# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S256 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 256 HIGHER EDUCATION The Board for Higher Education has continued to include the funds needed for more adequate salary in- creases in its financial requests to the Synod for the coming years. However, the 1969 budget has already been cut to the extent that no significant salary increases are possible at this time. The Board for Higher Education recommends that the Synod reiterate and strengthen the statements indicating its desire to have faculty salaries increased and to pro- vide the funds needed for this purpose. 5. Strengthen Existing Successful Recruitment Pro- grams and Explore and Evaluate New Procedures While the church has every reason to be grateful for both the quantity and quality of students who continue to enroll in the ministerial programs at the colleges and seminaries, the need for more workers remains an area which deserves major attention by all members of the Synod. Pastoral student enrollment is still the most critical area of need as the number of vacant parishes remained above 400 during this biennium and as the Lord continued to open new opportunities for the Synod to minister to the whole society and the whole world. Although more teachers were available for placement in 1969 than in any preceding year, the supply still did not meet the total demand. Teacher graduates placed this year were those students who entered as freshmen in 1965. As can be noted in Table B, the entering class in teacher education in that year was significantly larger than in any year since then. As a result, fewer teachers will be available for placement during each of the next 3 years than were placed in 1969. While it is true that the number of requests for classroom teachers has not in- creased significantly in recent years, the demand for teacher college graduates as directors of Christian educa- tion and in other non-day-school roles has been growing steadily. The competition for qualified college students con- tinues to be severe. However, evidence indicates that the interest of young people in careers of service has grown even stronger during the past biennium. One of the major tasks facing all recruiters in the church is to help young women and men see the various ministries as the exciting and relevant careers of service which they can be. TABLE B Pastoral and Teacher Education Enrollments at the College Level, 1961 —68 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 Total Pastoral ____ 1,033 1,104 1,146 1,198 1,275 1,279 1,236 1,110 Total Male Teacher — 958 1,067 1,123 1,234 1,428 1,611 1,613 1,678 Total Female Teacher 1,697 1,803 1,970 2,253 2,517 2,632 2,694 2,594 Freshman Pastoral. ss 337) 332) 382) 413) 4650391) 367) 317 Freshman Male Teacher __________ 275. 293) 292) «3384. ss 458 «= 4442s 3341 338 Freshman Female Teacher___.. ———iS400s554 628) 814. 892) 8803.-—S 760)=—s 729 On the basis of its studies and findings concerning needs and programs in recruitment, the Board for Higher Education plans to give special emphasis during the years immediately ahead to four aspects of its work with those responsible for recruitment at the colleges and in the Districts of the church. The board welcomes this opportunity to alert the Synod directly through this report to the needs in these four areas. a. Vocational Concern. In its concern for the whole man, the church must give attention to the vocational decisions of its youth. Young people are looking for guidance as they face the task of selecting a career from among the exploding number of possibilities open to them. Many college students say that they did not con- sider the ministry as a possible vocation because they were never confronted by anyone who suggested it to them as an option. Pastors and teachers who have conducted personal vocational interviews with every young person in their parishes are enthusiastic about the results and also the opportunity which this procedure has given them to present the challenges of the ministries. Every congre- gation should consider inaugurating such a program. Public high school counselors have become increas- ingly more important as resource people for students making career decisions. Pastors and other church offi- cials need to take the lead in meeting with these coun- selors and in providing materials for them so that they will be more able and more likely to present the min- istries as vocational options to students. District Efforts Districts and other groups have held general voca- tional workshops and retreats. Leaders in these pro- grams have pointed out that in these efforts the minis- tries can be presented in the context of the total theology of vocation. “Vocational concern,” of course, also includes the need to give special attention to those young people who are good prospects or who have expressed an interest in one of the ministries. At least one District has conducted a retreat specifically for prospective pastoral students. A plan for follow-up work and evalua- tion has been built into the program. Congregations which have organized a Vineyard Club, or some similar group, have reported successes in recruitment through the efforts. The claim of many young people, however, is that almost nothing is being done in their home churches or Districts to provide help in vocational decision-making or to present the challenges and opportunities for ser- vice through the ministries. These important jobs to be done with our young people must somehow be brought to the foreground among all of the other pressures and programs of the church. The Board for Higher Educa- tion plans to give special emphasis to this need during the coming biennium. b. Community Lutheran High Schools. As the number of students enrolled in synodical high schools has decreased, the number of graduates of community