An Interfaith Understanding of Ordination
Oriented toward compassionate service across traditions and settings
A Community-Rooted Ordination Process
The pathway to ordination is intentional and careful. Like other recognized religious bodies, the ChI Interfaith Community ensures that those seeking ordination are well-prepared spiritually, ethically, psychologically, and practically so that they may be evaluated before being entrusted with the responsibilities of clergy.
Our ordained community includes people rooted in many faith traditions, as well as those who do not claim a single tradition yet share a conviction that spiritual life is essential for our world today. Ordination is conferred through the lineage and collective discernment of previously ordained clergy, on behalf of the ChI Interfaith Community.
Those ordained demonstrate:
- A lived sense of vocation or call to ministry
- Commitment to ongoing spiritual and personal formation
- Understanding of the beliefs and practices of diverse religious and wisdom traditions
- Readiness for ministry, expressed through embodied core competencies of care, ethics, and leadership
What ordination makes possible
Ordained Interfaith Ministers hold the same legal standing as clergy in other faith traditions. They may officiate weddings, memorials, blessings, and other ceremonies, and offer pastoral and spiritual care in a wide range of settings. Maintaining Clergy in Good Standing with the ChI Interfaith Community also fulfills a professional requirement for many forms of board-certified chaplaincy. Ordination also carries responsibility. ChI clergy are accountable to the vows they take, to shared ethical standards, and to the people and communities they serve. Ordained ministers commit to the Common Code of Ethics for Chaplains, Pastoral Counselors, Pastoral Educators, and Students, and represent the values of the ChI Interfaith Community in their public and professional lives. The ChI Interfaith Community’s faith group endorsement is recognized by the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. (BCCI), and employers. In return, ordained ministers are held within a living community of peers. This community offers spiritual companionship, collegial support, shared wisdom, and ongoing opportunities for growth and accountability.
Who this path is for
Ordination through ChI is available to those who have completed the requirements of the Interfaith Chaplaincy Certificate Program and who demonstrate readiness for ordained ministry. An application process occurs during a student’s coursework with a rigorous evaluation process before approval for ordination is given. We ordain people who are committed both to service in the world and to sustained inner work, people willing to continue learning, listening, and being shaped by what they encounter.
Discerning the call
The movement toward ordination often begins quietly. A sense of call may arise in prayer or meditation, in moments of caregiving, in nature, in crisis, or in witnessing another’s compassionate presence. Some name this as God; others experience it as a deep inner knowing, a moral imperative, or a persistent invitation to serve with care. There is no single way a call reveals itself. What matters is attentiveness to what continues to ask for your yes. Our seminary and community are here to support discernment, not to rush it. Students on the ordination path are encouraged to bring their whole selves their creativity, questions, histories, and hopes into their formation. Over time, each person develops a ministerial style that is authentic, responsive, and grounded.
The life of an Interfaith Minister
Ordained Interfaith Ministers commit to a life of learning, practice, and presence. They serve people across traditions—and those who claim none—with compassion rather than judgment, curiosity rather than certainty. Interfaith ministry holds diversity as a source of wisdom. It invites openness to many names for the Sacred, attentiveness to ethical self-care, and responsibility to act with integrity. Interfaith Ministers seek to empower without overpowering, recognizing the Holy in hospitals and prisons, in nature and neighborhoods, in joy and in suffering. Guided by continued self exploration, gratitude, and sustained spiritual practice, Interfaith Ministers work toward healing, justice, and peace—within themselves and in the wider world.
Where Interfaith Ministers serve
ChI’s ordained clergy serve in both traditional and emerging contexts, including:
- Hospitals, hospice, and healthcare settings
- Prisons and reentry programs
- Community and nonprofit organizations
- Educational and corporate environments
- Recovery spaces, animal chaplaincy, and eco-chaplaincy
- Ceremonial and ritual leadership for life transitions
Across these settings, Interfaith Ministers help people find meaning amid change, accompany them through crisis and loss, and honor the full diversity of human spiritual experience. This path does not require certainty, rather only a willingness to listen for what is asking to be lived through you, and a readiness to serve with humility, courage, and care.
Core competencies for ministerial formation
For those who discern a call to ordination, the ChI Interfaith Community offers a set of Core Competencies for Ministry that gently guide formation, readiness, and ongoing growth. These competencies are not a checklist to rush through, but a living framework that supports each person’s spiritual, ethical, and vocational development over time.
The competencies invite growth across the following interconnected areas:
- Formative, missional, and critical theology
- Spiritual psychology
- Personal transformation and self-care
- Communication skills and public presence
- Leadership and ministerial demeanor
- Arts for Awakening
- Spiritual care
- Vocational formation
Ordination requirements & discernment process
Completion of the Interfaith Chaplaincy Certificate Program fulfills the academic requirements for ordination and provides a strong foundation for vocational formation. Alongside this academic work, those pursuing ordination engage in a parallel, community-based discernment process facilitated by the ChI Interfaith Community. This process is designed to support clarity of call, readiness for leadership, and integration of learning into lived ministry.
Additional formation for candidates for Ordination
Those hoping to be ordained complete several additional elements that deepen preparation and integration:
Clinical Pastoral Care (CPE) or practicum
Candidates for ordination complete one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (or an approved 400-hour practicum), allowing for sustained engagement with real-world ministry and spiritual care.
Vocational assessment
A collaborative and reflective process that supports insight into one’s vocational calling, psychological health, and readiness for interfaith ministry or chaplaincy. This psychological evaluation helps students identify strengths, growing edges, and areas for continued formation within a supportive context.
Core competencies self-assessment
Students complete a written process of deep reflection on their development across the core competencies. A committee of the ChI Interfaith Community then meets with the student to reflect together, evaluate readiness, or identify any remaining steps toward ordination.
Ordination cohort
Ordinands gather in a cohort in the months leading up to the ceremony to offer mutual support, clarify individual calls to ministry, explore the meaning of ordination, and prepare collaboratively for the service itself.
Ordination retreat
Held during the week of ordination, this retreat offers sacred space for prayer, reflection, and integration as candidates prepare internally and communally to cross the threshold into ordained ministry. Time is also devoted to practical preparation and rehearsal.
Certificates, titles & standing
The ChI Interfaith Community bestows Interfaith Ordination and Clergy in Good Standing status. Ordained clergy may use titles such as:
- Reverend
- Chaplain
- Interfaith Minister
Clergy in Good Standing reflects an ongoing commitment to personal well-being, spiritual and psychological growth, ethical conduct, professional development, and participation in sustaining the ordaining community. This status is required for board certification as a professional chaplain and may be required by employers. Clergy in Good Standing is renewed annually through a reflective process that supports accountability, integrity, and continued formation.