# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S357
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

FLOOR COMMITTEE REPORTS AND OVERTURES ASSIGNMENTS

6. Seminaries
REPORTS
R1, R1.1, R1.2, R56, R57, R58
OVERTURES
6-01

To Reaffirm in Practice Biblical Qualifications
for Office of the Holy Ministry
Whereas, Holy Scripture clearly teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman (1 Cor. 7:39; Rom. 7:2;
Matt. 5:32; Luke 16:18); and
Whereas, St. Paul clearly states that the Christian minister must
be the husband of one wife (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6), as Christ is the
husband of one bride, the Church; and
Whereas, It has become the practice in our Synod that our seminaries admit, certify, and place candidates who are divorced and
remarried while the first wife is still living; therefore be it
Resolved, That the English District in convention memorialize the
LCMS convention to reaffirm the biblical qualifications for pastors
by forbidding admission to the seminary and certification, placement,
calling, and ordination of candidates who are the husbands of more
than one wife according to the scriptural understanding of marriage.
English District
Farmington, MI

apparently consecrating the Sacrament of the Altar against their consciences under threat of failing their vicarages; and
Whereas, The Synod in convention has never recognized vicars
as men who have received a regular call (rite vocatus) to consecrate
the Sacrament and conduct all the duties (including hearing confession and pronouncing holy absolution under the confessional seal)
that are associated with helping prepare communicants to rightly
receive the Lord’s body and blood to their benefit and not to their
harm and judgment; and
Whereas, The 2011 convention of our sister synod, Lutheran
Church–Canada (founded 1988), with whom we share full altar and
pulpit fellowship and mutually share and study documents produced
by each others’ commissions on theology and church relations, has
set a good and faithful example by adopting as amended Resolution
11.1.10 as a statement for “reference and guidance,” which concludes:
“Since historically the celebration of Holy Communion publicly has
been a unique function of the Office of the Holy Ministry, and since
a vicar is a [layman] in training for the Office of the Holy Ministry
and not a pastor, and since no incidence of an ‘emergency’ can be
suggested in which the historical practice of the Church should be
abrogated, therefore, vicars should not be allowed to celebrate Holy
Communion other than as an assistant to the presiding pastor who
alone has the right by means of his call and ordination to speak the
Words of Institution …”; therefore be it
Resolved, That LCMS vicars who do not have a regular call no
longer be allowed or compelled to appear as though they are rightly
administering the Sacrament of the Altar.
Pilgrim, Kilgore, TX; Grace, Paris, TX; Immanuel, Terre
Haute, IN

6-02

To No Longer Allow or Compel Vicars to Appear
to Rightly Administer the Sacrament

6-03

Whereas, Christ has publicly instituted within His fellowship
(koinonia) of believers the Office of the Holy Ministry, whereby He
delivers with absolute certainty His gifts of the forgiveness of sins and
so also life and salvation through His Spirit-empowered Word and
Sacraments, whereby He works to create in sinners both repentance
from sin and faith in Christ crucified for sinners; and
Whereas, Our Lutheran Confessions state: “Nobody should
publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church
without a regular call” (rite vocatus) (AC XIV, Tappert); and
Whereas, The historical understanding that rite vocatus includes
the whole process of examination, call, and ordination, and that none
of these three aspects is negotiable or unnecessary, even though they
may be implemented in various ways, was affirmed by the report of
the Synod’s task force studying the use of SMP pastors and licensed
lay deacons in response to 2013 Resolution 4-06A; and
Whereas, The original intent of using vicars in the LCMS was to
help train up and examine laymen before they were extended a regular call into the Office of the Holy Ministry but not to use them as
though they already were rightly called ministers; and
Whereas, During the past 60 years or so, the practice has begun
of misusing some vicars by sending them to congregations in order
to satisfy the desire of congregations to rightly receive the Sacrament
of the Altar, which has introduced confusion regarding the nature of
the Office of the Holy Ministry and has introduced uncertainty in the
reception of Christ’s gifts through the institution of the Office of the
Holy Ministry; and, in some cases, vicars have even been coerced into
357

To Study Development of More Economically
Viable Models of Pastoral Formation
Whereas, The Lord admonishes us to be good stewards of all the
resources He blesses us with; and
Whereas, Total enrollment in our seminaries is declining, and the
costs to maintain and run seminaries are not declining; and
Whereas, Christianity in the United States is in decline, and there
is a need for more laborers in the harvest; and
Whereas, Students may not be attending the seminary due to the
expense related to their education; therefore be it
Resolved, That the 2015 convention of the Pacific Southwest
District memorialize the 2016 convention of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod to direct the President of the Synod to appoint a task
force to evaluate the pastoral formation processes of the Synod and
develop recommendations that encourage more men to go into the
ministry through more economically viable models.
Pacific Southwest District
6-04

To Require Use of Synod Hymnals at Synod
Seminaries and Universities
Whereas, Constitution Article VI 4 states as a condition of membership: “Exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and
catechisms in church and school”; and
2016 Convention Workbook