LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 240

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240

VII. 2013 RES. 4-06A TASK FORCE REPORT TO THE SYNOD

less, in a synod of congregations bound by a common confession and
loyalty, good order demands that admission into the pastoral office or
into its closely allied auxiliary offices is not the act of a single congregation or agency. Various ways can be found to establish this approval of
the whole church. Presently the certification of suitability for the ministry by the faculty members who have taught the candidates and the
assigning of first calls by the Council of Presidents is workable and does
express the transparochial nature of the ministry.38

Please note: how a church examines, calls, and ordains has been
done in various ways through the ages. Our church has made determinations for how best to do these different things for the sake of
good order. Examination takes place via seminary faculties or the
colloquy process. Calls are issued, in most cases, by action of the
congregation alone, acting to fill its pastoral vacancy. Ordination is
conducted on behalf of the whole church by the District President or
his representative after due examination and call. During the ordination, the calling congregation speaks on behalf of the whole church
to receive the candidate as a duly called and ordained pastor.39 Rite
vocatus includes this whole process. None of these three aspects is
negotiable or unnecessary, even though they do not occur simultaneously and they may be implemented in various ways.40 Moreover,
these three aspects are not wooden, nor are they understood legalistically. For example, as candidates for the ministry are being prepared
(in the examination process) for call and ordination, they are required,
as vicars (or “interns”), to preach, albeit under the supervision and
authority of their supervising pastor.
Specifically, Why Ordination?
We have noted earlier Walther’s emphasis that the Office of the
Ministry is not a position of superiority. It is not to be exalted over
the office every Christian holds by virtue of Baptism. Luther was just
as emphatic. Referring to the public ministers by the term “priest,” as
was still current at his time, Luther writes: “Whoever does not preach
the Word, though he was called by the church to do this very thing,
is no priest at all, and that the sacrament of ordination can be nothing
else than a certain rite by which the church chooses its preachers.”41
Walther is therefore following this understanding of ordination when
he says of it: “The ordination of those who are called with the laying
on of hands is not a divine institution but an apostolic, churchly order
and only a solemn public confirmation of the call.”42
Because of such statements in our tradition, some have questioned
the importance of ordination. The practice of unordained men preaching and teaching publicly is often connected with this perspective, and
such quotes from Luther and Walther are sometimes used to promote
the service of lay preaching and sacramental administration. Why is
ordination important, even if it is not a mandate from our Lord, but
“an apostolic, churchly order and only a solemn public confirmation of the call”?
To answer this question, we need to look at the qualifications for
pastors. The Pastoral Epistles summarize the qualities the church must
look for in her pastoral servants.43 Above all, they must be “above
reproach” so as not to put obstacles in the way of the Gospel, and they
must be “able to teach” so that they proclaim Law and Gospel clearly.
Self-chosen good works quickly become idolatry.44 Therefore, no one
is able to certify himself or declare himself qualified for ministry,
but the Church as the Bride of Christ is to put in place the structures necessary to assure herself that her ministers are qualified. No
one should set himself up as pastor, so churches develop procedures
by which pastors are called. We believe God calls, but through the
congregation(s). And because our congregations are members of a
2016 Convention Workbook

confessional fellowship, we seek to recognize in a public way through
the participation of the wider church that a pastor is properly called.45
Ordination is the public rite of the church, living in Christ, that
proclaims openly all these elements.46 Candidates for ordination must
be examined or certified by the church (in our Synod, by one of the
seminary faculties or by the Colloquy Committee) as “able to teach”
and fit for pastoral ministry according 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:6–
9. Candidates for ordination must also be properly called—no one is
ordained without a valid call. So our district presidents may ordain
(or authorize the ordination of) only such men as have been properly
certified (or examined) and rightly called.
The rite of ordination does not confer a special character or power
on the person. It is also, as Walther emphasized, an apostolic custom
and not a divine mandate. But such important qualifications of the
practice should not lead us to assume it is unimportant or a mere formality. The Confessors never dispute the practice of ordination to the
Holy Ministry, even while insisting that they have adopted a different
manner of ordination because of the unwillingness of Roman bishops to ordain pastors for their churches (SC III10 [KW 323–24]; see
also Ap XIV 1–3). In the Augsburg Confession, ordination is public recognition of the call by the wider church (beyond the individual
congregation), testifying that the man is qualified and has been properly called to be a pastor. It is the call, we believe, that makes a man a
pastor of a particular congregation. Ordination, as a rite, is not mandated by the Lord. However, the church is mandated to put a man
“under orders” to Jesus in the Office of the Holy Ministry through
the church’s right calling. Our Lord Jesus thereby puts a man into the
office for His use. Therefore, because our congregations are part of
a wider fellowship, we call only such men as are properly certified,
and we seek the recognition of the wider church by ordaining (and
publicly installing) them to office. We believe omitting any of these
elements would be schismatic and contrary to the “catholicity”47 of
the church and the unity of our Synod fellowship. Why?
1.

The rite of ordination publicly witnesses that a man is found by the
church to be “able to teach” and fit for ministry and has been properly called to the office by the Lord through His church.

2. The rite of ordination extracts from the candidate for ordination a
very serious vow, making clear for the man and to the congregation
what the Lord through His church is charging him to be and to do.
He is not to lord it over the flock, but to serve. He is not to make up
his own message, but to proclaim what he has been given, according
to Scripture and the Confessions.
3.

In the rite of ordination, the church, by the Word of God and prayer,
puts the man in office and makes clear that he is to be pastor, and that
his task is the public (i.e., on behalf of all) administration of the Word
and Sacraments.48

4.

In the rite of ordination, the congregation, on behalf of the whole
church, receives the man as a minister of Word and Sacrament, and
also, on behalf of the church, pledges itself to support the pastoral
office with love, honor, and obedience in the Lord (when the pastor
brings God’s Word), as well as with gifts and fervent prayers.

The practical purpose of ordination is to make clear to the people in both the congregation and the wider church that the man is set
apart to be pastor, as well as to make clear to both the man and the
people what he is to be and to do in their midst.
Confusion over Licensed Lay Deacons
With the adoption of 1989 Res. 3-05B, the Synod sought to bring
some order to practices taking place unofficially.49 Unfortunately,
the result has been confusion and division, rather than order and harmony. The practice of licensing lay deacons to preach and teach and