LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 180

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

180 RESOLUTIONS

. Parish Worker
. Parish Assistant
. Director of Evangelism
. Persons who otherwise qualify for Minister of
Religion classification but who choose not to
apply
Classification open to men and women
Must be a member of a congregation which is a
member of the Synod;
and

& Or m CO

B.

WHEREAS, New categories of workers for the church
have arisen without direction from the Synod; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention shall
designate, upon recommendation of the Board for
Professional Education Services, any further addition
of categories of church workers; and be it further

Resolved, That the BPES designate which schools
are to give the terminal years of preparation to the
newly developed category(ies); and be it further

Resolved, That lists of such workers and transfers
from one District to another be the responsibility of the
District President; and be it finally

Resolved, That workers in the categories to be
developed be granted the privilege of receiving services
and supervision rendered by the office of the District
President.

Action: Adopted (8).

(Discussion was begun in Session 7. In Session 8 discussion
was continued. At the automatic call of the question after 30
minutes the convention voted to cease debate on the issue. The
Chair held that because of a previous statement amendments
to the resolution would still be considered beyond this point.
Theruling of the Chair was appealed and the delegates did not
sustain the Chair. The resolution was then adopted.

In the later stages of the discussion of this resolution, 5-09A,
in Session 8, a delegate raised three questions, as follows:

Delegate: “First question: ‘Is the office—I’m talking about
how we interpret this particular resolution—is the office of the
public ministry equivalent to the pastoral office, or is the
pastoral office only one of the various positions created within
the Synod as we read in the third whereas?’ Second question is,
‘Is the office of the public ministry equivalent to what the
resolution calls ministers of religion, ordained?’ and the next
question is, ‘Is the office of the public ministry held by called

and ordained pastors only or do others such as men and women
teachers or DCE’s also hold the office of the public ministry?’
Those are my questions.”

Nafzger: “To answer the last question first, the CTCR
document would say that those who hold the office of teacher or
DCE do not hold the office of the public ministry. The way the
term office of public ministry is used in the CTCR document is
used to refer to what we normally today call pastors, or the
pastoral office. I’ve forgotten the second question. What was
the middle question?”

Delegate: “It has to do with whether the word ‘minister of
religion, ordained,’ refers to the office of the public ministry.”

Nafzger: “Yes.”

Delegate: “Are those two equivalent?”

Nafzger: “Yes, office of public ministry refers to the first
category, minister of religion, ordained, and that category
only.”

Delegate: “Does it refer to this in the resolution itself?”

Nafzger: “The third whereas states, ‘WHEREAS, The Lu-
theran Church—Missouri Synod recognizes that all these

functions belong to the one office, even though it may be
performed in greater or lesser degree in various positions,’ is
referring to that one divinely instituted office called the office
of public ministry.” :

Delegate: “I want to thank you very much for that answer,
and Idlike to say that if we understand this resolution the way
Dr. Nafzger has explained it, what we’re distinguishing -
between is the office of the public ministry, which is the
pastoral office, which is ministers of religion, ordained, on the
one hand, and ministers of religion, commissioned; on the
other. I would like to suggest, since I can’t move, that somebody
make a motion that this be put into the official minutes of this
convention so that no misunderstanding can come about at a
future time.”

After further speakers had been heard, another delegate
raised the question: “I would like some information. Pastor
requested that that explanation by Rev. Nafzger be
entered into the minutes. Will that just simply be routinely
done now, as a result of that request?” After further conversa-
tion Dr. Bohlmann replied: “The Chair will order it. If there’s
no objection, we’ll just take it on general consent of the
assembly.”

After the assembly had voted to close debate on the entire
resolution a third delegate raised the following point of
information: “Dr. Nafzger, in answering a question earlier,
stated, discussing the office of the public ministry with respect
to the CTCR document. My question is: Does that, in his
‘answer, does that reflect the official position of the Synod?”
“Dr. Nafzger’s reply was: “When the Commission completed
its work on the Office of the Ministry: Procedures, Nomencla-
ture, Offices, it appended the theses of Walther which were
adopted by the Synod in 1851, because it regarded what it said
about the ministry as being consistent with the official position
of the Synod on the doctrine of the ministry as set forth in those
theses.”

A fourth delegate raised the additional point of information:
“On page 177, the second resolve—correct me if my under-
standing of this—it seems to imply when it says emphatically
that both ministers of religion, ordained, and ministers of
religion, commissioned, then the last line, next to the last line,
says all these functions contribute vitally to discharging the
office of the public ministry. Does—my question is—does this,
or does it not, make the women teachers discharging the office
of the public ministry?”

The chairman of the committee replied: “The committee
says it is of the opinion that this does not make them eligible for
such action.” Dr. Bohlmann then asked, “Dr. Nafzger, what
would your Commission’s response be?” Dr. Nafzger replied: “I
think this resolve is building on the CTCR’s statement in its
report on the ministry that while teachers do not hold the office
of the public ministry, they do carry out certain functions of the
office of the public ministry.”

A fifth delegate raised the following point of information:
“Yd like to ask Dr. Nafzger to clarify the previous point of
information that he answered when someone asked him
whether this was the official position of the Synod. He said
Walther’s theses were appended, and therefore they considered
it to be. I believe that our own Synod’s Constitution requires the
convention and the congregations of the Synod to state
whether something is the official position of the Synod before
someone can assume that it is. Would Dr. Nafzger please
clarify that?” Dr. Nafzger replied: “Certainly in agreement
with the speaker. All I said was that the CTCR felt that its
report was consistent with the official position and it held,
whenever it reviewed on behalf of the Board of Directors this
proposal, that this proposal was consistent with the official
position as stated in those theses.”

After the resolution had been adopted a sixth delegate, after
some introductory remarks, moved “that in the official Proceed-
ings you place an asterisk immediately following the adoption
of this resolution, and then it clearly be stated that there was a
motion from the floor, seconded, and assuming it’s passed, that
the original remarks of Dr. Nafzger be included verbatim at
that point in the official Proceedings. And that the motion
specifically provide that it was made in order to avoid any
future misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or misapplication
of the motion.”

To this Dr. Bohlmann replied: “The Chair has already