# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1054
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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316 PARISH EDUCATION

where the Apostle describes gifts of the church ma

wher and makes 4 3.

tinction between the office of the apostle and the branch
c

auxiliary offices, the incumbents of which had only a Part of or

apostolate. In such an auxiliary office each one mi

those functions pertaining to the auxiliary office. ‘He em only
Cacon's office (Acts 6) as such an auxiliary office; also to ‘0 the

om. 12:8) and i i :
(om. ) | to ruling elders (1 Tim. 5:17) as such auxiliary
Mayer maintains that the office of the minis
all of the functions of the spiritual priesthood at i Wprtonn
it was necessary, auxiliary offices were branched off from th nae
of the ministry. These auxiliary offices were of two kinds: th
that had an essential part of the public ministry to discharg nas
example, teaching, prophesying, admonishing. These were” for
branch offices. 2. Such auxiliary offices that dealt with the outwa
wel are of the congregation. These Mayer calls “so-called auxiliary
Mayer defines a branch office as one which perf i
functions of the public ministry. As illustrations ot a brant anit
he mentions assistant pastors, teachers in the parochial sch +
candidates that teach Saturday school, and able persons who teen
in the Sunday school. Concerning these branch offices, he empha
sized the following: 1. The pastor is responsible for the whole flock,
The creation of a branch office does not relieve him of this re
sibility. 2. It is the duty of the congregation to see that all t the
duties and functions of the public ministry are performed.
Mayer uses the term “auxiliary office” for the offices that do

not flow out of the public ministry. As illustrations of such
auxiliary offices he mentions: professors, missionaries mission
boards, Presidents, and Visitors. These offices, he asserts, flow not
from the public ministry, but from the priesthood of all believers.
As auxiliary offices of the public ministry, they are not over the
ministry nor on the same level as the ministry. In this connection,
Mayer classifies the teacher of the school among the incumbents
of a branch office of the ministry and not of an auxiliary office.‘

Summary of the Historical Background of the Status of the Teacher

A careful reading of the preceding paragraphs dealing with
the status of the teacher reveals no particular historical develop-
ment. While there may have been significant departures from the
official view in practice, the followi points cover substantially

the official status of the teacher as reflected in these articles
and essays.

6 Tbid., pp. 35, 36.
$1 Ibid., pp. 36, 37.

2 nein

PARISH EDUCATION 817

The teacher, like the pastor, holds individual membership
ia’ synod. Like assistant pastors, professors, synodical officials, and

like, the teacher is an advisory member, not a voting member.
the 2. The teacher, like the pastor, is subject to the supervision
of Synod. ;

3,. Candidates for the office of pastor or teacher are subject to
conscientious examination.

4, The teacher is to be installed in his office in a public and
solemn service. ‘

5. The teacher’s office is a part of the one church office that
is divinely instituted, the public ministry, and partakes of its
essence. It may be termed a “branch office” or an “auxiliary office.”

6. The teacher is an assistant of the pastor, but not an as-
sistant pastor.

7. The teacher is under the official supervision of the pastor,
because the teacher occupies a branch office of the public ministry.

8. The teacher is not a layman; he belongs to the clergy.

9. One view held that the Lutheran teacher had a twofold
calling —a spiritual office and a civic or worldly office.

10. One view held that the teacher’s position is in part parental
and in part pastoral.

11. The office of the teacher is a public church office; the
teacher is an assistant of the pastor and a servant of the Word.

12. The call of the teacher by the Christian congregation is
a divine call; like the call of the pastor, the teacher’s call is
ordinarily a lifelong call.

13. The establishment of the teacher’s office in the congregation
is a matter of Christian liberty. The congregation creates a special
position and calls someone else besides the pastor to teach the
children God’s Word, to give them Christian training, and to
perform other duties.

14. The teacher’s office is a divine office, not in the sense that
God has established it in exactly this form, but because the office
is a part and a branch of the public ministry, which God did found
and ordain, and because God calls the incumbent through the
congregation.

IV. Specific Problems on the Status of the Teacher

On the basis of our doctrinal and historical study, we shall now
examine a number of specific problems related to the status of
the teacher. ,

1. What is a divine call?

The term “divine call” is nowhere found in Scripture. It is
simply an ecclesiastical term which in our Synod refers to