# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2001_S140 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 140 CONGREGATIONAL SERVICES WHEREAS, The PIFs are often made available to voting mem- bers of calling congregations at call meetings, but the SETs are often not made available to voting members of calling congrega- tions at call meetings; therefore be it Resolved, That we commend the Council of Presidents (COP) for creating and improving the SET over the years; and be it further Resolved, That we commend the COP and our seminaries for gathering a completed SET from each of the pastors in our Synod; and be it further Resolved, That we commend the District Presidents and Circuit Counselors for making completed SETs available to call committee members: and be it finally Resolved, That District Presidents, Circuit Counselors, and call committees make the completed SETs available to voting members of calling congregations at call meetings. University Minneapolis, MN 2-22 To Provide Pastoral Reference Forms to Calling Congregations WHEREAS, It is good and salutary that calling congregations be allowed full information concerning prospective candidates for calls; and WHEREAS, The present system does not allow calling congrega- tions to have full and complete information and also limits a pas- tor’s opportunity to respond to the District President’s official eval- uation included in the call lists returned to the calling congregations; and WHEREAS, The present system has evolved away from the in- tent of the synodical Bylaws; therefore be it Resolved, That the President of The Lutheran Church—Mis- souri Synod in consultation with the Vice-Presidents of the Synod, the Synod’s Executive Director for Human Resources, and the Dis- trict Presidents develop a new Pastoral Reference Form (PRF) to replace entirely the existing Pastors Information Form (PIF) and Self Evaluation Too! (SET); and be it further Resolved, That the PRF consist entirely and only of information supplied by the pastor himself, with no notes or comments by any other person; and be it further Resolved, That provision be made for PRFs to be filled out by pastors in several ways: online through a Web-based form, by e-mail, by computer program on disk, or by a typed or handwritten form; and be it further Resolved, That at least once every three years every Circuit Counselor physically make an official on-site visit to each congre- gation in his Circuit as well as a personal visit with every pastor on CRM or Emeritus status and prepare a written evaluation of each of the pastors using a standardized evaluation procedure and form to be developed by the President of the Synod in consultation with the Vice-Presidents of the Synod, the Synod’s Executive Di- rector of Human Resources, and the District Presidents; that this Pastoral Evaluation Form (PEF) be shared in full with the pastor being evaluated and signed by him as acknowledgment of the same; and that he be given opportunity to attach an addendum to the PEF with his own comments, which will always be included with the PEF; and be it further Resolved, That the Circuit Counselor and District President may mutually agree to have a PEF for a pastor completed in the same manner by the District President rather than by the Circuit Coun- selor, always including a physical, official, on-site visit to the con- gregation or a personal visit with pastors on CRM and Emeritus status, using the same standardized evaluation procedure and form, with the PEF shared in full with the pastor being evaluated and signed by him as acknowledgment of the same, and that he be given opportunity to attach an addendum to the PEF with his own comments, which will always be included with the PEF; and be it further 2001 Convention Workbook Resolved, That no changes or updates ever be made to a PEF without a physical, official, on-site visit to the congregation or a personal visit with pastors on CRM and Emeritus status, using the standardized evaluation procedure and form, with the PEF shared in full with the pastor being evaluated and signed by him as ac- knowledgment of the same, and that he be given opportunity to at- tach an addendum to the PEF with his own comments, which will always be included with the PEF; and be it further Resolved, That in the case of pastors not serving in parish set- tings the PEF be completed in the same manner by their respective supervisors; and be it further Resolved, That PRFs and PEFs be maintained by the Synod’s Executive Director of Human Resources and always be supplied without fail upon request to any congregation or other synodical entity, and that they be withheld only if a pastor has requested the same or is currently on Restricted Status according to the provi- sions of the Bylaws; and be it further Resolved, That pastors may at any time receive from the Synod’s Executive Director of Human Resources a complete writ- ten record (with dates) of the congregations or other entities to which his PRF and PEF have been supplied or denied for the two reasons stated above; and be it further Resolved, That PRFs and PEFs be supplied by the Synod’s Ex- ecutive Director of Human Resources within two weeks of a re- quest, or, if either the PRF or PEF is unavailable, that the request- ing congregation or other entity, the pastor, and the Circuit Counselor be notified within two weeks so that the information can be made available as quickly as possible; and be if further Resolved, That no other information, comments. or evaluation of any type ever be supplied, either in writing or orally, by any syn- odical or District official, including, but not limited to, District Presidents and Circuit Counselors; and be it further Resolved, That this modified system of supplying pastoral in- formation to congregations be in place no later than July 1, 2002; and be it finally Resolved, That all existing PIFs and SETs in any synodical or District files be destroyed after the modified system is activated, as determined by the Synod’s Executive Director of Human Re- sources and no later than July 1, 2002. Circuit 2 Forum Ohio District 2-23 To Refer RSO TF Report to BCS Preamble The synodical Task Force on Recognized Service Organizations (RSO) was charged by the 1998 synodical convention to review the status of the RSOs of the Board for Congregational Services. Because recent official action of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has diverged from historic Lutheran doctrine, the task force recommends that secondary schools clearly align their religious practices to conform to historic LCMS doctrine and remove from governance and religious academic positions those affiliated with the ELCA. Schools are given until 2006 to comply with this directive or they will lose their RSO status. With regard to administrative and instructional practices, our Northern Illinois District high schools are in conformity. They are also supervised by the President of the Northern Illinois District to assure acceptable practices. Governance documents (constitutions and by-laws) are in conformity to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod positions. Because the RSO Task Force report would negatively impact our Lutheran high schools in varying degrees, the Northern Ilinois District Board of Directors at their January 29, 2001, meeting, passed the attached resolution as a memorial to the 2001 synodical convention. The Board for Congregational Services of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is asked to further study this issue, hoping to refine the directives of the task force so as to con-