It was sunset at Camp Seawood in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I was linked hand to hand with Girl Scouts from various troops as we sang taps. The flag was slowly lowered from the pole. It was in those moments as we sang, “God is nigh” that I remember this feeling of being part of something much greater than my eleven year-old self. Even today I can feel the cool summer breeze on my skin and see the expanded circle of girls and women joined hand to hand for the last time at summer camp.
It was years later that God brought this moment to my remembrance. What prompted that memory was a requirement as a candidate seeking ordination. Candidates are to share their call stories. As I put words to paper that moment at Camp Seawood was the first moment I felt the presence of God in my life. Looking back it was not only a presence but a call into a community much larger than the circle I was part of that day.
I am currently the chairperson of the District Committee of Ordained Ministry (DCOM). When a member of your church family experiences a call on their life, the process of discernment begins. When confirmed by the local church, the candidate’s next step in the journey is to meet with DCOM. Committee members are both lay and clergy. We hear conversion and call stories from candidates. It is a humbling experience to discern with the candidates how God is calling them to serve. Each person’s story is as unique as the person before us. God’s calling is expressed through their lived lives.
The Girl Scouts were part of my faith formation when I did not realize I was being formed for set apart ministry. My mother was my leader for many years and my father even got to be an honorary Girl Scout for the work he did at Camp Seawood. In my final years in Girl Scouting, our leader was a strong woman who guided and supported us as we learned leadership skills. She could also prune growing young women with compassion. I distinctly remember the pruning when I was caught telling ghost stories to the younger scouts one dark night around a campfire.
Each candidate we meet in DCOM tells us of the leaders who have shaped their call and also the pruning God has done in their lives. Our task is to discern with each candidate next steps and readiness for ministry. This is not a task we take lightly. Each of us on DCOM are charged with caring for these candidates; listening, guiding, and mentoring them on their journey. For the candidates it can feel affirming and sometimes like pruning. I know this as I was pruned in my process. When I was deferred, it was a time of letting go of control of my call and giving it all to God.
God continues to call people into set apart ministry, no matter the state of God’s church. People are still responding with, “Here I am, send me.” In your prayers this lenten season, pray for the candidates, pray for those who serve on district and conference levels who discern with the candidates, and pray for the church.
Praying with you,
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Roy
Chair, District Committee on Ordained Ministry
If you would like to view past editions of A Message from Your Mission Strategy Team,
follow this link: https://heritagedistrictnc.org/category/mission-strategy-team/