The Church Deployment Office

1. The Church Deployment Office Developing and Maintaining Your Personal Profile

2. What is the CDO? • The Church Deployment Office (CDO) is an office of the MinistryDevelopment Cluster of the ECUSA. • The CDO serves both clergy and lay professionals by maintaining a database of Personal Profiles. • The CDO serves Dioceses and congregations by creating Position Profiles and searching the database of Personal Profiles for potential matches. • The materials produced by the CDO for searches - both the Personal Profile and the Position Profile - are the standards used by Bishops, deployment officers and congregations across the country.

3. Why file a Personal Profile? • Your profile is a credal statement of what you believe about yourself as a child of God whom God has called and equipped for ministry. • A profile is used to document what ministries you have held in the church as well as to look forward to new ministries and challenges. • Completing and maintaining a profile is good stewardship of the gifts and talents given to you by God for the service of the Church.

4. Major sections of the Personal Profile I. Personal information II. Personal Ministry Statement III. Ministry specialties, skills and experiences IV. Leadership description

5. Contact information Ordination status Personal and family information Work history Educational history Compensation and benefits requirements Continuing education and study subjects References Personal ministry statement Ministry specialties Skills and experiences Leadership description The parts of the Personal Profile

6. Section I Personal Information

7. Personal Information • Indicate preferred address to receive mail. • Provide as many contact options as possible (i.e. phone, fax, email, cell phone). • List education and work histories in descending order, with most recent experiences first. • Don’t forget to list your secular business, CPE and field education experiences. • Use Diocesan guidelines (if any) to establish beginning compensation requirements.

8. Personal Information • Be honest about availability and preferences: only use the “open to consider new position” code if you have been released to do so by your Bishop. • List as many as three preferences. Along with your previous experience, these can be used to help filter your name into a search. • Use your own Diocesan Bishop as a reference. • Choose from among the clergy and laity with whom you have served to be your references.

9. Section II Personal Ministry Statement

10. Be warm and human. Avoid jargon and buzz words. Use the word “I”. Describe who you are honestly instead of what you think others want to hear. Avoid red flags. Write a paragraph about yourself and your ministry, then edit to 254 characters. Feel free to be creative within the available space. Personal Ministry StatementGuidelines

11. Section III Ministry Specialties, Skills and Experiences

12. Keep experiences and skills current, as these are the primary “searchable” items on your profile. Think of the personal profile as a tool of the Holy Spirit: by keeping your profile up to date, you remain open to the movement of the Spirit in your ministry & vocation. Ministry Specialties and Experience General Guidelines • The database rewards specificity, so be as detailed as possible using the available codes. The search function of the database looks for both general and specific skills. • Choose experiences and skills by what you have done and what you wish to do in your future ministry.

13. List experiences and skills from both church and secular employment. Match this list with skills listed in the CDO manual. Choose up to 42 codes to list on your profile. Group similar items from many ministry specialties into general categories. Identify 6 broad ministry categories using the list that best describe your skills and experience. List miscellaneous skills. Rank your ministry specialties and skills in order of importance. Look for connections to your ministry statement. Developing a list of your Ministry Specialties and Experiences

14. Section IV Leadership Description

15. Guidelines for developing yourLeadership Description • Be honest about your feelings and opinions. • Use this section to help others get a better understanding of your personality. • Answer all of the questions. • Be particularly aware of the “Regarding Theological Views” section: some churches use question 22 as a “litmus test”.

16. Conclusion General Guidelines

17. Questions to ask yourself as you develop your Personal Profile • What kind of ministry is God calling me to now? How is this different from the ministries I have served in the past? • What skills and experiences do I have to offer the Church, and how do they relate to my call? • What education and study can I show to back up my skills and the ministry I want to offer? • What compensation do I need to support myself in order to do the ministry to which I feel called?

18. Filing and updating your profile online • Fill out and fax the form provided to the CDO to receive a user name and password. • Log on and change your user name and password. • Download the Ministry Skill/Experience Manual from “Manuals and Forms” section. • Subscribe to the Positions Open Bulletin. • Update regularly to remain current.

19. How and when to update • Update after any major change, especially as you change your ordination status and work history. • Update at least every other year to keep your profile listed as active in the database. • Consider updating your CDO Personal Profile as part of your annual ministry review.

20. A prayer before beginning Almighty and everliving God, you have called me to minister in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Fill me now, I pray, with such a measure of your Holy Spirit that I may faithfully offer to your Church the gifts you have given to me for this ministry. Save me alike from false pride and false modesty that your name alone may be glorified by all people. This I ask for the sake of the same Jesus Christ, your Son and our Saviour. Amen.