LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 268

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268

IX. REPORT OF THE RES. 5-14A TASK FORCE

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IX. Report of the Res. 5-14A Task Force
Introduction
The 2013 convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
adopted Res. 5-14A, which reads, simply:
Whereas, The SMP Task Force Report notes that there are eight
routes to ordained ministry; and
Whereas, The SMP Task Force Report recommends for the sake of
clarity and simplicity that a study of the non-Master of Divinity routes
to the Pastoral Office take place; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod President appoint a task force (chaired by
the Executive Director for Pastoral Education) to conduct a study of the
non-Master of Divinity routes to the Pastoral Office, and that it report
its findings and recommendations regarding the appropriateness of each
route, the optimal number of such routes, etc. to the Synod President by
the end of 2015 for action at the 2016 Synod convention.

The present task force members were appointed by President
Matthew Harrison in response to this resolution. We herewith submit this report, divided into the following parts:
1. The Lord through His Church Places a Man into the Pastoral
Office
2. The Several Means by Which Men Are Prepared for the Pastoral
Office
3. Evaluations and Recommendations
4. Necessary Bylaw Changes
5. A “Growth Path” Approach to Continuing Pastoral Formation

Members of the Task Force:
Res. 5-14A did not define the composition of the task force. The
President of the Synod appointed the following task force members:
Executive Director of Pastoral Education—presently vacant (at
the time of the initial appointment, Dr. Glenn Thomas was serving
in this position and served as the first chairman of the task force).
Synod Chief Mission Officer—Rev. Kevin Robson (Rev. Greg
Williamson was CMO at the time of the initial appointment; Rev.
Bart Day served for a time as interim CMO and was for that time a
member of the task force).
Rev. Dr. Carl Fickenscher, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort
Wayne.
Rev. Donald Fondow, President, Minnesota North District.
Rev. Wayne Knolhoff, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
Rev. Dr. Herbert Mueller, First Vice-President, Task Force
Chairman (when Dr. Glenn Thomas accepted a call to the parish, the
task force elected Dr. Mueller as chairman).
Rev. Dr. Richard Nuffer, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort
Wayne.
Rev. Dr. Leopoldo Sanchez, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
Section One—The Lord through His Church Places a Man
into the Pastoral Office
Jesus’ disciples learned that His kingdom is more of an activity
than a place. The “reign of God” to save us is found wherever God is
present through His Word. The Kingdom certainly was here on this
earth when Jesus began His ministry and preached God’s Word to
the Jewish people. And what greater display of saving activity could
there be than the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus? But that
Kingdom activity would not end with Jesus’ ascension. The disciples would continue the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel that Jesus
2016 Convention Workbook

had begun, and when they did, the kingdom of God would continue
to come near to sinners. What Jesus had told His disciples behind
locked doors on Easter evening must have been a message He hammered home to them during these 40 days: “The Christ will suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning
from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” “I am sending
you” (Luke 24:46–48; John 20:21). After 40 days of intense teaching about the kingdom of God, the disciples were ready. Jesus sent
them, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the Good News
and announce the saving reign of God in His death and resurrection.
God reigns through His Word that does what it says: “your sins are
forgiven you!”
The New Testament passages listing qualifications for the pastoral office focus mainly on the character of the man proposed for the
office (“above reproach, husband of one wife, sober minded, selfcontrolled, respectable,” etc. [1 Timothy 3:2ff]). The one theological
requirement in that section is that the man be “able to teach.” He must
“keep a close watch on himself and on the teaching” (1 Timothy 4:16).
He must be “able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to
rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). Character and the ability
to teach and to hand the doctrine on to others are the qualifications
Scripture looks for. These high standards apply to each of the various
means by which the church recruits and trains pastors from her midst.
Here is scriptural rationale supporting the work of our seminaries to train future pastors, as well as the careful work of our Colloquy
Committee. We want men who love Jesus, whose hearts have been
transformed by the Holy Spirit so that they also love people. We
want men who are fiercely loyal to their Savior and to His Body, the
Church. But we want these men to be thoroughly trained in biblical
truth as well as other necessary disciplines for the task.
The Church as the Bride of Christ then assures itself that men
are properly prepared by examining their doctrine and life, certifying them, calling them, and placing them into office. Ordination is
the rite by which the Church takes the men so examined and called,
places them into office, and consecrates them, by the Word of God
and prayer, for the pastoral ministry. Though all this is done by the
Church, we believe the Lord Himself, who works through means, is
at work through His Church.
Even as we discuss the various “non-Master of Divinity routes
to the Pastoral Office” referenced in 2013 Res. 5-14A, the question
may be raised by some: Why do we insist that pastors be called and
ordained in the first place? Why might it be out of order for the church
to tell a layman to go and do pastoral work without having received
and accepted a call, and without the recognition of the wider church
by means of ordination? The task force appointed to respond to 2013
Res. 4-06A on licensed lay deacons has included in its report an explanation of Augsburg Confession Art. XIV that provides the rationale
for call and ordination.1 The present task force, responding to 2013
Res. 5-14A on alternate routes to the pastoral office, agrees with the
approach of the 4-06A Task Force and reproduces here the thoughts
of that task force on the subject:
How Is “Rite Vocatus” to Be Understood? (AC XIV)
Central to the theological debate regarding L[icensed] L[ay]
D[eacon] practices is the understanding of AC XIV, referred to above.
Since the Augsburg Confession was written in both German and Latin,
both languages are translated in recent scholarly editions of the Book
of Concord. A comparison of translations from German and English
shows there is no difference in substance. The translation from German
in the Kolb-Wengert edition reads: “Concerning church government it