# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1057
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

322 PARISH EDUCATION

Unfortunately, the term supervision has been given
tarian connotation that is altogether unnecessary. Whi] ne
may be authoritarian, it can also be democratic: ind
supervision is always democratic. ,

Experience has indicated that in j
any project involy;
than one person there must be leadership to achieve ae ore

goal and purpose. The school does not belong to the teacher to
lo

uthorj_

congregation, in Christian liberty, simply sets certain pene the
which seek to safeguard the effective functioning of the. ere
In multiple-room schools, congregations ordinarily asgj soo
visory responsibilities also to the principal of the sch, Le
extent and nature of the supervision exercised by the scorn e®
principal will depend on the training and maturity of the tranny oT
teacher, on the individual teacher’s capacity for accepting vidual
sibility, and on the degree of success the teacher has j; . Pas
the work of the classroom. = “onducting
That there can be a brotherly relation be
teachers in a congregation is demonstrated by most oe Sur nt

V. Memorial on the Status of the Lutheran Teacher

' WHEREAs, (1) The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod has
rom the time of its organization in 1847 held that the office of
a parochial school teacher is part of the public ministry; and
' WHEREAS, (2) This body maintains special professional schools
or the training of parochial school teachers; and
Wuereas, (3) This body has the procedure of approving the
graduates of the teachers’ colleges as ministers of the Church and
of assigning the first call to the graduates through the College of
Presidents (Handbook, 1949, 4.09); and
Whereas, (4) This body urges congregations to extend per-
manent calls to teachers eligible for calls (Handbook, By-Laws,
7.05), thus establishing the Position as a regular vocation within the
ministry of the Word, meriting a lifetime call; and

PARISH EDUCATION 828

ipeas, (5) The Diploma of Vocation authorized by this
ecifies that the teacher is “elected to the sacied office of
t of the Word”; specifies that his office is “part of the public
at this place”; authorizes and obligates the teacher “to
ct and train the children in his charge diligently and faith-
in the Word of God . . . to accord them also a Christian edu-
<fen and training in the common school branches . . . to work
gider the supervision of the pastor and the board of education;
and; by the grace of God, to do everything possible within the
sphere of his calling toward the promotion of the scheol and for
the general advancement of the kingdom of Christ, both locally
and ‘generally”; and obligates the congregation “to réceive our
teacher as a servant of the Word”; and
WaereEss, (6) The order for the installation of a teacher

authorized by this body and included in the Lutheran Agenda has
the significant paragraph: “Whereas, then, by divine guidance,
thou hast recognized in this call the voice of God and art about
to enter upon the duties of thine important office, for the faithful
performance whereof thou wilt be held accountable to God .. .”; and

Wuereas, (7) This body declares (Handbook, 4.23): “Teachers
at Lutheran elementary and secondary schools who have been duly
elected and called by a congregation or congregations for full-time
service in the Church shall, after having made application for mem-
bership in Synod, be installed in accordance with accépted Lu-
theran forms for that purpose and shall be solemnly pledged to
the Scriptures as the inspired. and inerrant Word of God and to the
Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church as a true exposition of
the Scriptures”; and

Wuereas, (8) The constitutions of the several congregations
of this body do specifically state regarding their pastors and _teach-
ers that the only valid reasons for their removal from office are
“persistent adherence to false doctrine, a scandalous life, or willful
neglect of official duties”; and

Wuereas, (9) This body recognizes all regularly called and
installed parochial school teachers as “advisory members of Synod”
(Handbook, Constitution, Article V. B. 5) and subjects them to the
same supervision and disciplinary measures ‘as pastors and extends
to them the same protection as to pastors (Handbook, Constitution,
Article III, 7.5); therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod define
the status of the parochial school teacher as follows:

1. The regularly called parochial school teacher, who has been
duly elected and called for full-time service in the church to per-
form specific functions of. the public ministry, is a “minister of