LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Page 166

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166

RESOLUTIONS

ascertain through personal interviews with the candi-
date or through satisfactory testimonials that each can-
didate so classified is still qualified for recommendation
for a first call to service in the church.

2.11 Assignments of First Calls

a. The Council of Presidents, acting as the Board of
Assignments, shall regularly assign to qualified grad-
uates of synodical educational institutions and workers
available from colloquy programs as “first calls” those
calls that have been duly extended by authorized calling
bodies for ordained ministers and commissioned min-
isters if positions for which candidates are qualified are
available.

b. The placement officers of the respective institu-
tions shall be consulted before the assignments are
made.

c. The president of the district in which a candidate
is to be placed shall be consulted, and his suggestions
and recommendations shall be part of the final recom-
mendation to the Board of Assignments.

2.13 Ordination, Commissioning, and Initial
Installation

a. Prerequisites. Candidates for the office of ordained
minister and candidates for the office of commissione:
minister in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod may
be ordained or commissioned when the following pre-
requisites have been met:

1. They shall have been declared to be qualified as
provided in section 2.09 of these Bylaws.

2. They shall have received and accepted a call,
through an assignment by the Board of Assignments
pursuant to section 2.11 of these Bylaws.

3. They shall have submitted a request for ordination
or commissioning, as the case may be, to the respective
district president, who shall grant the request an
schedule the ordination or commissioning when he is
satisfied that all requirements for such have been ful-

led.

b. Rites of Ordination or Commissioning. The presi-
dent of the district of which the calling congregation is
a member or in which the eligible calling entity is lo-
cated or with which it is otherwise identified shall be
responsible for the rites of ordination and commission-
ing of candidates for the ministry called to that congre-
gation or entity. The rite of ordination or commissioning
should normally take place in the presence of the con-
gregation or other entity to which the candidate has
been called. A service of celebration on the part of the
candidate’s home congregation is encouraged. If an un-
usual circumstance warrants it, the appropriate district
president may authorize that the rite take place in the
home congregation of the candidate, or other appropri-
ate congregation, with the permission of the calling con-
gregation or other entity. The district president shall
issue a diploma of ordination or commissioning.

¢. Initial Installations. Acting under the authority
provided in section 3.71 c 1 of these Bylaws, the district
president shall be responsible for initial installations of
ordained ministers and commissioned ministers called
to positions with congregations which are members of
his district or with other eligible calling bodies subject
to his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The rite of installation
shall always take place in the presence of the calling
congregation or other calling body, except that in the
case of missionaries called by the Synod, members of 2
faculty of a synodical institution, or institutional chap-
lains, the rite shall take place in a setting approved by
the district president.

d. Forms and Practices. The rites of ordination and
commissioning and the rites of installation should be in
accordance with forms and practices developed by the
Synod for that purpose, and in all events the minister
shall be solemnly pledged to the Scriptures as the in-
spired and inerrant Word of God and the Symbolical
Books of the Lutheran Church as a true exposition of
the Scriptures.

C. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY
OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

2.15 Active Members

To remain an “active member” of the Synod (that is,
a member who does not qualify as “emeritus” [2.17] or
as a “candidate” [2.19]), whose status as a member is
neither restricted (2.23) nor suspended (2.25), an or-
dained or commissioned minister of religion must be a
communicant member of a congregation which is a
member of the Synod (except as provided in paragraph
c of this section) and be regularly performing the duties
of one of the following:

a. An ordained minister serving a congregation of
the Synod;

b. A commissioned minister serving a congregation
of the Synod;

c. A minister of religion, ordained or commissioned,
serving a congregation which is not a member of the
Synod, provided that such is approved (on the basis of
policies adopted by the Council of Presidents) by the
president of the district in which the congregation is
located.

d. Anelected officer of the Synod, including a district
or other agency of the Synod;

e. An executive or professional staff member serving
the Synod, including a district or other agency of the
Synod;

f. A missionary serving under a call by the Synod,
including a call by a district;

g. A person serving on the faculty or professional
staff of a synodical educational institution;

h. A military or institutional chaplain endorsed by
the Synod, including endorsement by one of its districts;

i. An executive or professional staff member called
or appointed by a national inter-Lutheran entity re-
ferred to in section 13.01;

j. An executive or professional staff member called
or appointed by an auxiliary (14.01) or other recognized
service organization (14.03), including a person serving
an educational institution, whether elementary or sec-
ondary, recognized by the Synod.

2.17 Emeritus Members

An ordained or commissioned minister who has re-
tired after reaching the age of 55, or for reasons of total
and permanent disability, shall be eligible to apply to
the president of the district in which he holds his mem-
bership for retention on the roster upon retirement as
a “member emeritus.” Any unusual case shall be decided
by the Council of Presidents if the appropriate district
president so requests. To remain an emeritus member,
the minister must be a communicant member of amem-
ber congregation.

2.19 Candidate Status

a. An ordained or commissioned minister who is el-
igible to perform the duties of any of the offices of min-
istry specified in Bylaw 2.15 but who is not currently
performing those duties on a regular basis, and who is
not emeritus, may be continued on the roster for a period
not to exceed two years by act of the president of the
district through which the person holds membership.
For extension of candidate status beyond two years, the
Council of Presidents shall require an annual applica-
tion from the candidate, as well as an evaluation by the
district president. The council shall determine by ma-
jority vote on written ballot whether or not the request
shall be honored, in each instance, for an addition
year.

b. Among criteria for determining whether candidate
status should be granted or continued are the health of
the applicant; the extent of his current involvement on
a part-time and assisting basis in the ministry of Word
and Sacrament, a demonstrated willingness to consider
a call or appointment to any of the offices of ministry
specified in Bylaw 2.15.

c. To remain a member, the candidate must be a