Licensing is the first stage of the credentialing process. The license is a temporary credential that lasts three years and is designed to culminate in certification. For more details about licensing see the FAQs on this site and the EFCA credentialing policy Steps Toward Credentialing.
Here are your main tasks in preparing for licensing. These tasks are spelled out further in the licensing checklist below.
Application Forms
You must fill out several forms of various sorts and furnish some information so that, in compliance with Minnesota state law, we can check on your previous employment relative to sexual integrity. See the credentialing resources page of our website for the forms you need.
Letters and Recommendations
You must write a letter of intent and secure some formal recommendations.
Licensing Thesis
You must write a 15– to 20-page paper that summarizes your conversion and call to ministry, your beliefs relative to the EFCA Statement of Faith, and your convictions and practices relative to several contemporary issues. Guidelines for the paper can be found on the resources page.
Reading
There are five books about EFCA history, beliefs, and practices that you are required to read. These books can be purchased from NextStep Resources.
- What it Means to be Free, by Calvin Hanson
- Evangelical Convictions, EFCA Spiritual Heritage Committee
- The Significance of Silence, by Arnold T. Olson
- Stumbling Toward Maturity, by Arnold T. Olson
- The Search for Identity, by Arnold T. Olson
You can work on the above tasks in any order. Submit your paperwork to our office (ncd@ncdefca.org) when you have it completed. It must be completed before your licensing interview can be scheduled. When you have your paper ready for submission, send it to our office. We will look it over for formatting and then send it to a first reader (an EFCA-ordained pastor) from the district credentialing network for review. He will contact you with suggestions or required revisions to the paper. Once he signs off on the paper we can schedule your licensing interview—an informal but focused time with two or three EFCA-ordained individuals who will go over your paper with you to confirm your basic theological competence and your alignment with the EFCA.
Click here for a checklist to follow as you move toward licensing.