# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1049
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

806 PARISH EDUCATION

Walther pointed to the following confession and pledge de.
manded of those who were to be ordained or installed: “J accept
the three Ecumenical Creeds, the Unaltered Augsburg Confessin
and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smaleald Artic] 2
the two Catechisms of Martin Luther, and the Formula of Concord
as the pure and unadulterated explanation and exposition of God’
Word and His will, ard I accept them as my own confession and
will execute my office until my death faithfully and diligently in
accordance with these Confessions” (Kirchen-Agenda fuer Evang...
Luth. Gemeinden, St. Louis, 1866, p. 240)

Walther then asserted that everything that had been

Said con.

attention; and if they do not return to sound doctrine, we can dis-
miss them.33

Lindemann’s interpretation of the call of the teacher repeated,
—In 1886 Ch. Luecke repeated Lindemann’s interpretation of the
call of the teacher, He quotes with approval the Statement of Linde-
mann that the office of the teacher is a public church’ office, that
he is an assistant of the pastor and a servant of the Word, and that
hé also occupies the Position of the parents,34 Luecke pointed
out that the teacher had received a call from the Christian con-
gregation to which God’ had given the right to call servants of the

383C, F. W. Walther, “Ueber einige Hauptpflichten, welche eine
Synode hat, wenn sie den Namen einer evangelisch-lutherischen Synode
mit Recht tragen will.” Proceedings, Iowa District, I (1879), pp. 31,32.
84 Ch. Luecke, “Wann darf ein evangelisch-lutherischer Schullehrer

“as Amt niederlegen?” Schulblatt, XXT (Drittes Quartal), pp. 104, 105

PARISH EDUCATION 307

i, the church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly
D4 He stated that the teacher is in an office that has been con~
called. n him by God through the congregation. This, he said,
ferret would find in black and white in his diploma of vocation.
the Change in the examination of teachers. —In 1887 a change was
in the examination of teachers. Originally the local pastor
made right to examine the teacher. At the same time the synod-
bad Constitution reserved for Synod the right to examine teachers
hefore granting them membership in Synod. In 1864 a Pruefungs-
mission,” or examining committee, was appointed for the Addi-
oe Geminary.® In 1887 the Synod declared that for the colloquium
*F non-synodically trained teachers the Examining Committee of
the Teachers’ Seminary was the only rightful examining committee.

The teacher’s call a part of the pastorate. — An article by
R. Wagemann in the Schulblatt in 1889 emphasized that the office
of the teacher was part of the pastorate. Wagemann asserted that
the teacher’s call was to a part of the pastorate and that it was
a divine call. He pointed out, too, that the teacher’s call, like that
of the pastor, was to be a lifelong call.3¢

Another view as to the dual nature of the teacher’s office. —
In 1893 Buenger developed an article in the Schulblatt concerning
the office of the teacher. He pointed out, as had Lindemann, that
the teacher was a representative of the parents in training the
children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He asserted, how-
ever, that the teacher’s office was not only a parental office; it was
more. While it was not an office alongside the ministry, nor an
office co-ordinate with the ministry, yet it branched off from the
ministry, and was an office assisting the pastor in the carrying out
of a portion of his office. Because of this, the teacher had a part
of the public ministry, was an assistant of the pastor, and was
a servant of the Word. Buenger pointed out that the establish-
ment of the teacher’s office in the congregation is a matter of Chris-
tian liberty. Buenger also asserted that the teacher’s office was
the most important among the auxiliary offices in the ministry.
This fact he established as follows:

1. The teachers are to be reckoned among those of whom 1 Tim.
5:17 says, “They who labor in the Word and doctrine”; therefore
they are among those who are worthy of double honor.

2. The high purpose of the office of the teacher is to bring
children to Christ.87

35 Proceedings, Mo. Synod, XX (1887), p. 44. Lehr .

88 R. Wagem: “Wie kann das Verhaeltnis eines ers zu seiner
Gemeinde in gottgefaelliger Weise geloest werden?” Schulblatt, XXIV
(March, 1889), p. 66. ;

87 A. J. Buenger, “Das Amt eines lutherischen Gemeindeschulleh-
ters.” Schulblatt, XXVOI (Sept., Oct., 1893), pp. 280—89.