You become a presbyterian pastor when you are called to a pulpit, are examined by presbytery, and are installed, or ordained AND installed, in that pulpit.

A man who is a pastor in another denomination may well have to be re-ordained by the presbytery, if they cannot recognize the former ordination. This is not the regular practice when the man was already ordained in a church which shares certain ecclesiastical relations to the new denomination comes to the "sister" denomination.

I was ordained in the PCA, and am now ministering in the OPC. I was thoroughly, even exhaustively re-examined when I transferred. I was not re-ordained; the previous was recognized. So, I would not expect a formerly baptist minister to receive any less grilling than I received, when I was just transferring to a sister denomination. Nevertheless, presbyteries are always different, and different standards are used in different bodies. Sometimes, the process seems like a breeze for some people.

You would not, generally speaking, find a baptist pastor simply "transferring his credentials" to a presbyterian denomination. If he wanted to come in, in order to SEEK a call, he would have to come "under care", then be licensed, all which is normative for a new man following his internal "call to ministry." Once licensed, he could then actively seek a call in the church.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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