Diocese of West Missouri
Licensed Ministry Application
Preacher
New
Renewal
Full Name:
Mailing Address:
Email Address:
Phone #:
(please check one)
landline
mobile
Congregation & Location:
Length of time resident in this congregation:
Baptized: When:
Confirmed: When:
Where:
Where:
A. MINISTRY and EDUCATION
For a new license
1. Describe below the course of study and training that you have followed to obtain
the necessary skills, knowledge and background knowledge required for this
license. Attach separate sheet as necessary.
2. How do you intend to exercise the ministry of preacher?
3. How will you hold yourself accountable in the exercise of this ministry?
4. Please request a statement from your instructor and/or acquire signature at the
end of this form.
For a renewal license:
1. Describe below the course of study and training that you have followed since
your license was issued to maintain your education and skills. Attach separate
sheet as necessary.
2. Describe how you have used this license since it was granted.
3. How would you evaluate your ministry as a preacher?
4. Please request a statement from your instructor/mentor and/or receive comments
and signature at the end of this form.
B. LICENSE BACKGROUND
Please list other licenses you hold or have held, indicating date of issue and
noting those currently held:
I pledge to carry out this ministry to the glory of God under the authority of the Bishop of
West Missouri, and with the integrity befitting this sacred trust.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
Signature of applicant
Date
C. ENDORSEMENTS
Instructor/Mentor Please accept our thanks for your guidance.
1. Describe the course/workshop/study the candidate studied under your
supervision.
2. Evaluate the candidate’s participation.
3. Make a recommendation for this person to receive or not to receive licensing.
yes
no
4. Make a recommendation for continuing work, if any.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your name and title, printed
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name of institution (if any) or your position/qualification
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
Your signature
Date
Clergy in Charge
I certify that the applicant is a communicant in good standing of this congregation
and qualified for this license.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
Rector/Priest-in-charge
Date
Governing Body
The Vestry/Bishop’s Committee, by action at a regular meeting, recommends that
this application for licensed ministry be approved.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
Clerk of Vestry/Bishop’s Committee
Date
D. RETURN TO DIOCESAN OFFICE
Include with the application the following lesson plans in outline form:
New license:
1. Two sermons
a. A sermon for a regular Sunday worship
b. A sermon for a pastoral occasion, such as a funeral, wedding or healing
service.
2. For each sermon, identify the occasion and the properly used or scripture
readings chosen. Acceptable formats: video recording (1st preference), audio
recording (2nd preference), or text only.
Sermons may be mailed as a DVD or uploaded to a video sharing site (such as
YouTube, DropBox, etc.). If you choose to upload, please include a link to your
sermon(s) here:
Should you choose to not submit your sermon as a video, The Licensed Ministry
Committee may request to hear you preach in person.
Renewing license:
1. One sermon (as above)
2. A review from your priest, mentor or a parishioner.
3. Your goals for growth in preaching study and practice for the next three years.
Send signed application form and additional documents to:
Diocese of West Missouri
Attn: Assistant to the Bishop
420 West 14th St
Kansas City, MO 64105
or email files to: bishopsassistant@ediowestmo.org
GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR
PREACHER (Canon 4.5)
A Preacher is a lay person authorized to preach. Persons so authorized shall only preach in
congregations under the direction of the Member of the Clergy or other leader exercising
oversight of the congregation or other community of faith.
Qualifications:
 Public speaking ability.
 The ability to organize one’s thoughts and present them in a cogent manner.
Skills:
 Ability to exegete a passage of scripture.
 Construct a sermon for Sunday worship appropriate for lectionary and season.
 Construct a sermon for the Pastoral Offices, especially:
o The Celebration and Blessing of a Wedding
o Ministration to the Sick (healing service)
o The Burial of the Dead
Background Knowledge:
 Detailed knowledge of Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments)
 The principles of biblical exegesis and contemporary biblical criticism
 Contemporary issues facing the local church and larger communities
 Basic knowledge of the Book of Common Prayer, the Book of Occasional Services and
Lesser Feasts and Fasts
 Basic knowledge of the Hymnal 1982 and other available hymn sources.
Education and Training Possibilities:
 Training and mentoring by local clergy and other preachers.
 Bishop Kemper School for Ministry (BKSM)
 Education for Ministry (EFM)
 Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership (CALL)—especially the Anglican Studies
Series.
 Courses offered by Episcopal or other seminaries.
 University courses on scripture, church history, theology and ethics.
To be Licensed:
 Recommendation of Rector/Vicar/Priest-in-charge and Vestry/Bishop’s Committee.
 Prepare two sermons for evaluation:
o Sunday worship
o Pastoral office
o The Licensed Ministry Committee must be able to witness the sermons. Candidates
who submit audio or text sermons, rather than video, may be invited to preach in
person before the committee.
 Examination and approval by the Licensed Ministry Committee.
Resources:
Episcopal
 The Book of Common Prayer. Church Hymnal Corp., 1979.
 The Hymnal, 1982. Church Hymnal Corporation, 1985.
 The Book of Occasional Services. Church Hymnal Corp.
 Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Church Hymnal Corp.
 Canons of the Episcopal Church, Title II (Worship).
 Sermons That Work. Sermons for each Sunday prepared by the Episcopal Church USA;
available at <www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work.htm>.
Preaching Commentaries
 Tuesday Morning. A quarterly exegetical resource based on the Sunday lections of the
Revised Common Lectionary, published at the School of Theology, Sewanee: University of
the South.
 Synthesis.
http://www.synthesispub.com/images/snfeb06.pdf
A weekly resource for sermon preparation in the Episcopal tradition, prepared
by the authors of Education for Ministry. Offers well-researched commentary on
all aspects of the Episcopal Sunday liturgy, and includes exegesis, Tradition,
Cultures, Hymnody, and Postscript.
 New Proclamation. Minneapolis: Augsburg, annual series. (Or another lectionary based
annual series.)
 Feasting on the Word. A 12-volume lectionary commentary with Homiletical, exegetical,
pastoral, and theological commentaries on all four lectionary readings, all three years.
Westminster-John Knox.
Preaching Books
 Brueggemann, Walter. Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation.
Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989.

Clarke, Erskine, ed. Exilic Preaching.
Essays by Barbara Brown Taylor, Walter Brueggemann, etc.

Craddock, Fred B. Preaching., Abingdon Press, 1985.

Edwards, O.C. Elements of Homiletic: A Method for Preparing to Preach., Pueblo, 1982.

Fuller, Reginald. Preaching the Lectionary. The Liturgical Press, 1984.

Gatta, Julia. The Nearness of God: Parish Ministry as Spiritual Practice.
Please read the chapter on preaching for the first session.

Hogan, Lucy Lind. Graceful Speech: An Invitation to Preaching. Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 2006.

Long, Thomas G. Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible. Fortress Press, 1988.

________. The Witness of Preaching. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1989.

Taylor, Barbara Brown. The Preaching Life. Cowley, 1993.