# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S352
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

352

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

on the Office of the Holy Ministry and the congregations the pastors
serve; and be it finally
Resolved, That the Res. 2-02 reduction in force policy be suspended from use until it is deemed theologically and confessionally
sound by the CTCR.
Circuits 3 and 4
Michigan District
5-24

To Change Intentional Interim Ministry
Program to Reflect Historic LCMS Theology
and Practice of the Call
Whereas, The practice of “intentional interim ministry” has
grown dramatically within the LCMS in the last 30 years; and
Whereas, There are laudable goals for the practice (e.g., assisting
congregations in dealing with unusual and/or traumatic circumstances
at the end of a previous pastorate) as they prepare to call a new pastor; and
Whereas, Such intentional interim pastors have specialized training to assist congregations during such times of transition; and
Whereas, Currently, intentional interim pastors in the LCMS are
issued “non-tenured” calls for a specified, contracted, limited duration, “the normal ‘non-tenured call’ for an intentional interim [being]
18 months” (LCMS Circuit Visitors Manual, 2015−2018, p. 31); and
Whereas, The parameters under which it is suggested that congregations consider thus calling an intentional interim pastor are so
broad that nearly every vacant congregation of the LCMS would be
encouraged to consider this program prior to engaging the regular
call process; and
Whereas, Intentional interim pastors are given full parish pastor status within the polity of the LCMS, including full voting in the
Synod; and
Whereas, The practice of “temporary” or “non-tenured” calls
to the Office of the Ministry was a common American abuse of the
doctrine of the call which the founding fathers of the LCMS rejected
explicitly1; and
Whereas, The current practice of intentional interim ministry
within the LCMS contradicts this historic position of our Synod; and
Whereas, Nomenclature ought not simply be an arbitrary label,
but reflect the reality of the thing named; therefore be it
Resolved, That for use within our Synod, the term “intentional
interim ministry” be changed to “intensive vacancy ministry,” and the
term “intentional interim pastor” be changed to “intensive vacancy
pastor” in Synod usage (website, publications, and the like of the
Synod and its districts); and be it further
Resolved, That such intensive vacancy pastors are no longer issued
“divine calls” by the congregations they serve, in keeping with the
more common practice of “vacancy pastors”; and be it further
Resolved, That intensive vacancy pastors, for purposes of the polity of the Synod, are considered regular “vacancy pastors,” i.e., that
they do not have a vote in the Synod (circuit forums, district conventions) but are advisory members of the Synod according to their roster
status; and be it further
Resolved, That the parameters under which congregations are
encouraged to consider intensive vacancy (intentional interim) ministry be reviewed, such that the normal process to issue a divine call to a
permanent (as the Lord wills) pastor remain the norm; and be it finally
Resolved, That current intentional interim pastors be commended
and thanked for their service in the past to the many congregations of
2016 Convention Workbook

the Synod who have benefited from the Word and Sacraments of God
that they have provided to those congregations, and for their specialized training and faithful, sincere love for God’s church.
Notes
“Kromayer: ‘The preaching office may not be conferred by those who
call through a contract for certain years or with the reservation to have the
freedom to dismiss the freely called person. For God has nowhere granted
or permitted those who call the right to make such a contract. Hence neither
the one calling nor the one who is called may regard such a call or dismissal
as divine.’ ” C. F. W. Walther, The Church and the Office of the Ministry,
trans. J. T. Mueller, ed. Matthew C. Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2012), p. 308.
“From the beginning our Synod had to take a definite stand on this question. Among the conditions of membership in Synod, the following is listed:
‘Regular (not temporary) call of the pastor.”…This has been the consistent
practice of our Synod since that time and has been stated again and again
in official papers presented at conventions, and in our periodicals.” P. F.
Koehneke, “The Call into the Holy Ministry,” The Abiding Word (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1946), 1:380.
1

St. John, Rensselaer, IN; Trinity, Goodland, IN
5-25

To Review Role of Women in Congregation
and Synod Offices
Preamble
In 1969, the Synod addressed the subject of women in the
church by adopting Res. 2-17, largely based on a 1968 report by the
Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR). However,
the commission began thinking differently of these matters during
the 1980s and ’90s. In 2004 Res. 3-08A, the Synod affirmed the conclusions of the then-latest (1994) CTCR report on the subject, even
though a dissenting opinion to that report had been prepared by five
theologians on the CTCR shortly after it was adopted. The present
overture is submitted in the hope that the Synod will “back up” and
assign the CTCR, with the help of the seminaries, to issue a new report
to the Synod which will contribute toward clearing up ambiguities and
misunderstandings concerning this important subject.
The following overture greatly resembles Ov. 4-21, submitted to
the 2013 Synod convention by the Missouri District and its Carrollton
Circuit. Via an omnibus resolution, the 2013 convention referred the
overture to the CTCR but gave the CTCR no specific assignment in
reference to the overture (see 2013 Proceedings, p. 199).
Proposed Action
Whereas, The Synod, in adopting 2004 Res. 3-08A (“To Affirm
the Conclusions of the 1994 CTCR Report: The Service of Women
in Congregational and Synodical Offices”), seems to have affirmed
only the first of two long-employed criteria for determining whether
women can serve in various lay congregational offices (see 1969
Resolution 2-17) (Explanation: Previously the two criteria had been
[1] By serving in a given office does a woman do things which are
distinctive functions of the pastoral office? and [2] Might a woman
be violating the order of creation by serving in certain congregational offices in which she does not carry out distinctive functions of
the pastoral office?); and
Whereas, In 1995 Res. 3-06A, the Synod directed the CTCR
“in consultation with the faculties of the seminaries” to continue
studying the issues in its 1994 report on The Service of Women in