# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1052
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

312 PARISH EDUCATION

Spitz points out again the dual role of the teacher. He ‘
Sunday school teachers also as assistant functionaries of the holy
ministry. He defines the term “assistant functionaries” as follows:
“Assistant functionaries of the holy ministry are not Ordained
They may be formally introduced to the congregation or even, ag
in the case of a duly called Christian day school teacher, solemnly
installed.” 47

The teacher’s call, a divine call.—In 1934 P. & Ky,
delivered an essay on the doctrine of the call at the Northern
Nebraska District Convention. He distinguished between the duties
of the public ministry and the duties of auxiliary offices b
that the duties of the public ministry are fixed in Scriptur
the duties of auxiliary offices are fixed by the call of the
gation. He pointed out that the Holy Scriptures Plainly fix the
duties of the one office established by the Word of God, but that
the call of the congregation specifies the scope of the d
auxiliary offices.48 _Kretzmann gives three reasons why th
the Christian day school teacher (male or female) is a divine cal]:
it embraces a function of the public ministry; it is issued by the
congregation; it is concerned with the teaching of God's Word.
Kretzmann points out that the qualifications for the auxiliary offices
of the ministry are the same as for the ministry proper. He States,
“It is most significant that the Lord, in speaking of the qualifications
of the auxiliary offices, stresses their equality with the minj ;
at least to this extent.” 49 Kretzmann maintained that in the case
of the teacher a temporary call may not be objectionable, because
the school is not as closely bound up with the life of the congre-
gation as is the office of the pastor. Nonetheless he lists the Office

uties of
€ Call of

of the teacher among those which are “least susceptible to the —

temporary arrangement and partake to a very high degree of the
nature of the pastoral office.” Kretzmann states that a call for
a limited length of time would not militate against the essence of

the divine call, but only against its probable most beneficent
exercise,50 ,

The teacher’s calling flows from the ministry. —In 1935 F. Pfo-
tenhauer wrote in the School Journal that the calling of a Christian
day school teacher was a glorious calling. It issues from the min-
istry which God himself instituted and is an auxiliary office to the
ministry. Indeed, it is the most important of the auxiliary offices,
because it concerns itself with the greatest treasure of the church,

47 Tbid., p. 44.

48 P. E. Kretzmann, The Doctrine of the Call, p.7.
49 Tbid., pp. 11, 12.

50 Ibid, p. 16.

PARISH EDUCATION / 818

Pfotenhauer pointed out that the Missouri Synod
the Word of Got position from the very founding of Synod,
bad cme as Synod had made the call of the teacher a per-
errs all and because teachers were not called for a definite
saan t time like the incumbents of other auxiliary offices, like
length 0 d trustees. Pfotenhauer thus emphasized the distinction
elders n the office of the teacher and other auxiliary offices, ke
pete end calls it “the most important of the auxiliary offices,” 51
ae teacher’s office inherent in the ministry.—In 1936 P. T.

in wrote as follows concerning the office of the teacher: This
mre of the ministry is safe, inasmuch as it is sanctioned by
a Holy ‘Spirit (Acts 6; 1 Tim. 3:8-13), and it is in the same cate-
the with all other auxiliaries of the church (deacons, elders, lay
feaders) However, it differs from them in the commission and
iecigament as the special teacher of the Lutheran school is defi-
itely called to ‘labor in the Word and do¢trine,’ and therefore,
his service, being inherent in the public ministry and comple-
mentary, not supplementary, to it is registered with those w )
are to ‘be counted worthy of double honor ac Tim. 5: 17). i
Buszin concedes that the teacher’s office is not of divine insti-
tution; it is not one that could not be separated from a congre-
gation without destroying an essential part of the congregation.
In ‘spite of this concession, Buszin asserts: “We must, neverthe-
less, ever firmly maintain the commanding fact, which is the salient
trait of this service, that the functions of that auxiliary office are
inherent in the public ministry of the Word. ... So wherever or
whenever this auxiliary office of a special teacher within the church
is abrogated, the functions of the office must again be assumed in
their entirety by the incumbent of the complete public ministry
within the congregation.” 53 Buszin also. emphasizes that the
teacher’s call is a divine call, that the teacher’s office is included
in the office of the ministry, and that the teacher is, therefore,
an assistant to the pastor, not, however, an assistant pastor.®4

The call of the pastor and the teacher on the same level. —

' In the Concordia Theological Monthly of February, 1936, H. Strasen

stated that the call of the pastor and of the teacher were on the
same level because the office of the Christian school teacher was
an auxiliary office of the holy ministry.°°

51 F. Pfotenhauer, “The Glory of the Teacher’s Calling,” Lutheran
School Journal, LXX (Feb., 1935), p. 241.

S2P.T. B “ Education,” Lutheran School Journal,
LXXI (March, 1936), p. 307.
53 Ibid., pp. 302, 303.

54 Ibid., p. 304. ;
55 ‘Di vom Beruf unter gegenwaertigen Ver-
haelinisccn Connordie Therein Monthly, VII (Feb., 1936), p. 94.