If you are open to a new call, or actively seeking a new call, the pastor search office can help facilitate relationships between you and churches in the denomination.
The Ministerial Data Form (MDF) was revised in 2017. If you do not have the most recent MDF form, please request it below and submit a copy to our office.
MDFs submitted to our office are not searchable by anyone other than the Administrative Committee Pastor Search staff. All MDFs are kept confidential and only sent to a church search committee if the MDF is a close match to their Church Profile Form.
Request a Ministerial Data Form
Submit a Ministerial Data Form
Non-PCA Pastors
Thank you for your interest in pursuing the pastoral ministry in the Presbyterian Church in America. If applicants come from other denominations, the Presbytery shall examine them thoroughly in knowledge and views as required by The Book of Church Order 21-4 and require them to answer in the affirmative the questions put to candidates at their ordination.
Click the buttons above to request and submit a Ministerial Data From. Your MDF and resume will be put on file and be made available only to those churches who request it.
Seminary Students
Our office is now circulating the Ministerial Data Forms of seminary graduates who are members of a PCA church and seeking ordination in the PCA. Churches receiving your MDF will be notified if you have not yet been ordained.
Your seminary’s placement office will be a valuable resource to you as you transition from theology student to minister. These offices provide a variety of services. Be sure to contact them to find out what they offer as you begin to seek a call in ministry.
Seminary students should wait to submit their MDF to us until their final semester or quarter before graduation.
Since it is the responsibility of the local presbytery to ordain ministers, please contact Karen Cook at pastorsearch@pcanet.org, so she can put you in touch with the stated clerk and local pastors in your area. Please include your address when asking for this information.
How does ordination work in the PCA?
In the Presbyterian Church in America, the following basic procedures are outlined for men desiring to pursue ordination in the gospel ministry. According to our Book of Church Order (chapters 18, 19 & 21) a candidate for the ministry (if never previously ordained):
- Comes “under the care” of a local church session, (giving evidence and testimony of his personal relationship with God and God’s call on his life to the ministry).
- Is recommended to the regional presbytery and comes under the care of its Candidates and Credentials Committee.
- Is “licensed to preach” by the presbytery. (This involves an examination before presbytery on specified subjects and frequently takes place during the year of internship.)
- Receives a “call” to a specific ministry, i.e. assistant pastor, pastor, evangelist, etc.
- Is “ordained to the gospel ministry” by presbytery, following an examination on additional subjects. (Before ordination there must be a “call” to a specific ministry.)