Preparing for PCA *Licensure* Exam

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raekwon

raekwon

Puritan Board Junior
Piggybacking off of Gavin's thread about ordination exams . . . I'm about to take up study to be licensed to preach by my new presbytery (The Ohio Presbytery, which consists of churches formerly in Great Lakes and Ascension Presbyteries).

Some background on me . . .
1) I have no bible college/seminary education.
2) I have, however, been a PCA Ruling Elder since early 2008. The training I received in preparation for the year-and-a-half prior to that examination was rigorous and thorough.
3) I don't have much experience in the pulpit, but it's growing little by little. My first sermon was preached January 4, 2009 and I've preached a total of 7 times at my church since then. Looking forward to doing a two-week miniseries at a sister church in January 2010, in fact.
4) A few applications/uses for getting licensed - pulpit supply for churches without pastors or pastors who need a break for a week or two, occasional preaching at one of the congregations that our church is planting, maybe even leading one of those plants when the time comes.
5) I'm trying to discern whether or not God is pulling me toward "full-time vocational" ministry, so this could be a step toward ordination as a Teaching Elder. Baby steps for now, though.

So, with all that . . . any tips on time spent preparing, what to look out for, suggested study materials, etc? (Fred Greco sent me a copy of Great Lakes' old English Bible exam, which will probably prove very helpful, since most of these churches come out of Great Lakes.)

Thanks.
 
Rae:

1. Know your Bible. Thoroughly. Inside and out.

2. Get a copy of Bryan Chapell's book, Christ Centered Preaching. Two basic points there: 1. Preach Christ, not morality; and 2. Preach in such a way that your hearers can track with your message. See Christ-Centered Preaching: Preparation and Delivery of Sermons: Worldwide Classroom for lectures online.

3. Keep praying and see how the Lord leads. Al Martin has a lecture on discerning a call to ministry that I found helpful.

In addition to Scripture, get grounded in Calvin's Institutes and the Westminster standards.
Everything else will come in its own time.
 
There is a little ordination training book put out by CE&P I used it often in my preparations.
Also get a copy of Berkhof's manual of Christian doctrine, and read it often.
 
I would want to add a question (preparing for licensure myself):

What Bible references should be memorized? Where is it enough to simply memorize the reference, where the entire text?
 
Praying Rae, that the Lord will make your path known and supply you with the gift of wisdom and discernment.
 
Licensure Resource

Raekwon,

I too am studying for the licensure exam. I found a great resource called flashcardexchange.com. I stumbled upon it about 4 months ago. If you search for "pca ordination exam" or "chapell meeks" you should be able to find a list of digital note cards that students have made. It is free, but I found that it is helpful to print off the information too. It only cost me $20 for a lifetime membership. I am transferring my ordination to the PCA, so I didn't have any kind of ordination specific resources to begin with. This site has helped me immensely, especially with Bible outlines and short answers.

All the best,

Jason
 
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