# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2001_S224 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 224 HIGHER EDUCATION WHEREAS, The Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI) has been es- tablished by LCMS pastors to help provide advanced leadership training for younger. less-experienced LCMS pastors to further equip them to lead their congregations in growing ministries that proclaim the Gospel and make disciples for Jesus Christ; and WHEREAS, The PLI process connects LCMS parish pastors ap- proved by their own District Presidents with other experienced LCMS pastors in order to establish mentoring and networking re- lationships; and WrerEAS, The pastors of the LCMS within PLI, having been trained well by our LCMS seminaries, continue to be very capable of monitoring PLI for its theological and practical content so that PLI teaching continues to be consistent with the doctrinal and con- fessional principles of the LCMS; and Wuereas, PLI has submitted itself to the Board for Higher Ed- ucation of the LCMS, requesting Recognized Service Organization status; and WHEREAS, Recognized Service Organization status has been granted to a wide variety of Lutheran organizations, many of which have personnel and purposes not entirely confined to those of the LCMS; therefore be it Resolved, That the Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI) be com- mended for its providing of advanced leadership training for LCMS pastors to further equip them to lead their congregations in growing ministries that proclaim the Gospel and make disciples for Jesus Christ; and be it further Resolved, That the Board for Higher Education (BHE) of the LCMS be encouraged to expedite its process of approval of PLI for Recognized Service Organization status so as to encourage PLI to be enhanced and improved and so that pastors continue to seek ad- ditional skills within the context of the doctrinal and confessional principles of the LCMS rather than secking them elsewhere; and be it further Resolved, That if at all possible PLI, BHE, and the seminaries of the LCMS be encouraged to include PLI as part of a Doctor of Ministry program of one of our LCMS seminaries; and be it finally Resolved, That congregations and pastors of the LCMS be en- couraged to use the Pastoral Leadership Institute for the acquisi- tion of advanced pastoral Jeadership training. Emmanuel Kettcring, OH 5-55 To Include PLI Components in Doctor of Ministry Program Wuereas, The Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI) provides ad- vanced leadership training for LCMS pastors that is congrega- tion-based. on-site, and hands-on learning consistent with LCMS confessional and scriptural principles; and WreREAS, PLI has been seeking the counsel and expertise of our seminaries through theological presentations by its faculty; and Wuereas, The Doctor of Ministry Committee of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has advised PLI over the past two years re- garding requirements for recognizing work done in the PLI pro- gram so that it might qualify for partial recognition toward a Doc- tor of Ministry degree; and WHEREAS, Over 70 of the pastors currently enrolled in PLI de- sire to continue their education after PLI by obtaining a Doctor of Ministry degree; therefore be it Resolved, That the Synod in convention thank God for the in- terest of the PLI pastors in the Doctor of Ministry degree program of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; and be it further Resolved, That the Synod in convention encourage Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in its efforts to qualify appropriate components of the training in PLI for partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Doctor of Ministry degrec. Gloria Dei, Houston (Nassau Bay), TX: Grace, Pensacola, FL; Holy Cross, Mahwah, NJ 2001 Convention Workbook 5-56 To Increase Synodical Financial Support for Seminaries WHEREAS, One of the purposes for the creation of the Synod was to “recruit and train pastors, teachers, and other professional church workers and provide opportunity for their continuing growth” (Art. IID); and WHEREAS, There is today a pressing need for pastors to serve in the congregations of our Synod; and WHEREAS, There is also a pressing need to train and form pas- tors who are well-grounded in the theology and practice of Scrip- ture and the Lutheran Confessions, and the seminaries of our church body are the places where such training occurs; and WHEREAS, The synodical subsidy and financial support for the seminaries is consistently being reduced; therefore be it Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in con- vention direct the Synod to form a task force appointed by the syn- odical President to evaluate current synodical support of the semi- naries and identify adequate funding levels that reflect the high synodical and biblical priority of training pastors; and be it further Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in con- vention direct that the findings of this task force be implemented in the budget processes of the Synod in the next budget cycle after the task force completes its work. Redeemer Catawba, NC 5-57 To More Fully Support Seminaries Wrereas, Until fairly recent years The Lutheran Church—Mis- souri Synod has been zealous in supporting its two seminaries; and WuerEas, The Synod’s constitutions from its founding have listed as a specific objective of the Synod the recruitment and train- ing of its pastors; and WHEREAS, In the current fiscal year direct financial support to the seminaries from the Synod, typically referred to as “synodical subsidy,” is less than 6% of the budgets of the seminaries; and WHEREAS, The Board for Higher Education proposes to reduce the direct synodical contributions by 50% for the coming fiscal year and by !00% in ensuing years while that Board builds up its “endowment fund”: and WHEREAS, In 1975-76 43.8% of the Fort Wayne seminary’s ed- ucational and general budget and 57.4% of the St. Louis seminary’s educational and general budget was received directly from the Synod in the form of “synodical subsidy”; and WHEREAS, History very clearly shows from the example of Yale, Harvard, and Princeton that when their church bodies no longer fund their institutions the institutions lose their real and orig- inal purpose, established by their founding church body; and WHEREAS, It is all too easy for a seminary to lose its focus on training pastors who are fully committed to a confessional Word and Sacrament ministry when the seminary must concentrate scarce and valuable resources on raising educational and general funds, such a task becoming daunting beeause it also pits schools and seminaries against one another; and Wuereas, Reduction of direct funding by the Synod inhibits at- tracting adequate, let alone capable and properly compensated fac- ulty and staff and further inhibits building and maintenance pro- grams; therefore be it Resolved, That the Synod in convention assembled direct the Board for Higher Education to reverse its present policy of ending direct subsidy to the seminaries of the Synod and to earnestly and diligently pursue a goal of reaching a direct subsidy of 50% of the educational and general fund needs of the Synod’s two seminaries. Faith Chesapeake, VA