In principle what the Indiana and Kentucky resolutions do is to return the responsibility for endorsing a candidate’s moral fitness back to local congregations. Instead of having a general directive at the regional level that prohibits certain categories of people, and which must be enforced by committees on ministry, these resolutions recognize that the people best situated to understand a candidate’s fitness for ministry reside within the communities from which the candidate’s come.

Determining moral fitness, under these resolutions, belongs in the hands of the people who know the candidate best, while discerning theological and professional readiness lies in the hands of the body responsible for determining whether a candidate demonstrates the gifts necessary for the task of ministry—that is, the regional committee on ministry, which acts as the professional credentialing body.

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