LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 100

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100

SYNOD REPORTS

C. Task Force Theological Framework

The task force worked with the understanding that the Office of
the Keys was given by Christ to His Church on earth. As such, the
Church has both the gift and the privilege of preaching the Word of
God and administering His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. To do so, God calls men through the local congregation who
exercise this gift and privilege in the midst of the local congregation.
The task force also affirms that ordination, while not existing
in the Church as a iure divino (divinely mandated) requirement for
preaching the Word and the administering the Sacraments, is nonetheless in keeping with the historic practice of the Lutheran church
and that of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. As Walther states
in Thesis VI of his Theses on Ministry:

The ministry of preaching is conferred by God through the congregation, as holder of all church power, or of the keys, and by its call, as
prescribed by God. The ordination of those called, with the laying on of
hands, is not by divine institution but is an apostolic church ordinance
and merely a public, solemn confirmation of the call (C.F.W. Walther,
Theses on Ministry, as quoted in The Ministry: Offices, Procedures,
and Nomenclature, [St. Louis: Commission on Theology and Church
Relations, 1981]), Appendix.

The following quote from Walther reaffirms and summarizes this
position well:
Indeed, neither the examination administered by a duly appointed
extra-congregational commission and to which a candidate called to the
pastoral office submits himself and which he passes, nor the ordaining he
likewise receives from duly appointed persons outside the congregation,
make the vocation valid; however, both procedures belong to the most salutary arrangements of the church and have particularly in the case of the
latter, among other purposes the weighty one of publicly certifying the
vocation as one recognized by the whole church as legitimate and divine
(rechtmaessig und goettlich). Anyone, therefore, who, except in the case of
necessity, omits one or the other, acts schismatically and lets it be known
that he belongs to those who “having itching ears ... accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking”, 2 Tim. 4:3.) (C.F.W. Walther,
Pastoral Theology 1877 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House) 62, as
quoted by George F. Wollenburg, Church and Ministry, [online, http://
pages.prodigy.net/ cnehrenz/textwollburg.html]).

More than 300 years before Walther, the Lutheran reformers
expressed the understanding that all who would publicly preach the
Word and administer the Sacraments should be “rightly called” (rite
vocatus) in the Augsburg Confession (AC). Article XIV of the AC
states that, “Concerning church order, they teach that no one should
teach publicly in the church or administer the sacraments unless properly called” (Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy Wengert
[Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000] p. 47).
The task force sought the meaning of the term rite vocatus, as it
was understood by the reformers. The task force was instructed that
the reformers understood rite vocatus to include the following three
components:
1)
Instructed/Examined. Since the Scriptures describe in some
detail the characteristics of those who aspire to the office of
the ministry, the church has to have a process for developing
these characteristics in prospective candidates and then for
assessing them before a man is placed into the office.
2)
Called. Although every Christian has the responsibility of
witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, men do not place
themselves into the public ministry. This is the responsibility
of the church. In particular, congregations are responsible for
maintaining the office of pastor in their midst.
3)
Ordained. Although the LCMS has never held that ordination determines whether a ministry is valid or not, it has along
with other Lutherans since the days of the Reformation maintained this apostolic custom as a way for the church as a whole

to publicly certify the call in a particular case and to mark the
entrance of a man into the Office of the Public Ministry.
At the same time, the task force affirms that the reformers understood that the manner in which these three basic features of rite
vocatus were accomplished was a matter of judgment and prudence.
Although history has a great deal to say about how the church has
carried them out in the past, tradition is not binding. The church is
free to respond to varying times and circumstances with innovative
methods as it sees fit.
One example of the flexibility the church has with respect to the
ways in which these three features of rite vocatus are exercised is evident in the current LCMS bylaw opportunity for laymen who have
had primary responsibility for Word and Sacrament ministry in a congregation of the LCMS for at least 10 years to be examined by the
LCMS Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry, and, assuming a positive examination result, to be recommended as eligible to
receive a call as a pastor and be ordained. The current LCMS bylaw
allows the colloquy committee to interview and recommend for call
and ordination the following individuals:
In exceptional cases, laymen who have carried out the full responsibilities of the pastoral ministry for at least 10 years, who are currently
licensed for such ministry by a district president, and who have been recommended by a congregation holding membership in the Synod on the
basis of that congregation’s observation and experience, and with the stated
assurance that such congregation will extend a divine call asking the recommended individual to serve as their pastor; (Bylaw 3.8.2.4.2 [a] [2];
2007 Handbook, p. 124).

With this theological and historical perspective in mind, the task
force returned to its table of eight distinctive descriptions of service being rendered by lay deacons and agreed upon the categories
of service that should ordinarily be offered by one who is called and
ordained (designated by a Y in the table below) and those categories
that did not require one who is called and ordained (designated by a
N in the table below).
Description of Service Offered
Ordained
1) Functioning nearly or completely autonomously in providing preaching and Sacrament ministry, with only occasional communication with
Y
a supervising pastor
2) Functioning nearly or completely autonomously in providing preaching ministry (no Sacraments), with only occasional communication
Y
with a supervising pastor
3) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as the regular provider of preaching and
Y
Sacrament ministry
4) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as the regular provider of preaching (not
Y
Sacraments) ministry
5) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as a part-time provider of preaching and
Sacrament ministry
6) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as a part-time provider of preaching (not
Sacraments)
7) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as the primary provider of non-preaching,
non-sacramental care (e.g., Bible studies, devotions, visitation, youth ministry, etc.)
8) Functioning under direct supervision, and serving as a part-time provider of non-preaching,
non-sacramental care (e.g., Bible studies, devotions, visitation, youth ministry, etc.)

Number
in LCMS
60

5
81
13

Y

90

N

71

N

24

N

196

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