How to Become a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor

The Seventh Day Adventist Church is a Protestant denomination founded in the U.S. in the 19th century. Unlike most Christians, the Sabbath day for Seventh Day Adventist's is Saturday. The church is considered to be among the fastest growing in the U.S.,and a robust missionary structure has led to an estimated 14.3 million membership worldwide in 205 countries.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Join the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Candidates for membership must undergo baptism by water immersion following a period of study to learn fundamental beliefs and practices of the church.
2. Be a deacon or deaconess. As a lay person you can become involved in a particular ministry of the church such as visiting the sick or teaching a Sabbath School class.
3. Attend an Adventist college. There are a number of four-year colleges in the U.S. established by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. A person who wants to be a pastor would study religion as an undergraduate.
4. Become a church elder. An interest in evangelism is key in becoming a local church elder. Elders are ordained in a church ceremony.
5. Receive a master of divinity degree. Andrews University in Michigan is the primary theological institution for candidates who will become ordained ministers of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. This period of study lasts two or three years.
6. Be a pastoral intern. Upon graduation from seminary, a pastoral intern is hired by a local conference and given a ministerial license. Pastoral interns work under close supervision of a ordained pastor for a year or more, after which the intern may be given the responsibility of pastoring at a smaller church.
7. Become a pastor. Adventists believe that pastors are divinely called to ministry and they are ordained by the church for their ministry. The local conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church selects and appoints a pastor to the ministry of a church. Following ordination, a minister may serve at any Seventh Day Adventist Church anywhere in the world

Tips & Warnings

• Women may be ordained to serve as pastors in the local Seventh Day Adventist Church, but at this time are not eligible to be ordained to serve in the worldwide church. If a woman is an ordained local elder, and has been hired as a ministerial intern and issued a ministerial license she has the rights and privileges of an ordained minister.
• Though there is no distinction between a pastor and a minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, only the term "pastor" is used as a title.