ministries

BoM Policies

UNY BoM Policies Booklet 2016
Behavorial and Healthy Guidelines
Vesting Guidelines

Behavorial and Health Guidelines

These are the denominational guidelines UNYBOOM refers to as the standards for clergy whenever questions of the following nature arise:

Click here to download the GBHEM Behavorial Health Guidelines.

Alcohol Abuse/Dependence (p. 3)
Chemical Abuse/Dependence (p. 4)
Divorce or Infidelity (p. 5)
Family Violence (p. 6)
Legal (General) (p. 7)
Legal (Sex-Related Crimes) (p. 8)
Mental Illness (p. 9)
Personal Finances (p. 10)
Physical Health (p. 11)
Pornography (p. 12)
Sexual Misconduct (p. 13) 

Guidelines for Vesting for Worship in the Upper New York Annual Conference

By virtue of our baptism, each of us is called by God to a particular form of ministry. Over the centuries, the Church has developed traditions of dress for worship that hold up and celebrate the many forms of Christian ministry. Vestments signify our calling and order, not our rank or status. In that spirit of honoring and celebrating various forms of ministry, the Upper New York Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry offers a guideline for the wearing of vestments. Based on information from the General Boards and the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church let these recommendations be our guidelines for vesting:

Laity: Because the ministry of the laity is in the society in which we live, they vest for worship in the contemporary dress of society.

Certified Lay Ministers & Local Hires: Those who have been hired to serve in the local church but have no license are lay persons and should dress for worship as a lay person.

Lay persons consecrated to a specific ministry may wear the symbols of their consecrated office such as Deaconess scarves, chaplain pins, symbols of diaconal ministry, etc.

Provisional Members, Associate Members and Licensed Local Pastors may choose to vest in an alb or a preaching robe to designate their calling to lead in the ministry of a local congregation.

The Stole is uniquely a symbol of ordination and should be worn only by those ordained individuals as follows:

Deacon: Ordained deacons vest in the alb or robe with a stole placed diagonally across the body lying on the left shoulder and joined under the right arm to indicate their ordination to the ministry of Service and Word.

Elder: Ordained Elders vest in an alb or robe with a stole yoked behind the neck to indicate their ordination to Word, Service, Sacrament, and Order.

Bishop: Bishops are elders who have been consecrated to a special ministry of supervision. The Crosier, (shepherd’s staff), is added to the vestments of the elder and indicates this ministry of supervision.