Journey Phase 3 · Declared Candidate

Psychological Assessment for UMC Candidacy, Rio Texas Conference

What the psychological assessment involves, the time frame, and who to contact.

Each candidate in the Rio Texas Conference must have a psychological assessment by Dr. Kevin or Dr. Pat Pernicano, each of whom are UMC certified Ministerial Assessment Specialists (MAS).

The psychological assessment

The candidate will receive a summary of the results of the complete psychological assessment. If a candidate’s exam includes concerns or recommendations, those will be conveyed to the Rio Texas Conference and to the district by way of the Psychological Report. Psychological assessment is done early in the process to help candidates discern and develop their gifts for ministry.

TIME FRAME

  1. Submit your Personal Data Inventory and references the Rio Texas Conference prior to scheduling testing.
  2. Please schedule your testing 2 months before you want the report to be submitted. This will allow time to schedule the interview and time to get the written results. Your interview will take about 90 minutes.
  3. After the interview, the Psychologist has a month from the interview date to complete and submit the report to the Rio Texas Conference. You will get a summary of your exam with any noted recommendations.
  4. You may be asked to complete a new Psychological Assessment after four (4) years have passed, based on UMC time requirements.

WHY A PSYCHOLOGICAL?

  1. The purpose of the psychological assessment is to ensure that candidates present minimal risk to the church. Risk may include UMC established behavioral risks or mental health/personality issues that would make ministry difficult for the individual.

    Ministry is stressful. Within the church, we are called to "Do no harm." We want to make sure that those in ordained or licensed ministry do no harm to our churches or those in the churches, AND that they will not BE HARMED themselves by participating in ministry. We want to prevent people from becoming United Methodist pastors who, because of their psychological make-up, might cause harm to parishioners OR (and this is not often recognized) for whom ministry might be harmful.

    The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) has prepared "Behavioral Health Guidelines for Boards of Ministry." (www.gbhem.org). There are 13 categories, along with minimum requirements, indicators of concern, and disqualifiers:

    1. Alcohol Abuse/Dependence
    2. Chemical Abuse/Dependence
    3. Compulsive Gambling
    4. Divorce or infidelity
    5. Family Violence
    6. Interpersonal Relationship Style
    7. Legal (General)
    8. Legal (Sex-related crimes)
    9. Mental Illness
    10. Personal Finances
    11. Physical Health
    12. Pornography
    13. Sexual Misconduct

    If you do not meet the minimum requirements, or have an indicator of concern or disqualifier, it will impact your progress in the candidacy process. EVERY CANDIDATE SHOULD HAVE A COPY AND READ IT. Disclose any issues to your mentor, who can help you decide how to proceed.

  2. The psychological helps ensure that the candidate is a “good fit” to ministry, whether LLP, Deacon or Ordained Elder. Each has educational requirements that can be quite challenging, and we seek to understand the individual’s call to vocational ministry as compared to servant or lay ministry.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

  1. Candidates take the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), a longer standardized measure of mental health issues, and the NEO-PI, a shorter measure of normal personality tendencies. It is important to be open and non-defensive, as the tests have validity measures of excessive defensiveness (denial of problems). Normal people tend to report some degree of worry, stress, and emotional concerns.
  2. The interview is done on Zoom and lasts about 1.5 hours. The results of your testing will be shared with you during the interview. The interview focuses on such things as communication, openness/flexibility, capacity for empathy, spiritual call, readiness to serve, family of origin history, good “fit” to a church role, relationship history, and dealing with conflict. The same questions are asked of all candidates, and we encourage you to be open and elaborate when asked to do so.
  3. The psychological report will identify strengths, growth areas, and/or blind spots you might have, and the psychologist will provide feedback, suggestions, or recommendations to guide you. In discussing your call, you may be asked about how you discerned your call to ministry and how you plan to obtain the necessary education and training. For example, someone seeking ordination as an elder must be willing and able to move at the discretion of the Bishop. Someone wanting to self-select a place of employment might be better suited to a deacon role. Lastly, some persons can serve the church in lay roles and do not need formal licensure to do so. You might also consider whether you intend to serve within the UMC or some other church denomination.

DETAILS OF THE PROCESS

  1. You will submit your Personal Data Inventory (PDI) and References to the Rio Texas Conference Office. THIS IS OFTEN WHAT DELAYS THE PROCESS. You must have 3 references (plus your own), including a reference from a pastor who is familiar with you. Please do not use friends or family members as references
  2. Pernicano’s will order your testing (proctored by district or Rio Texas Conference) once Rio Texas Conference confirms submission of all references and PDI. No refunds will be made for the Psychological Assessment Fee once the testing has been ordered.
  3. After you schedule and complete the testing, the psychologist will contact you for an appointment for your personal interview. At that interview, your testing results will be shared. One of the psychologists will schedule your interview and complete it by Zoom on a designated Friday afternoon or Saturday. It is possible to ask for a Sunday afternoon, and the psychologist will accommodate as possible.

RESULTS

  1. The client in the psychological assessment process is the Rio Texas Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry (BOM), NOT the candidate. The report is sent to the Rio Texas Conference office within 30 days of the interview, and Rio Texas Conference shares a summary with the candidate.
  2. Generally, a candidate is determined to be fully ready, ready with recommendations, or not ready at this time. These results are based on the complete psychological assessment. The Board has the final determination, because you might have an acceptable psychological but not be a good fit for the church based on ministerial or UMC standards.

We hope this process will be helpful to you in discerning your call to the UMC. If you have questions, please contact:

Dr. Kevin Pernicano kpshrink@gmail.com 210-278-4584 (text or voice mail)

Dr. Pat Pernicano ppshrink@gmail.com 502-640-0697 (text)