Memorandum Number 648
SUBJECT TO FINAL EDITING
Meaning, Application, and Effect of the Requirement in 456 that a Candidate for Readmission Must Serve at Least One Year as a Local Pastor.
Digest
The Kentucky Annual Conference, in session June 6, 1990 at Wilmore, Kentucky, petitioned the Judicial Council for a Declaratory Decision relative to the references in ¶ 456 to the one year of service as a local pastor specified for reinstatement of ordained ministers who have surrendered the ministerial office under the provisions of ¶ 452.2, .3, .4, and .5.
The Discipline is clear that when the ministerial office has been surrendered, "a period of at least one year service as a local pastor shall be required prior to readmission to conference membership." (¶ 456.) There is no disciplinary provision for waiving that requirement nor for meeting the requirement by an appointment beyond that Annual Conference to which he/she is seeking readmission.