The Shalom Spirituality Center in Dubuque played host to students attending licensing school last week. All persons who are not ordained as elders are required to have a license for pastoral ministry to preach and perform the duties of a pastor in a local church.
This week of concentrated learning meets the eighty hours of course work and classroom instruction required by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Students are introduced to a variety of resources for ministry on topics such as public worship, preaching, pastoral care, mission, spiritual formation, Christian education, evangelism, and United Methodist history and distinctiveness.
The Iowa licensing school offers classes in French, using translators who are pastors in the Iowa Annual Conference. This is in response to the need across the United Methodist connection for licensed local pastors to serve our brothers and sisters who are immigrants to the United States. This is not an unusual request, as thirty percent of all United Methodists worldwide speak French.
The Iowa Board of Ordained Ministry’s budget of $91,345 for 2018 helps to underwrite the cost of the licensing school with a $500 tuition credit for persons requesting financial assistance. These funds are made possible through the apportionment gifts of United Methodist churches throughout the state.
Thank You Notes 