacitated (or on occasion, fall victim to political turmoil, which many believe happened to Metropolitan Jonah and Archbishop Nikolai of the OCA, both of whom wound up in ROCOR).
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