# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2001_S217
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

HIGHER EDUCATION 217

b. Such action shall be published in an official periodical of

the Synod.
6.110 Report to the Convention

The Colloguy Committee shall render a full report on
teacher-colloquy activities to each convention of the Synod.

The-Cell : stee-—shall-rend call
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Board for Higher Education/

Concordia University System

5-33

To Equalize Colloquy/Certification Costs

WHEREAS, The Synod through its university system has pro-
vided the means by which a teacher may become fully colloquized
and rostered at the reasonable cost of approximately $350 per class
for the seven required classes (approximately $116 per credit hour),
and

WHEREAS, We gratefully acknowledge these teachers as ser-
vants of God whom He has guided to devote their life to the teach-
ing ministry of our church; and

WHEREAS, Without their ministry among us, the shortage of
teachers would be acute; and

WHEREAS, In many congregations of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod there are mcn and women scrving in DCE roles
with special emphasis in youth ministry who are not certified or
rostered because of a cost per credit hour (approximately $425 per
credit hour) that far exceeds the cost per credit hour for teacher col-
loquy: and

WHEREAS, These men and women should also be embraced as
gifts of God given to His church to provide specialized ministry to
the youth of our Synod whose numbers are shrinking, as we are a
Synod whose average age is increasing. These servants of Christ
are God’s gift to our youth to restore a needed age balance within
our beloved Synod: therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention instruct the university
system to develop the means by which a person serving in a DCE
and/or youth ministry position within one of our congregations can
be colloquized and certified for the roster of our Synod at a cost
per credit hour that is equivalent to teacher colloquy and certitica-
tion; and be it further

Resolved, That this plan be implemented by July 2002 by those
universities within our synodical system who offer DCE training.

Trinity, Virginia, MN; Concordia, San Antonio, TX; Christ
Our Savior, Coppell, TX

5-34
To Amend Bylaws re Deaconess Colloquy

Rationale

This proposed change will provide the church with competent
deaconesses who have met rigorous standards and who are fit for
ministry, but for whom obtaining a bachelor’s degree is prohibi-
tive. The most common obstacle is a language barrier, usually
Spanish.

The LCMS has historically recognized that church workers
need not be identically educated for a particular church office. At
simultaneous points in our history, some pastors did not earn a de-
gree, others earned bachelor’s degrees, and others completed mas-
ter’s degrees. [n exceptional cases, the degree requirement can be
waived.

Some Lutheran women who desire to become deaconesses but
are not fluent in academic English find that they cannot obtain col-
legiate general education in their own language. Over 50% of the
more than 30 Spanish-speaking women who desire to pursue dea-
coness education are over the age of 40. To learn English well and
to then complete a genera] education would place them into their
50s or 60s. During those years they could have been actively serv-
ing in the church as called deaconesses.

Rigorous theological and diaconal education ts currently avail-
able in Spanish. Spanish-speaking women in the deaconess collo-
quy are currently required to take the following college-level

2001 Convention Workbook