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Discernment and Ordination

Discernment is the process of determining God's calling in your life. This can apply when you are deciding whether to accept a promotion, or to enter into marriage, or to move to a new city. Of course, these decisions can be made on purely practical bases, but as Christians we know that "We do not live to ourselves..." (Romans 14:7). In Christian discernment, we ask for God to guide us so that we can live into a life and ministry that God wills for us. Defined more narrowly, discernment also describes the specific question of entering into holy orders.

Discernment Process Handbook and Forms

Download the Discernment Process Handbook

Forms that accompany the handbook:

  • Spiritual Autobiography
  • General Discernment Report
  • Discernment Report Concerning Holy Orders
  • Priest-in-Charge Report

Additional information:

  • Qualities we seek in a Deacon
  • Qualities we seek in a Priest
  • A Theology of Ministry

General Discernment Resources:
*These links are being updated. Thank you for your patience.

  • Important Ministry Links: online resources to help you consider entering the ministry.
  • Spiritual Discernment: find publications to assist in understanding the spiritual journey and process of discernment.
  • Ministry of the Baptized Resources: get publication titles and downloads to assist in preparing for the Ministry of the Baptized.
  • The call to become a deacon: connect to online publications and get references of other titles to assist in understanding the Diaconate.
  • The call to become a priest: a collection of publications for understanding the Priesthood

Commission on Ministry

The Commission on Ministry, as outlined in National Church canons, is charged with assisting the Bishop “in determining present and future needs for ministry in the diocese”, “in enlisting and selecting persons for Holy Orders”, and making recommendations to the bishop.

The charge to the Commission includes guiding and examining postulants and candidates, assisting with ministry enrichment for deacons and priests, and helping to explore and implement ways in which the diocese may live out its baptismal ministries.

COM members

  • The Ven. Rebecca Barger (2022)
    St. Francis Episcopal Church, Eureka
  • The Rev. Barbi Click (2021)
    Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis
  • The Rev. Lu-Anne Conner (2021)
    Transfiguration Episcopal Church, Lake St. Louis
  • Elizabeth Hines (2022)
    Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, University City
  • The Rev. Annette Joseph (2024)
    Christ Episcopal Church, Cape Girardeau
    and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Sikeston
  • Chris Kurth (2021)
    Grace Episcopal Church, Kirkwood
  • The Rev. Martie Metzler (2020)
    Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Webster Groves
  • Bren O'Connor (2024)
    Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis
  • DeWayne Trainer (2022)
    St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Ladue
  • The Rev. Joseph Wallace-Williams (2024)
    St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Ladue


Diocesan Board of Examining Chaplains (DBEC)

The Diocesan Board of Examining Chaplains is a committee appointed by the bishop to work with postulants to the priesthood to develop formation plans. These plans are individualized to the academic and spiritual needs of the postulant, so they can vary widely. DBEC is tasked with advising the Bishop, the Commission on Ministry and the Standing Committee that the postulant has made sufficient progress in his or her training to proceed on to candidacy and finally to ordination.



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For more info, contact:

The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice
Canon for Evangelism & Discipleship Development
314-231-1220, ext. 1383 

    The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice

    Canon for Evangelism & Discipleship Development
    314-231-1220, ext. 1383 |

    The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice is an Episcopal priest who serves as the Canon for Evangelism & Discipleship Development for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. She is a graduate of Yale Divinity School where she won the Yale University Charles S. Mersick Prize for Public Address and Preaching and the Yale University E. William Muehl Award for Excellence in Preaching. She has taught undergraduate courses at the University of Indianapolis and has contributed to Lectionary Homiletics, the Young Clergy Women’s Project journal Fidelia’s Sisters, and other publications. She has served as a researcher and community ministry grant consultant for the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, is currently a staff writer for the Episcopal Digital Network’s Sermons That Work, and is an active participant in the activist clergy community for racial and economic justice in St. Louis. A communicator of the gospel at heart, she writes and teaches at Episcopal, United Methodist, and ELCA churches on a wide variety of topics including rethinking evangelism, stewardship, leadership, women’s theology of the body, mysticism, and spiritual development. When she’s not thinking about theology, particularly the intersection of evangelism and justice work (which is all the time, seriously), you’ll find her swing dancing. Find more of her work at her website Roof Crashers & Hem Grabbers (www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com).

    Her ministries include:

    1. Evangelism
    2. Discipleship Development
    3. Children & Youth
    4. Experimental Ministries/Missional Communities
    5. Fresh Start
    6. Ordination Process
    7. Ordination Redesign
    8. Re-Imagining Task Force
    9. Requiem or Renaissance
    Ministries Christian Formation and Discernment Ministries Discernment and Ordination Episcopal School for Ministry Online Learning Children, Youth & Young Adult Ministries


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