This profile defines our expectations and goals for those called to credentialed ministry in the EC Church. We are interested in shaping each leader’s pursuit of God’s calling in the following ways. After credentialed individuals have completed their experiential and educational requirements for ministry, our expectation would be that they would be able to flourish within their God-given calling.

Leaders in the EC Church must understand their own identity in Christ, as well as their calling and gifts in relation to the body of believers so that the church is engaged for the work of ministry in the 21^st century. They must understand how to interpret their cultural setting and properly communicate kingdom values and instructions from God’s Word in order to help form and lead a healthy community of believers.

They must be shaped by a character that reflects God’s love in their lives through authenticity, patience, compassion, integrity, and spiritual fervor. They must participate in a disciplined life that reveals teachability, hospitality, forgiveness, and most of all, how to disciple others into these same Christ-like character traits.

They must be able to effectively communicate the faith—what it looks like and how it works—within and beyond their community of believers. They must demonstrate a disciple’s life through their own ways of living the faith—serving, directing, giving, listening, and laughing with others in order to cultivate and empower flourishing among the community of believers and impact the greater community.

They must see God at work around them, enabling others to grasp hold of God’s intentional love for them, and each person’s own individual potential for ministry. They must not neglect the opportunities and threats in their midst, but rather reveal how God’s kingdom intersects with the life of the church and their surrounding community.