E&R Church. Committee on Constitution.

The Committee on Life Enlistment was authorized by the General Council in 1944 with members appointed by the President of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, Dr. Louis Goebel. The purpose of the committee was to encourage young people to "choose Christian service as their life work". This could include ministry, mission fields, social service, educational ministries, parish visitation, chaplaincy, ecumenical work (Acts and Proceedings of the General Synod, 1944, 26). The committee's report to the General Synod of 1944 stated its purpose was "to analyze the problem involved in the serious shortage of ministers and other professional leaders in the church, to make recommendations as to the most effective methods of enlisting men and women for the work of the church, and to suggest a systematic procedure for the direction and training of these people" (322). The committee fulfilled its purpose through the creation of several programs: contacting personally young people with the help of the regional synods and inviting them to consider some form of ministry, initiating psychological testing for prospective ministry candidates, maintaining contact and providing support to students in college and seminary, sponsoring conferences on college campuses for young people, preparation of manual to guide people through the process toward ordination, and publication of appropriate materials. The committee was dissolved in 1953 when its functions were subsumed by the Commission on Church and Ministry which was authorized by the General Synod of 1953 (367).