# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S261
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

VII.
OPINIONS
FAQS ON
OF TASK
COMMISSION
FORCE ON
REPORT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
MATTERS

261
261

nate route or master of divinity; apply to one of the seminaries for the regular SMP program; or apply to the Colloquy
Committee for admission to the SMP roster by colloquy in
the manner described in the report. It is assumed that most
of the men licensed for Word and Sacrament ministry and
functioning as de facto pastors would take this third option
of a special colloquy process to the SMP roster. If a man so
licensed does not take one of these options, his license will
lapse as of July 1, 2018. It will be the responsibility of the
district president to see to it that the requirements adopted by
the Synod are carried out.
Q27. Can the task force provide specific definitions of emergency and exceptional circumstance?
A.
We must be careful here. Emergencies are exceptional circumstances, by definition. But not all exceptional circumstances are emergencies. (To have a dozen retired pastors in
one’s congregation is an exceptional circumstance, but it is
hardly an emergency.) A true emergency is an exceptional
circumstance that has dire consequences attached to it. Focusing on emergencies, then, the task force quotes Luther’s
dictum, “Emergency knows no rule.” One cannot get too
specific about what is or is not an “emergency” because the
word implies unexpected and dire circumstances demanding
immediate action. The task force decided that to try to define
terms such as emergency (or even exceptional circumstance)
would encourage endless debates that would quickly devolve
into trivialities. Few would disagree that when a pastor is
stricken by an illness Sunday morning, it is necessary for a
layman to step in to lead the congregation in his absence. It
is both an exceptional circumstance and an emergency. But
when the practice of a layman preaching and administering
Sacraments has become the rule, it is no longer an “exceptional circumstance” and certainly not an emergency.

2016
2016 Convention
Convention Workbook